The problem
Your email or SMS reporting runs on opens and tool-attributed revenue.
Ecommerce retention agency work: email, SMS, CRM and loyalty, counted in margin
As an ecommerce retention agency, we run everything that brings customers back: the audit, the strategy, setting up and implementing your email, SMS and CRM tools, flows and campaigns, CRM data and segmentation, lifecycle planning, and loyalty or subscription programmes where they fit. We report on repeat purchases, revenue per customer and margin. Not on open rates, and not on the revenue an email tool credits to itself.
Growth economics & retention
Problems we fix
How we fix it
So we report clicks, orders and revenue per recipient, checked against a holdout where we can.
What you get
A retention audit to start
It is one of our free audits: what runs after the first order, what is missing, and what that may be costing you.
Retention strategy
What retention should do for your margin, which programmes come first, and what to leave out.
Tool set-up and implementation
Whether you already have an email, SMS or CRM tool or need a new one, we set it up in your account, configure it, connect it to your shop's order data and build the segments, flows and templates in it.
Email and SMS flows
Email automation flows are messages triggered by what a customer does: welcome, abandoned checkout, post-purchase, replenishment and win-back. For example, an email platform's help pages describe a post-purchase flow triggered by a placed order1, and an abandoned-cart flow that starts when a checkout is started but not completed2.
Campaigns
One-off sends to a segment. The same help pages call campaigns proactive and flows reactive3. Both have a job.
CRM data and segmentation
Who bought what, when and how often. Segments built on behaviour.
Lifecycle planning
What a customer hears after the first order, the third, and the silence.
Loyalty or subscription programmes
Where your product and buying cycle justify one. Not by default.
Deliverability and consent set-up
Authentication, unsubscribe, complaint rates, list hygiene, and consent capture built to what your counsel decides.
Reporting on orders and margin
With a holdout test where volume allows.
We work in your tools and accounts. Data, flows and templates stay yours. We don't claim partnerships with email platforms. Our notes on tools are in ecommerce email and CRM platforms and SMS marketing platforms for ecommerce.
Is email revenue extra revenue?
Not necessarily. Email tools credit themselves with orders, and many of those orders would have happened anyway. The question is incrementality: what would customers have bought without the email?
Where your list is big enough, a holdout group skips the flow and we compare orders. Where it isn't, we say what the report can't show.
Are open rates still reliable?
Not on their own. Apple Mail Privacy Protection downloads remote email content in the background, whether or not the reader engages with the email4. Apple says it also prevents senders from seeing if a message was opened5. An email platform's own help centre says open rates will be inflated, and advises watching other deliverability metrics too6.
So we report clicks, orders and revenue per recipient, checked against a holdout where we can. More in Apple Mail Privacy Protection open rate.
What does deliverability involve?
Reaching the inbox, not just the server. Gmail's sender guidelines require bulk senders to authenticate their email, support one-click unsubscribe for marketing messages and keep spam rates low, with a limit and a lower recommended level7. Yahoo's sender best practices set the same three requirements for bulk senders8. DMARC is part of that authentication.
We set this up with whoever controls your sending domain's DNS, and monitor it, for example with Google Postmaster Tools. The checklist is in Gmail Yahoo bulk sender requirements.
Who decides on consent?
Your counsel. Consent for email and SMS marketing is a legal question, and we don't give legal advice. Terms such as the soft opt-in are explained in our glossary; whether one applies to you is for your counsel.
What we do: set up consent capture, sign-up forms and unsubscribe handling in your tools to match that decision, before the first send.
How it works
- 1
Problem
The free retention audit: flows, list health, deliverability, consent capture, and what repeat purchase looks like in your data.
- 2
Plan
Which flows, segments and programmes to build first, and why, in margin terms. Our approach is in customer retention strategy ecommerce.
- 3
Execution
We configure your tools, build and run the flows and campaigns, and fix authentication and consent set-up with your team. See email marketing for ecommerce.
