Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How Personalized SMS Boosts Repeat Rate by 30 Percent
Transcript
- Lucas: So let's talk about SMS — specifically, how a direct to consumer coffee roaster used personalized text messages to boost their repeat purchase rate by thirty percent. Luna: That's a big jump. Was this a brand we'd know? Lucas: It's a mid-sized roaster out of Portland — about fifteen thousand active customers, mostly subscribers. They'd been doing typical email retention: a welcome series, a replenishment reminder, a win-back flow. But they wanted to test SMS for a more immediate channel. Luna: And thirty percent lift — that's not just a small test. What was the core insight? Lucas: The insight was that coffee is a habit with a predictable depletion cycle. Most of their customers brew about two cups a day, so a twelve-ounce bag lasts roughly two weeks. They started sending a personalized SMS right around day twelve, suggesting a reorder with a specific recommendation based on the customer's last purchase. Luna: So instead of a generic 'time to reorder' message, they tailored the product suggestion. What did that look like? Lucas: If you'd bought a medium roast Ethiopian single-origin last time, the message might say: 'Hey, your Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is probably running low. We just got a new light roast Costa Rica that has a similar bright acidity — want to try it? Reply YES to order.' It felt like a barista who remembers your taste. Luna: I love that personal touch. What kind of metrics did they see? Lucas: They saw a twelve percent click-through rate on the SMS — that's the link to the product page. And about four percent of recipients actually completed a purchase from that message. Compare that to their email replenishment series, which was clicking at around two percent and converting at one-point-five percent. SMS was roughly two and a half times more effective. Luna: But SMS is also more intrusive. Did they have any pushback? Lucas: They were careful about that. They only sent to customers who had opted in specifically for SMS — not just a blanket checkbox on checkout. And they capped frequency at one message every two weeks for non-subscribers, and one per week for subscribers. They also included an 'opt out' reply option in every message. The unsubscribe rate was under one percent. Luna: So the key was relevance and restraint. One message at the right time, tailored to the customer's known preference. Lucas: Exactly. And they also segmented by order history. If someone had only bought once, the message was different — more educational, like 'We noticed you tried the Colombian last month. Here's a guide to our other medium roasts.' The thirty percent lift came from the subset of customers who had ordered at least twice. For one-time buyers, the lift was about fifteen percent. Luna: That still seems high. What do you attribute that to? Lucas: I think SMS feels more like a conversation than a broadcast. Email inboxes are cluttered — people get fifty marketing emails a day. SMS is still relatively sparse. When a brand texts you with something that actually acknowledges your history, it cuts through. It feels like a service, not spam. Luna: And coffee is a commodity — but the personalization makes it feel bespoke. That's a powerful retention lever. Lucas: Right. And the brand also experimented with timing. They found that sending the SMS between ten a.m. and noon on weekdays performed best. Weekend sends had lower conversion — people weren't thinking about reordering on Saturday. Luna: That's a practical takeaway. Now, we're recording this in late June 2026 — SMS costs have gone up over the past year with new carrier fees. Did that affect their ROI? Lucas: Good question. Their cost per message went up about twenty percent year-over-year, but because conversion was so high, the ROI still worked. They're spending about three cents per message, and their average order value is thirty-two dollars. So even with the higher cost, they're seeing a return of about twelve to one on SMS retention campaigns. Luna: That's solid. But I imagine not every brand can replicate this. What are the prerequisites? Lucas: You need a product with a predictable repurchase cycle, clean purchase data, and a customer base that's willing to opt in. If you sell furniture or mattresses, SMS isn't going to work the same way. But for consumables — coffee, supplements, skincare, pet food — this playbook can be very effective. Luna: You know, it's interesting — we talk a lot on this show about retention tactics that actually work in the real world. And it's conversations like this that remind me why listener support matters. A handful of folks chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many episodes ad-free. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small group, but it keeps the show independent. We don't have sponsors dictating topics or pushing products. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, that's exactly the kind of support that keeps us going. Luna: Anyway, back to SMS — one thing I'm curious about is how they handled customers who were already on a subscription. Did the SMS still apply? Lucas: Great question. For subscribers, they didn't send the replenishment message since the order was automatic. Instead, they sent a taste recommendation — like 'Your next shipment is a medium roast Peru. Want to swap to a decaf for the evening? Reply DECAF.' That actually increased upsells by eight percent. Luna: So SMS became a way to personalize the subscription experience, not just drive reorders. That's a smart way to reduce churn. Lucas: Exactly. The whole program was built around making the customer feel known. They even used purchase history to avoid recommending a product the customer had already tried and not reordered — which is a common mistake in email personalization. Luna: Right, nothing worse than getting a recommendation for something you bought and didn't like. So they tracked that? Lucas: They flagged any SKU that was purchased once but never again, and excluded it from future recommendations. That's a level of data hygiene that many brands skip, but it made the SMS feel truly tailored. Luna: I'm going to remember that. What about the SMS provider they used — any insights there? Lucas: They used a platform that integrates directly with their Shopify backend — I won't name the specific one, but the key was real-time inventory sync and customer profile access. That way the SMS could include current stock levels and only recommend products that were actually available. Luna: So the tech stack matters, but it's really the strategy and the data that drive the lift. Lucas: Totally. You could have the best SMS platform in the world, but if you're sending the same message to everyone at the wrong time, you'll just annoy people. Luna: Any pitfalls they encountered? Lucas: One: they initially sent the SMS too early — at day ten — and got complaints from customers who still had half a bag left. So they adjusted to day twelve based on feedback. Two: they had a technical issue where some customers received the same message twice because of a cron job bug. That caused a spike in unsubscribes. But they fixed it quickly. Luna: So testing and monitoring is critical. One message at the wrong time can undo a lot of goodwill. Lucas: Absolutely. And they also learned that including a customer's first name in the SMS boosted click-through by two percentage points. That's a small effort for a meaningful gain. Luna: Two percent is huge for just a merge tag. So personalization goes beyond just the product recommendation. Lucas: Right. The whole message should feel like it was written for one person. The best brands make you forget it's automated. Luna: So for our listeners who want to try something like this, what's the first step? Lucas: Start with a clean opt-in list. Then pick one segment — your most frequent buyers — and craft a single message based on their last purchase. Test it for two weeks, measure conversion, and iterate. Don't try to do everything at once. Luna: And make sure the timing aligns with the product's consumption cycle. That seems to be the secret sauce. Lucas: Exactly. For coffee, it's two weeks. For skincare, it might be a month. Know your product's depletion curve. Luna: Alright, I'm actually going to look at our own coffee supply at home and see when I last ordered. Lucas: Ha. That's the test. If you can predict your own consumption, you're already halfway there.