Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How Casper Uses Email to Win Back Mattress Shoppers
Transcript
- Lucas: You buy a mattress online — it shows up in a box, you unroll it, and then you're supposed to sleep on it for a hundred nights before deciding if you like it. That's a long window for buyer's remorse to creep in. Casper, the DTC mattress company, has built one of the more thoughtful email sequences I've seen specifically to manage that hundred-night trial period. Luna: It's such a high-consideration purchase. A mattress is expensive, it's personal, and you can't really test it before buying. So the post-purchase email flow isn't just about cross-selling pillows — it's about preventing that regret and making sure the customer actually keeps the mattress. Lucas: Exactly. And Casper's sequence has a clear logic to it. The first email isn't a thank-you — it's a shipping confirmation with a very specific narrative: 'Your mattress is on its way. Here's what to expect when it arrives. It might have a slight smell at first — that's normal. Give it a few hours to expand.' They're preempting the most common objections before the customer even has them. Luna: Right, the 'off-gassing' issue. That's one of the top complaints in online mattress reviews. If you don't warn people, they think something's wrong. Lucas: Then, a few days after delivery, Casper sends what they call the '30-Day Check-In' email. It's not asking for a review yet. It says something like, 'How's the sleep? Your body may need a few weeks to adjust to a new mattress. That's completely normal.' They're basically giving the customer permission to be unsure. Luna: It's almost like a customer success play, not a marketing play. They're reducing cognitive dissonance. Because if you've just spent a thousand dollars on a bed, you want to believe it was the right call. Lucas: The 60-day email shifts tone a little. By then, most people have adjusted. So Casper asks, 'How are you sleeping now?' and includes a short survey. They use that data to segment: people who say they're sleeping great get a different follow-up than people who report discomfort. Luna: What do they do with the ones who aren't loving it? I'd guess they try to troubleshoot before the customer initiates a return. Lucas: Exactly. If someone says their back hurts, Casper might send an email with tips on pillow height or mattress toppers. They're trying to fix the problem with an accessory rather than eating the return cost. And even if the customer does return, that email sequence makes them feel like the brand cared. Luna: That's smart because the return is a loss anyway — might as well salvage the relationship. What about the 90-day mark? That's usually when people decide to keep it. Lucas: The 90-day email is the big one. It says something like, 'You've been sleeping on your Casper for three months. If you love it, you don't need to do anything — your trial ends automatically. If you're not satisfied, here's how to start a return.' But they also include a testimonial from another customer and a link to write a review. Luna: So the default is to keep it — you have to actively opt out. That's a classic behavioral economics trick. People are lazy, so most won't initiate the return. Lucas: Right. And the review request at that point is genius because the customer has just implicitly committed to the product by not returning it. They're more likely to write a glowing review right then. Casper reportedly saw a big jump in five-star reviews after they aligned the review ask with the end of the trial. Luna: Then after the hundred days, do they switch to cross-selling mode? Lucas: They do. The hundred-day email celebrates that the customer is officially a Casper owner. And then — maybe a week later — comes the first real cross-sell: 'Make your bed complete with our premium sheets and pillows.' But it's not aggressive. They frame it as enhancing the sleep experience you've already decided you love. Luna: That's a softer entry than hitting someone with a discount code on day one. They respect the relationship they've built over those three months. Lucas: Exactly. And the metrics back it up. Casper's reported repeat purchase rate among customers who went through the full trial sequence is significantly higher than those who bought from a retailer like Amazon, where there's no branded follow-up. They've also seen higher net promoter scores among trial-completers. Luna: It makes sense. The email sequence is essentially a onboarding program for a physical product. Most companies think onboarding is just for software. Casper proved it works for a mattress too. Lucas: And they've refined it over time. Early versions of the sequence were more sales-oriented — they tried to push accessories too soon. They learned that the trust-building phase had to come first. Luna: That's a lesson a lot of DTC brands could apply. I think about how many subscription boxes or meal kits just send a 'thanks for your order' and then nothing until the next shipment. They're missing that critical nurturing window. Lucas: Absolutely. The Casper sequence works because it maps to the customer's psychological journey — from uncertainty to familiarity to advocacy. The emails arrive exactly when the customer needs reassurance, not when the brand needs a sale. Luna: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own retention strategy, that's exactly the kind of feedback that keeps this show ad-free. Listener support at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps us keep digging into specific case studies like this one. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small way to say this kind of deep-dive content is valuable. And we genuinely read every note people leave. Luna: So back to Casper — one thing I've always wondered: do they segment by mattress model? Like, if you bought the more expensive Nova or the budget-friendly Element, does the email flow change? Lucas: They do. Higher price-point customers get a slightly more premium tone — more white space, fewer links, a softer call to action. The budget-line customers get a more direct value message: 'Here's how to get the most out of your Element for years to come.' But the core structure is the same. Luna: That level of detail is what separates a good email program from a great one. Most brands would just blast the same sequence to everyone. Lucas: Right. And Casper's results show that the extra effort pays off. Their repeat purchase rate from the email channel is reportedly over twenty percent, which is impressive for a category where people buy a new mattress every eight to ten years. Luna: So they're not just selling more mattresses — they're selling pillows, sheets, mattress protectors, even bed frames. That second purchase might be a thirty-dollar pillow, but it opens the door to a long-term relationship. Lucas: Exactly. And the lifetime value of a customer who buys a mattress and then a pillow within six months is dramatically higher than someone who just buys the mattress. The email sequence is the bridge between those two purchases. Luna: One last thing — do they use any SMS in this flow? Or is it strictly email? Lucas: Primarily email. But they do have an SMS opt-in at checkout, and if you opt in, you get a text on delivery day with a photo of the box and a 'happy sleeping' message. It's a nice touch, but the heavy lifting is all email. Luna: That makes sense. SMS feels too intrusive for a hundred-day nurturing cycle. Email gives you the space to tell a story. Lucas: And that story — from 'your mattress is coming' to 'you're a Casper lifer' — is the real product. The foam is just the medium.