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Win-BackEmail MarketingLifecycle SequencesE-commerce

Win-Back Sequences That Recovered 23% of Lapsed Buyers

An e-commerce business had a growing segment of lapsed buyers and no active re-engagement programme. We designed, built, and launched a Klaviyo win-back system in 8 weeks, and recovered nearly a quarter of customers they'd written off.

ClientAn e-commerce business
IndustryE-commerce / Retail
Year2024
Duration8 weeks
EngagementRetention Sprint
ToolsKlaviyo, Shopify, Google Sheets, Hotjar
The Outcome

By the numbers

Lapsed Buyer Recovery
Before~4%
After23%
+475%
Repeat Purchase Rate
Before18%
After41%
+128%
Email Open Rate
Before14%
After31%
+121%
Revenue from Email
BeforeNegligible
After19% of total
New channel
The Problem

What we walked into

The business had 18 months of customer data in Shopify but hadn't built a single automated win-back flow. Their email list was growing but engagement was dropping as more subscribers fell into dormancy. The founder knew revenue was being left on the table, they just didn't know how much.

The Approach

How we did it

01 · Segmentation

Define what "lapsed" actually means

We pulled 18 months of Shopify data and built a customer segmentation model based on purchase recency, frequency, and order value. This revealed four distinct lapsed segments with different win-back potential. Rather than blasting the whole list with one campaign, we designed separate sequences for each cohort, with different timing, offers, and messaging.

02 · Sequence Design

Build with the end in mind

We mapped every email in the sequence before writing a single subject line. Three-touch sequences for mid-value lapsed customers; five-touch with escalating incentives for high-value customers. Each email had a single goal: move the reader one step closer to a purchase. Copy was tested with 3–5 subject line variants per send.

03 · Deploy & Optimise

Launch, measure, iterate

We launched all four sequences in week 4 and ran weekly optimisation cycles. Underperforming subject lines were swapped within 48 hours. Sending times were adjusted based on open-rate data. By week 8, the sequences were stable and producing predictable revenue, becoming the business's highest-ROI email channel.

We'd been meaning to do this for 18 months. Faith had it designed, approved, and live within 3 weeks, and the recovery rate from lapsed customers genuinely surprised us.

FounderE-commerce Business
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