Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How a Beauty Brand Uses Product Sampling Email to Boost Repeat Rate
Transcript
- Lucas: A lot of brands spend heavily on free samples — in-store, in shipments, at pop-ups — but they never follow up. Luna: Right. The sample lands in the customer’s hand, and then… silence. Lucas: Exactly. And if you’re not sending an email after the sample, you’re basically leaving money on the table. Today I want to look at a beauty brand called Flora & Fable that turned sampling into a repeat-purchase engine. Luna: I love that brand. Their moisturizer is a cult favorite in my friend group. Lucas: So you’re exactly the target. Flora & Fable started as a direct to consumer skincare line and grew mostly through word of mouth. But they noticed something: customers who received a free sample in their order were not buying the full size at a higher rate than customers who didn’t get a sample. Luna: Wait, really? I would have assumed samples would boost sales automatically. Lucas: You’d think so. But the data showed that without a follow-up, the sample had almost no lift. So they built a two-email sequence triggered the day the package was delivered. Luna: And if these marketing conversations have sparked something you’ve actually used at work or just found interesting, honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that’s the link: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it’s a small way to keep the show ad-free and focused on tactics like this. And we really appreciate it. Luna: So back to Flora & Fable — what was in that first email? Lucas: The first email went out the day after delivery, with the subject line: ‘How did the sample work for your skin?’ It was purely conversational. No discount, no hard sell. Just a request for a one-sentence review and a link to the full-size product page. Luna: So they were collecting social proof while planting the seed for the purchase. Lucas: Exactly. And that email had a click-through rate of 14 percent, which is high for a post-purchase email. Then the second email went out five days later, only to people who had opened the first one but not bought the full size. Luna: So a segmented follow-up. Smart. Lucas: The second email had a different subject line: ‘Still deciding? Here’s 15 percent off your first full-size.’ That email converted at 8 percent. Combined, the two-email sequence lifted the repeat-purchase rate by 22 percentage points among customers who received a sample. Luna: Twenty-two points is huge. What was the control group’s repeat rate? Lucas: Customers who got a sample but no follow-up had about a 12 percent repeat rate within 60 days. The sequence pushed it to 34 percent. Luna: So the email was essentially the difference between a one-time sample and a loyal customer. Lucas: Right. And the key insight here is that the timing matters more than the discount. The first email had no discount, but it got people to engage. The second email had a modest discount, but only for those who had already shown interest. Luna: That’s a really clean approach. A lot of brands would just blast a 15 percent off email to everyone. Luna: I also love that the first email asked for a review. That’s a double win — you get user-generated content and prime the purchase. Lucas: Exactly. And they actually incorporated those reviews into the product pages, which further boosted conversion for everyone else. Luna: So what’s the takeaway for a brand that wants to copy this? Do you need a fancy email platform? Lucas: Not at all. You need a trigger — like a delivery event or a sample-tracking code — and two simple emails. The first email should be about utility or feedback, not sales. The second can be a gentle offer. Flora & Fable used Klaviyo, but you could do this in any email service provider that supports automation. Luna: One thing I wonder about: does this work for every product category? Skincare is high-touch and experiential. Lucas: Good question. I think it works best for categories where the sample needs to be tested over a few days — like skincare, supplements, food, even pet treats. For single-use samples like a fragrance strip, the timing is tighter. Luna: That makes sense. So the key is giving the customer enough time to form an opinion, then emailing them while the sample is still on their mind. Lucas: Exactly. And Flora & Fable found that the sweet spot was between day one and day five. After that, the sample gets lost in the drawer and the intent fades. Luna: So they’re essentially creating a micro-commitment: first try, then feedback, then purchase. Lucas: That’s a great way to put it. And the feedback email also helps them identify which samples are actually driving full-size purchases, so they can double down on the winners. Luna: That’s a nice loop. Better sampling inventory decisions over time. Lucas: Right. So if you’re a brand that already includes samples in shipments, the first thing to do is add a delivery-triggered email. The second thing is to think about the copy — make it about the customer’s experience, not your product. Luna: And if you don’t send samples at all, is this worth starting? Lucas: It depends on your margin and product cost. But if you have a hero product, sending a sample with a follow-up email can be cheaper than acquiring a new customer through ads. Flora & Fable’s cost per repeat purchase through sampling was about 60 percent lower than their Facebook ad cost. Luna: That’s a compelling number. So sampling isn’t just a marketing expense — it’s a retention investment. Lucas: Exactly. And the email is what turns that investment into a measurable return.