Case Study: How a Supplement Brand DOUBLED His Annual Email Sales in 8 Months.
Carlo Mercado
Direct Response Email Copywriter for Health Supplements | DTC & Ecommerce
$ 198,392?versus?$ 403,599.
That’s my client’s email revenue 12 months before and 8 months after I worked on his email flows and campaigns.
Background: I started working for this client last September 2022. For benchmark, I pulled their previous 12 months email revenue from September 2021 upto August 2022.
In this case study, I’ll share:
How our email campaigns helped my client?exceed?his previous 12-months email revenue in?4 months?(December 2022)…
…and how we?doubled?it in?8 months?(April 2023) after revamping his email campaigns.
Let’s dive in…
Step #1: Revamp All Emails with Direct Response Copy
Revamping with direct response copy means we turned this email:
To this:
===
Hi [Name],
There isn’t much time so let me get right to it.
You can still grab any of your favorite [products] at?50% off?until midnight tonight.
50% off code: xxx
I’m sending this out as a final reminder so you don’t miss out.
As always, your orders are backed with a solid 30-day “love it or return it” money-back guarantee.
Button: Claim This Deal
The risks are all on us ??
Cheers,
[Founder’s Name]
===
It’s personal, conversational and feels like it came from an real human instead of a lifeless corporation.
When we applied this approach to our welcome flow, this was the result:
Before stepping in, here’s how my client’s welcome flow looked like:
If I’m the reader, I’d feel like the only thing this company wants is for me to pull my wallet.
Remember that when a customer subscribes to an email list, they?mayhave questions about your product (how and why is it different from the rest)… And they want to learn more about you (what you and your company stand for).
We added emails that addressed those questions.
After the revamp, here’s how my client’s welcome sequence looked like:
In just?4 months?(December 2022), we already?exceeded?the previous 12-month revenue.
And by the end of 2023 Q1 (March 2023 – after?7 months), we already doubled our welcome flow sales.
Step #2: Hyper-Focused Email List Segmentation
For instance, not all abandoned checkouts are created equal.
There are three (3) types of customers who abandon their carts:
When we created an abandoned checkout flow for EACH segment, here are our results:
Abandoned checkouts are straightforward — it’s just a simple follow up to complete the purchase.
So we only needed a little tweak on the message to match the type of customer.
And after just?6 months, we already?exceeded?the previous 12-months email sales from abandoned checkouts.
We used the same approach in all our email flows, where each one is sent out only to a specific customer segment.
For campaigns, here’s how our sales looked like:
As you can see, the?sales have immediately spiked on the very first month?(September 2022) of implementing direct response copy and careful list segmentation.
Important:?The first 2 steps are the very foundation of my email marketing campaigns, and the reasons why my emails can drive this amount of sales. Whether I’m building flows, launching a new product, or running a promotion… I make sure to carefully segment my clients’ list and send them relevant messages using direct response copy.
Step #3: Built More Flows
When we applied Steps #1 and #2 on all existing and new flows, here’s our results:
Here are the other flows we built:
As you can see, we haven’t built a full-stack flow yet.
No browse abandon flow, anniversary flow, or re-engagement flow.
But despite that, we’re still able to?exceed?the previous 12-month flow revenue in?5 months…
…And?double?it in?9 months.
For this project, my client wanted to prioritize sending consistent emails to keep both his prospects and customers warm.
We focused on launching promos and sending consistent newsletters so those flows, as much as they’re important, are not urgent.
(More about that in Steps #4 and #5).
However, I wanted to highlight the urgency of building a?win-back flow.
Why we Built a Win-Back Flow for First-Time Customers Only.
When we were carefully segmenting our list (Step #2), we noticed that about?50% of all the customers are only first-time buyers.
There’s a huge gap between the first-time customers and returning customers.
We needed extra help to lift our numbers for repeat sales, hence the urgency to build a win-back flow for?first-time customers only.
The gap between second and third time buyers is not that huge so we didn’t feel the need to set up a separate flow for that.
Our promos and newsletters are more than enough.
Bottomline, don’t just setup a flow and call it a day.
