DTC retention marketing
Ninety days to turn a first order into a habit.
Direct-to-consumer brands win or lose a customer in the first three months. We build the post-purchase window, the subscription and replenishment logic, the VIP tiers and the founder-voice sequences that make the second order the natural next step.
Retention systems built for 150+ Shopify stores · Tiers from $3,500 a month
What is included
Everything the retainer covers, in the order we build it.
No add-on menu. The pieces below are the service; the tiers decide depth and whether SMS is in scope.
- 01
First-90-days post-purchase track
Seven touches from order confirmation to day 90: expectation setting, first use, review and referral, cross-sell, subscription, VIP invitation and one honest win-back — each timed from delivery, not from purchase.
- 02
Subscription and replenishment logic
Subscribe-and-save offered at the point in the cycle where it makes sense, priced against the one-off, with pause, skip and swap flows that keep subscribers from cancelling outright.
- 03
VIP tiers and early access
Thresholds from your order data (typically the top 10% by spend), an early-access track for launches and restocks, and a reply route to a real person.
- 04
Founder-voice sequences
Three of the seven post-purchase touches written in the founder’s voice from an interview with you: the why, the standards, the ask. Reused across campaigns.
- 05
Cross-sell and bundle logic
What goes with what, from actual order pairs, placed in the day-30 touch and the campaign calendar — not a generic “you might also like”.
- 06
Review, referral and UGC asks
Timed from delivery confirmation, with the product’s time-to-result built in; integrated with your review and referral apps.
- 07
Churn intervention for subscribers
Flows that fire before the renewals where cancellations cluster, with the alternatives to cancelling made obvious.
- 08
Lifecycle campaigns and reporting
A monthly calendar for launches, restocks and VIP moments; a monthly report on 90-day repeat rate, subscription retention, VIP revenue share and attributed revenue by flow.
How we work
Six steps, six weeks to live, then monthly.
Each step ends with something written down. If we disappeared after step two you would still have a plan your team could run.
Week 1
We read your account before we touch it.
Where the revenue is leaking
Every flow, every campaign, list health, deliverability, segment logic and the revenue each piece attributes. You get the gaps ranked by money, not by opinion.
- 01Flow-by-flow revenue and send volume
- 02List capture, engagement and suppression health
- 03Deliverability: domains, complaint rate, inbox placement
- 04Segment logic against actual order data
- You get: A written audit with the first 90 days planned.
Week 2
RFM segments from your orders, and a calendar built around your peaks.
Segments and the calendar
Recency, frequency and monetary tiers from real order history; lifecycle stages; a campaign calendar that starts with your seasons, not a template.
- 01RFM and lifecycle segmentation
- 02Offer ladder by segment (who gets a discount, who never does)
- 03Send-time and frequency rules
- 04Campaign calendar for the next quarter
- You get: A strategy document your team can run without us.
Weeks 3–5
The core flows, written and designed for your brand.
Flows and templates
Welcome, browse and cart abandonment, post-purchase, replenishment, win-back and VIP — each with copy, design, timing and the split tests already planned.
- 01Copy and design per flow, on-brand
- 02Trigger, filter and timing logic checked against real orders
- 03Templates your team can reuse for campaigns
- 04SMS steps where they earn their place
- You get: Flows live, documented, with QA screenshots.
Week 6
Ramped sends, warmed domains, no spike.
Go-live without a deliverability hit
New flows go live in stages so engagement stays high and the sending reputation you have is protected. Campaigns start on the calendar from strategy.
- 01Staged rollout by segment
- 02Domain and IP warm-up if needed
- 03First campaigns on the new calendar
- 04Reporting dashboard set up
- You get: Everything running, with a baseline recorded.
Monthly
Subject lines, offers, timing and creative — one variable at a time.
A/B tests with a hypothesis
Every test has a written hypothesis and a minimum sample. Winners roll into the flows; losers are documented so nobody re-tests them.
- 01Subject line and preview text
- 02Offer type and depth by segment
- 03Send time and flow delays
- 04Design and layout variants
- You get: A test log with results and the next tests queued.
Monthly
One report: what each flow and campaign earned, and what changes next.
Revenue, not open rates
Attributed revenue by flow and campaign, list growth, repeat-purchase rate, email and SMS share of store revenue — and the plan for next month.
- 01Revenue by flow and campaign
- 02Repeat rate and LTV movement
- 03List and deliverability health
- 04Next month’s calendar and tests
- You get: A monthly report and a 30-minute review call.
Who this is for
Signs your store needs this now.
Six patterns we see in the audit. Two of them is a gap; four is a programme waiting to be built.
- 01
First 90 days
Most customers buy once and vanish
If your 90-day repeat rate is under 20%, the post-purchase window is empty or generic. That window is the cheapest retention you will ever buy.
