Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How a Skincare Brand Uses Email to Reduce Repeat Purchase Time by 30 Percent
Transcript
- Lucas: There's this moment every DTC brand obsesses over — the gap between a customer's first order and their second. And most brands fill that gap with discounts. But what if you could shorten the gap by nearly a month without offering a single dollar off? Luna: That sounds like the dream. Which brand actually pulled that off? Lucas: A direct to consumer skincare brand called GlowTheory. They sell serums and moisturizers — products with a clear consumption timeline. Their average customer took about 90 days to buy a second time. That's three months. For a product that lasts about 60 days with daily use. Luna: So customers were waiting until they were fully empty, maybe even a month after? That's a huge window for them to forget the brand. Lucas: Exactly. So GlowTheory built a three-email sequence designed to shorten that gap. The first email is a replenishment reminder timed to hit around day 45 — based on the product's typical usage rate. They calculated that a customer using two pumps per day would run out around day 60, so day 45 is 'you're halfway through, maybe think about reordering.' Luna: But isn't day 45 too early? Most people don't think about restocking until they see the bottom of the bottle. Lucas: That's the counterintuitive part. GlowTheory found that if they waited until day 60, customers often felt like they had time — and then they'd buy a week or two later. By emailing at day 45, they planted the seed early. The email didn't ask for an immediate purchase. It just said: 'You're about halfway through your serum. When you're ready, your next one is ready.' Luna: So it's a pre-emptive nudge, not a scarcity play. Did they include a discount? Lucas: No discount. That's the key detail. The email was purely informational with a link to reorder. They tested a version with 10 percent off and a version without any discount. The non-discount version actually had a higher click-through rate — 12 percent versus 9 percent. Customers who clicked without a discount also converted at a higher rate. Luna: That's surprising. But maybe the discount signaled desperation? Or the customers who clicked without one were already loyal. Lucas: GlowTheory's data team dug into that. They found that the discount version attracted more deal-seekers who bought once and never came back. The non-discount version filtered for customers who actually liked the product. So the second email in the sequence leaned even harder into value — not price value, but product value. Luna: What was the second email? Lucas: A social proof email sent at day 55. It featured three user-generated photos of customers using the product, with short testimonials. One was from a customer who said she saw results after six weeks — which is exactly when the first bottle would run out. So it reinforced that the product works, and that other people are reordering. Luna: So it's like: 'Look, this is working for people like you, and they're already on their second bottle.' That builds momentum. Lucas: Right. And the third email was a limited-edition restock alert at day 65. GlowTheory releases a seasonal variant of their best-selling serum — maybe a different scent or a slightly different formulation. The email said: 'Your current bottle is almost empty. The spring edition is back in stock. Order your next one now while it's available.' Luna: That's smart. It's not a false scarcity — it's a genuine limited product. And it gives customers a reason to buy now instead of waiting. Lucas: Exactly. The whole sequence took the repeat purchase window from 90 days down to 63 days on average. That's a 30 percent reduction. And the 30-day repeat rate — meaning the percentage of customers who bought again within 30 days of their first order — went from 8 percent to 11 percent. Not huge in absolute terms, but that's a 37.5 percent relative increase. Luna: That's impressive for just three emails with no discounts. But I wonder — does this only work for products with a clear consumption cycle? Like, if I'm selling something that lasts six months or doesn't get used up... Lucas: Great question. The replenishment timer only works if you can estimate usage. Skincare, supplements, coffee, pet food — those are ideal. But the social proof and limited-edition emails are category-agnostic. Any brand with a consumable product can adapt the timing logic. Luna: And the key insight is that the timing was based on actual usage data, not just a calendar date. GlowTheory had to know how many pumps per day customers used on average. That's pretty granular. Lucas: They got that from customer surveys and purchase frequency analysis. But even without exact usage data, you can approximate. If the product usually lasts 60 days, start the sequence at day 40 or 45. Test and iterate. Luna: So the episode makes me think — a lot of brands are leaving money on the table by not timing their emails to product consumption. They're sending generic 'we miss you' emails instead of 'your product is running out' emails. Lucas: And the 'we miss you' email usually comes way too late — like after 90 days of silence. By then, the customer has probably bought from a competitor. Luna: Hey, before we go further — I know we talk about marketing tactics every episode, and I hope some of these ideas have been useful for you. One thing we're proud of is that we keep these episodes ad-free. There's no sponsor break, no brand integration. That's a choice we made from the start. Lucas: Yeah, and it's only possible because of listeners who support the show. If you've gotten value from these conversations — maybe you've even applied something at your own brand — the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep the show independent. Luna: No pressure, no perks, just appreciation. Now back to GlowTheory's sequence — one thing I want to dig into is the email copy itself. Was it purely functional, or did they use storytelling? Lucas: They used a mix. The replenishment email was functional: 'Your serum is halfway done. Here's a link to reorder.' But the social proof email was more narrative. They framed it as: 'Meet Sarah. She started using our serum six weeks ago. Here's what happened.' So it felt like a mini case study. Luna: That makes sense. The functional email opens the loop, the social proof email closes it emotionally, and the limited-edition email creates urgency. Lucas: Exactly. And the subject lines reflected that. The first was 'Your serum is half full.' The second was 'See what Sarah noticed at 6 weeks.' The third was 'Spring edition is back — and your bottle is nearly empty.' Luna: Those are all specific, benefit-driven, and timely. No clickbait. One thing I'm curious about: did they send these to all customers, or only to customers who had purchased a specific product? Lucas: Only to customers who bought the hero serum — their top-selling product. They had enough data on usage for that one product. For other products with less data, they used a generic post-purchase sequence. So the sequence was product-specific, not customer-specific. Luna: That limits scalability, but it's a smart way to start. Pick your bestseller, prove the concept, then expand. Lucas: And they did expand. After the pilot, they rolled out similar sequences for their moisturizer and eye cream. The moisturizer saw a 25 percent reduction in repeat purchase window, the eye cream only 15 percent — probably because usage is more variable with eye cream. Luna: So the closer the product is to a consistent consumption pattern, the bigger the impact. That's a good rule of thumb for any brand considering this. Lucas: I think the bigger takeaway is that brands often default to discounting because it's easy. But GlowTheory showed that thoughtful timing and content can outperform discounts — and build a healthier customer base in the process. Luna: Yeah. Discounts train customers to wait for the next sale. Usage-based emails train them to reorder on your timeline.