Make sure tailor-fit the message to the specific customer journey.
By doing this, you also prevent annoying your customers from receiving multiple win-back flows.
Same is true for all other flows.
With those insights, you get to prioritize and focus on the business’ needle movers, instead of wasting resources building something that don’t give immediate results.
领英推荐
Step #4: Promotional Emails Won’t Ruin Your Brand
But only of you do it right ??
Now… before I go deeper, let me share our results first:
When we applied direct response copy and segmentation to our promotions…
We’re able to?exceed?the previous 12-months revenue from promos?after 5 months…
…And?double?it in?9 months.
Now…
This is where most business owners freak out.
Word on the streets say that discounts destroy a brand’s reputation and ruin profit margins.
Discounts make products look cheap.
Well…
That’s because most ecommerce stores only send emails like this:
There’s nothing personal and conversational, so of course… it will really destroy your brand’s reputation if this is all that your customers receive.
But if you apply a personalized approach using direct response copy, that will not be the case.
Like for my client…
Despite the monthly promos, there are still those who complain about his supplements’ cost.
(The client admits it himself — his brand is on the pricier side).
And his brand remains as the supplement of choice for many celebrity athletes.
That seems not cheap to me ??
Plus… if you did not carefully think about your discount, it will surely ruin your profit margins.
The rule of thumb here is to give the highest discount possible?while still protecting?(and without hurting)?your desired profit margins.
For this client, the highest discount we ever offered is 20% off, which we only give it out on two (2) occasions:
Else, we give out 10-15% off.
Note: We only give discounts like this?exclusive?to online store buyers, and promote it?only?to our email list. Not to retail buyers. And not to Amazon buyers.
Imagine this:
Maybe you offer 15% off to entice customers to hop on subscription (and stays subscribed).
Maybe you throw in a free shipping too.
In terms of margins, how different is it when you offer 15% off on all on-subscription purchases?
Plus, think about all the savings you’ll get in a?Direct to Consumer channel:
These two (2) alone can already increase your profit margins.
With this in mind, why not give?a portion of that increase?as a discount to your DTC customers?
What way, you’re still able to increase your profit margins while also making your customers spend less on the same item…
…Compared to if they’re buy retail.
Everybody wins.
Step #5: Constant Communication Through Non-Promotional Email Newsletters.
One of the biggest (yet fixable) mistakes ecommerce businesses make is:
Sending emails only when there’s a promotion.
The other times is when their supplies are either?running low, or when they’re?back in stock.
Like this:
No content.
Quite an eye sore, right?
This is also another ticket to destroy a brand’s reputation.
Le me show you my client’s results when we started sending newsletter emails last October 2022.
Our main goal was to remain in constant communication, so we remain top of mind.
These emails are NOT meant to sell.
But despite that, we still managed to accumulate an?extra $71k in 8 months.
Shy of $10k per month average.
(We just hyperlinked his products whenever there’s a chance. We did not force it).
No coupons.
$0 ad spend.
All extra sales are pure profit (minus the cost of production).
Remember…
Your customers are trying to fix their problems.
They’re trying to solve their pain.
And they’re trying to achieve a desired outcome where all their pains and problems are solved.
Join them in that journey by sending educational (yet still entertaining) content through newsletter emails.
More Reasons to Send Broadcast Campaigns:
To end, let me add more reasons why
Aside from getting more sales from the emails itself, one main reason is that:
They can give your FLOWS a huge lift in sales.
Imagine this:
When a subscriber clicks a link on a newsletter email and performed a checkout, it will?trigger an abandoned cart flow.
If they clicked and viewed a product, it will?trigger a browse abandon flow.
When a subscriber buys from a promo email,?it will trigger a replenishment flow?later on.
If ever they don’t buy again, a?win-back flow will trigger?as insurance policy.
And so on.
Flows, promos and newsletters with direct response copy and careful list segmentation — they all work together to boost your email revenue and?add more sales to your bottomline.
Next Steps:
Need help in setting this up for your supplement business?
Just send me a message here on LinkedIn, or use the contact page in my website (link in the comments).