Customers who have bought from your DTC brand on two occasions, are nine times more likely to convert compared with a one-time customer. Building out replenishment flows is a quick win way to drive more repeatable revenue from your existing customer base. They’re easy to implement and (apart from a little optimization) you can generally set up replenishment automations and leave them.
In addition to Relo insights, we’ve invited Georgie Carter from lifecycle marketing agency, Pepped and Klaviyo expert, Jordan Bourchier-Lee to contribute to this article. You’ll learn…
Georgie, founder at email marketing agency, Pepped says,
Although replenishment flows seem an obvious way to generate additional revenue from your current base, Georgie is surprised by how many brands don’t have one in place. “Many brands simply forget or think ‘they’ll remember to come back’ but you have to keep in mind that customers have so many other things going on in their lives and they’re being bombarded every single day with offers and messaging from other brands. Setting up a replenishment flow is crucial.”
Now that we understand replenishment flows are kind of a deal breaker, how should DTC brands go about creating them? We asked Georgie to take over this section.
The main aim of Klaviyo replenishment flows is to remind customers that their product is running out and they need to restock. Georgie advises brands to “keep these flows, short, sweet and to the point.”
Although you will want to keep the replenishment flow succinct, Georgie believes this is prime time to communicate ‘brand-focused messages.’ For instance if you are selling vitamins, you’ll want to communicate the benefits of using the specific vitamins over a certain-time. There are various reasons why customers may have chosen your brand including affordability, unique benefits, sustainability and values. Klaviyo’s segmentation feature allows you to segment customers based on purchase history, location and discounts.
Read more: Personalization tactics for better flows
Georgie says, “timing is absolutely critical. Be sure to take advantage of Klaviyo’s predictive analysis feature so you can start to learn more about your individual customers and send them messages at the right time rather than generic comms which go out to all customers.”
In terms of how many emails to add to the flow, Georgie recommends 3 as the sweet spot.
To explain how setting up replenishment flows work, we’ve asked in-house Klaviyo expert, Jordan Bourchier-Lee for his advice.
All Klaviyo flows are activated by a ‘trigger’ - this is simply a set of rules which prompts the flow to start. With a product replenishment flow, you want to ensure that the customer has not repurchased the item since buying it for them to enter the flow. You can do this by selecting the specific product, and indicating that the customer has bought it zero times since starting the flow.
The time lag between the customer entering the flow and receiving the first replenishment email depends on the specific product, but you’ll want to leave extra time for delivery and any delays. As Georgie mentioned, you can use Klaviyo’s predictive analysis to do this.
Read more: Discover how Relo’s Repeat Buy helps you target customers at the right time
Humans are always in-flux, and so is their behavior. Keep checking the data to determine when your customer is likely to reorder, and optimize appropriately.
To showcase best practice Klaviyo replenishment flow examples, we’ve called on Joshua Dickinson, Customer Success Manager at Pore Favor. Joshua says,
He continues, "Our capsules are part of a monthly recurring course that work best when people are able to use us for at least 3 months. By having a replenishment flow for customers who only buy 1 tub, we can remind customers to buy more to continue their course."
We try to drive people to our subscription service which increases lifetime value by over 150%. We also use these emails as an opportunity for people to ask us questions. We find our customer service to be one of our best methods of getting customers to continue their course (always avoid using a noreply@ email address!), and replenishment acts as a great time for people to get in touch if they have any reservations about reordering.
Since introducing the flows, Pore Favor's replenishment emails have a £ per recipient of £5.76, an open rate of 51%, and a click rate of 16%.
Creating a click-worthy subject line is just as important as the strategy and email creative. Jordan says,
With this in mind, the top things to remember are…
Best practice guidelines stipulate that email subject lines should be 40 characters or under. Over 70% of emails are opened on a mobile app, and any more than 40 characters is likely to be cut off on mobile. Take a look at our image examples for an idea of how 40 characters looks in practice.
Got a lot to say? Cut the message into slices by using the pre-header function. Think of your subject line as your high-priority message and your pre-header as your secondary message. Again, below 40 characters is the sweet spot.
Whether it’s trying out the use of emojis vs. plain text or a risque subject line vs. a safe bet, A/B split testing is a fantastic way to understand your audience and what works better. Klaviyo explains how to A/B test your content in its help section.
At Relo, we’re hooked on helping DTC brands grow and scale with products specifically designed to increase repurchase rates, subscription customers and subscription retention.