- 4
Decision
We read repeat purchases, revenue per customer and margin against holdouts or cohorts. Then we keep, change or switch off.
Case studies
Rebuilding a growth engine for a recovery-footwear brand
A category-defining recovery-footwear brand had a growing market, a best-in-class product, and a shrinking customer base.
A recovery-footwear brand
- +27.8%
- net-new customers, full year over prior year
- −33%
- cost per new customer, exit quarter vs starting quarter
Ladymakeup: where the growth was hiding in the CRM data
A comprehensive analysis of marketing, CRM, and Google Analytics data pinpointed where the potential to scale sales lay: one market, three channels, and a basket that could be bigger.
- 200%
- potential increase in PPC revenue identified
- 464%
- higher LTV in Country A vs. Country B
“Everything works very smoothly.”
How do you measure repeat purchase?
First agree the formula. Repeat purchase rate can be counted on customers or on orders, and an analytics vendor shows the choice changes the result on the same data9. We fix the definition, then compare cohorts of your own customers.
Loyalty programmes need the same care. Members often look like better customers, but loyal customers are more likely to join in the first place. One independent study of loyalty programmes found modest changes in buying behaviour after joining10. A loyalty vendor's case study is the vendor's own account of one brand11. We judge a programme against comparable non-members, not against members' own history. Platform notes are in loyalty and subscription platforms for ecommerce.
Who it's for, and who it's not for
How you can buy it
On its own, or together with our other services. You can start with the free retention audit. We don't publish prices. Scope first, fee second.
What we don't promise
What we need from you: access to your email or CRM platform, DNS for the sending domain, order data, and your counsel's decisions on consent.
Tools
Google Postmaster ToolsDMARC
FAQ
What does your retention work include?
Everything: the audit, strategy, setting up and implementing your email, SMS and CRM tools, flows and campaigns, CRM segmentation, lifecycle, loyalty where it fits, deliverability and consent set-up, and reporting on repeat purchases and margin.
Are open rates still reliable?
Not on their own. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates them. We report clicks, orders and revenue per recipient.
Do we need DMARC for Gmail and Yahoo?
If you send bulk marketing email, yes. Both expect authentication, one-click unsubscribe and low spam complaints.
Can we email customers who didn't sign up to marketing?
That is a legal question about consent. Your counsel decides; we set up your lists, segments and consent capture to that decision.
When should we stop emailing inactive subscribers?
Once "inactive" is defined for your buying cycle and a short win-back campaign has run. A vendor guide ties "lapsed" to the category12, and trade media links sunset policies to deliverability13.
Can you work with the email tool we already have?
Yes. We configure and work in your tools; data, flows and templates stay yours. If you need a new tool, we help you choose it and set it up in your account.
Who runs this for you?
Marketing Strategist
Stan Heropolitanski
Over ten years in marketing. Budgets up to about $18M a year. I still care more about contribution margin than about any channel's dashboard.
Sources
- How to create a post-purchase flow - Klaviyo Help CenterVendor
- Move shoppers from consideration to purchase - Klaviyo AcademyVendor
- Getting started with omnichannel campaigns - Klaviyo Help CenterVendor
- Mail Privacy Protection & Privacy - Apple LegalPrimary source
- Use Mail Privacy Protection on iPhone - Apple SupportPrimary source
- Troubleshooting low flow open rates - Klaviyo Help CenterVendor
- Email sender guidelines - Gmail HelpPrimary source
- Sender Best Practices - YahooPrimary source
- Repeat Purchase Rate in Ecommerce: Formula, Benchmarks, and the Definition Nobody Agrees On - Polar AnalyticsVendor
- Loyalty programs and their impact on repeat-purchase loyalty patterns (worldcat)Primary source
- Soludos case study - LoyaltyLionVendor
- Winback Email Campaign Strategy - LTV AIVendor
- Rethink your email sunset policy - Practical EcommerceBlog or media
Start with the free retention audit, or bring your flow reports to a call about your retention and budget decisions.
For channel choice, read email vs SMS marketing for ecommerce.