- 02
Subscriptions
Subscribe & save exists but nobody subscribes
A subscription offer that is not timed to the reorder cycle, not explained in the post-purchase flow and not priced against the one-off is just a checkbox.
- 03
Voice
Your emails sound like every other DTC brand
DTC customers bought a founder’s point of view. If the emails are written by a template, the reason they chose you is missing from the one place it should be loudest.
- 04
VIP
Your best customers get the same 15% as everyone
The top 10% of customers by spend want access, not discounts: first look, early stock, a reply from a human. Treat them like the list and they leave like the list.
- 05
Churn
Subscribers cancel at the second or third renewal
Cancellation clusters at predictable points. A retention programme intervenes before them — with pause, swap and skip options, not a plea after the fact.
- 06
Community
Reviews, referrals and UGC are asked for once, badly
The moment to ask is when the product has just worked. That moment is knowable from delivery data; most brands ask at the wrong time or not at all.
Engagement options
Pick the tier that fits.
Two retainers, the prices on the page, and a free audit that tells you which one you need — or that you need neither yet.
A 60-minute call with your account open: every flow, campaign and segment read, the gaps ranked by revenue, written up the same day.
Free60 minutes
No pitch deck · if we are not the right fit, we say so
- 60 minutes, on a call, with your account open
- A written summary of the gaps, ranked by revenue
- No pitch deck. If we are not the right fit, we say so
Tier 1 · per month
For brands doing $500K–$2M a year.
$3,500
Month to month after the first 90 days · everything below included
- Full flow stack: welcome, browse, cart, post-purchase, replenishment, win-back, VIP
- Monthly campaign calendar, written and designed
- Segmentation and list health management
- Deliverability monitoring
- Monthly revenue report and review call
Most scaling brands
Tier 2 · per month
For scaling brands at $2M+.
$5,500
Month to month after the first 90 days · everything below included
- Everything in Tier 1
- SMS strategy, consent capture and flows
- Structured A/B testing programme with a test log
- Quarterly lifecycle deep-dive and re-segmentation
- Loyalty and VIP programme design
- Priority turnaround on campaigns
Brands above $10M, multi-store groups and platform migrations are scoped individually after the audit.
Recent work
Email built for 150+ Shopify stores.
Flows and campaigns we wrote and designed. The results for these brands sit under NDA; the work is public.
All services
Also on this site: Petworld International, Myntgift, Matter of Monday — and 150+ Shopify stores whose results sit under NDA.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is DTC retention marketing?
DTC retention marketing is retention for brands that sell directly to their customers rather than through retailers: email and SMS flows, subscriptions and replenishment, VIP tiers and loyalty, all aimed at turning a first order into a habit. Because a DTC brand owns the customer relationship and the data, retention is where much of its margin is made.
What does DTC mean in marketing?
DTC means direct-to-consumer: the brand sells to its customers through its own store, usually on Shopify, instead of through wholesalers or retailers. It owns the customer data, the pricing and the relationship, which is what makes email, SMS and loyalty so valuable for DTC brands.
What is the difference between DTC and B2C?
B2C is any business selling to consumers, including retailers and marketplaces that stock other companies' products. DTC is the part of B2C where the brand that makes the product sells it directly, without a retailer in between. Every DTC brand is B2C; most B2C businesses are not DTC.
Is this only for subscription brands?
No. Subscriptions are one part of it, for consumables with a reorder cycle. The first-90-days track, VIP tiers and founder-voice sequences apply to any direct-to-consumer brand with a repeatable product.
Which subscription apps do you work with?
Recharge, Loop, Skio and Shopify Subscriptions, with the pause/skip/swap flows built in the email platform against the app’s events.
How do you write in the founder’s voice?
One recorded conversation with the founder — why the brand exists, what it refuses to do, what customers say back. We write from that and you approve every word.
What is the VIP threshold?
Set from your order data, usually the top 10% of customers by lifetime spend, adjusted so the tier is meaningful. VIPs get access first; they rarely need a discount.
How is this different from the ecommerce retention programme?
The programme is the whole system for any Shopify catalogue. DTC retention marketing goes deep on the parts that decide a DTC brand’s repeat rate: the first 90 days, subscriptions, VIP and voice. Brands that need both take the programme with this as the emphasis.
What does it cost?
Within Tier 1 at $3,500 a month for brands doing $500K–$2M, or Tier 2 at $5,500 a month at $2M+ with SMS and the testing programme. The free 60-minute audit comes first.
Retention experts
Let's talk email, SMS and the repeat revenue you actually want.
We work on Klaviyo, Omnisend, Brevo and Attentive. Ready when you are: talk to the person who will run your account, not a sales rep.
Get in touch