Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How a Pet Brand Uses Lifecycle Milestones Email to Boost Repeat Rate
Transcript
- Lucas: Last week I got an email from Bark & Bowl, which is a direct to consumer pet food brand, congratulating my dog on his adoption anniversary. It had a photo of him from the day we brought him home — which I had uploaded to their site months ago — and a 15 percent off code for his favorite kibble. Luna: Wait, they remembered the adoption date? That feels almost too personal for an automated email. Lucas: That's exactly the reaction they're going for. And it works. Bark & Bowl's head of retention told me that customers who receive at least one lifecycle milestone email in their first six months have a 35 percent higher repeat purchase rate than those who don't. That's not a small bump. Luna: So what counts as a lifecycle milestone? Is it just anniversaries and birthdays? Lucas: They run four main triggers. Adoption anniversary — that's the one I got. Pet birthday, which they estimate based on the adoption date if the owner didn't provide an exact birthday. Weight-change alerts — if a customer buys a different protein or indicates their pet has lost or gained weight, they send a recommendation email. And then a 'new puppy' or 'new kitten' series that starts when someone first buys a puppy or kitten formula. Luna: The weight-change one is interesting. How do they know the pet's weight changed? Lucas: Great question. They prompt customers to update their pet's weight after every third purchase — it's a single text input in the post-purchase survey. About 40 percent of customers fill it in. If the weight shifts by more than 10 percent, the system flags it and sends an email with portion size guidance and a recommended recipe. It's not just a helpful nudge — it's also a way to prevent churn from overfeeding or underfeeding. Luna: So the email is genuinely useful, not just a 'hey we miss you' generic blast. That seems to be the pattern with the best lifecycle emails. Lucas: Exactly. The generic anniversary email — 'it's been a year since your first order!' — those have a click-through rate of around 2 to 3 percent industry-wide. Bark & Bowl's adoption anniversary emails are pulling 12 to 15 percent click-through. The difference is the emotional hook. They ask customers to upload a photo of their pet at account creation, and they use that photo in the email. The subject line is usually something like 'We remember the day you met.' Luna: That subject line would make me open it even if I wasn't planning to buy anything. But does it actually drive purchases, or just warm feelings? Lucas: It drives purchases. The 15 percent discount code in that email converts at about 8 percent — which is high for a retention email. But the real metric they care about is repeat rate over the next 90 days. Customers who get the adoption anniversary email are 22 percent more likely to place a second order within three months, compared to a control group that got a standard 'we miss you' email with the same discount. Luna: So the creative matters more than the offer. That's a good reminder for marketers who default to 'just give them 20 percent off.' Lucas: Right. And the timing matters too. Bark & Bowl sends the adoption anniversary email exactly on the anniversary date, at 10 AM local time — not a week before, not a week after. They tested sending it a week early to give people time to plan, and the conversion rate dropped by half. People want the email on the actual day. Luna: That makes sense for an anniversary. But what about the birthday email? Do they send it on the exact birthday or do they need to estimate? Lucas: They estimate. Only about 15 percent of customers provide an actual birthdate, so for the rest they use the adoption date and subtract the estimated age at adoption. For example, if someone adopted a dog that the shelter said was about two years old, they set the birthday as two years before the adoption date. It's not perfect, but it's close enough that customers rarely correct it. And the birthday email includes a 'help us get it right' link where you can update the date — about 5 percent of recipients do. Luna: So the email itself becomes a data collection tool. That's clever. And I imagine the weight-change email is even more targeted — probably a smaller list but higher conversion. Lucas: You'd think so, but actually the conversion rate on the weight-change email is about the same as the anniversary email — 8 percent. The difference is the average order value. People who click through from the weight-change email spend about 18 percent more, because they're often buying a different recipe or adding supplements. The email recommends specific products, so it's almost like a personalized consultation. Luna: Let's talk about the new puppy series. That's a different beast because you're trying to establish a habit from the very first purchase. Lucas: Exactly. The new puppy series is five emails over the first 30 days. Email one: welcome and congratulations, with a guide to transitioning foods. Email two: a checklist of essential supplies — they link to their own accessories shop. Email three: a video on portioning for growing puppies. Email four: a reminder to set up autoship. Email five: a survey asking about the puppy's energy level and stool quality, which feeds back into future recommendations. Luna: That's a lot of emails in the first month. Do customers unsubscribe? Lucas: Unsubscribe rate is under 1 percent. The retention team told me they tested a three-email version and a seven-email version. Three emails wasn't enough to build the habit — the autoship conversion was 15 percent lower. Seven emails annoyed people — unsubscribe rate doubled. Five hit the sweet spot. Luna: So the ideal frequency depends on the lifecycle stage. A new pet owner is hungry for information, so they'll tolerate more emails. A one-year anniversary — one email is enough. Lucas: And the content has to match the mindset. For the new puppy series, the emails are mainly educational with soft product placement. For the anniversary email, it's purely emotional with a discount as a thank-you. For the weight-change email, it's authoritative advice. Different tones for different moments. Luna: I want to ask about the technical side — how do they actually trigger these emails? Is it all in their email service provider or do they need a custom CRM? Lucas: They use Klaviyo, which has built-in lifecycle triggers based on customer properties. They store each pet's name, adoption date, estimated birthday, and weight history as custom properties on the customer profile. The weight-change trigger is a bit more complex — it fires when a customer updates their pet's weight via the survey, and the new value exceeds a 10 percent threshold from the previous entry. That required a custom workflow, but Klaviyo's flow builder handled it. Luna: So a mid-market tool can handle this. You don't need enterprise software to run sophisticated lifecycle emails. Lucas: Not at all. The hard part isn't the tech — it's the data collection. You have to design the prompts so customers willingly give you information without feeling surveilled. Bark & Bowl's trick is to frame every data request as a benefit to the pet. 'Help us make sure gets the right portion' — that gets a much higher response than 'Update your profile.' Luna: That's a great framing. And it applies beyond pets — any brand with a recurring usage cycle could do something similar. A coffee brand could ask about brewing method changes, a skincare brand about skin type changes. Lucas: Absolutely. The principle is universal: collect lifecycle data in exchange for a better experience. And then use that data to send emails that feel like they're from someone who actually knows you, not a robot. Luna: I have to say, you made me want to check my email for my own dog's adoption anniversary. I'm not even sure I set that up. Lucas: If you didn't, Bark & Bowl will probably send you a 'we noticed you haven't set your pet's birthday' email. That's another trigger — they call it the 'missing data' sequence. It converts at about 4 percent on getting people to fill in the info, and those people then become lifecycle email recipients. Luna: So the lifecycle program is self-reinforcing. The more emails you send, the more data you collect, the better the emails get. Lucas: And the higher the repeat rate. Bark & Bowl's overall repeat rate — across all customers — is 28 percent. For customers who are in the lifecycle program — meaning they've received at least one milestone email — it's 42 percent. That's a 50 percent lift. Luna: Honestly, if today's conversation sparked an idea you might actually use — like setting up a weight-change trigger for your own customers — that's the kind of thing that makes this show worth doing. If it was worth a coffee to you, there's a link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to keep these episodes ad-free and independent. Lucas: Yeah, listener support is what lets us spend time digging into specifics like this instead of chasing ad revenue. Appreciate anyone who chips in. Luna: Alright, let's get back to the data. Lucas, you mentioned a missing data sequence — what other triggers are they planning to add? Lucas: They're testing a 'seasonal change' trigger for customers in climates with real winters — suggesting a higher-calorie recipe when temperatures drop. And a 'multi-pet household' trigger that fires when someone buys two different recipes, offering a bundle discount. The lifecycle model is extensible as long as you keep collecting the right signals. Luna: I like the multi-pet one. That's a clear upsell opportunity disguised as convenience. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a way to increase share of wallet without being pushy. If you have two dogs eating two different foods, and you can consolidate both into one order with a discount, that's a win for everyone. Luna: So the takeaway for marketers is: identify the natural milestones in your customer's journey — not just purchase anniversaries, but events that change their needs. Then design a trigger that feels helpful, not promotional. Lucas: And start collecting the data now, even if you only have a simple form. Bark & Bowl's first lifecycle email program was just the adoption anniversary — they added the others over two years. You don't need the perfect system on day one. Luna: Any final number that stuck with you from this case? Lucas: The 22 percent lift in 90-day repeat rate from a single anniversary email. One email, sent on the right day, with the right photo. That's the power of lifecycle marketing when it's done with genuine care. Luna: Alright, that's a good note to end on. Next episode we'll look at how a supplement brand uses text-based quizzes to segment new subscribers. See you then. Lucas: Take care, everyone.