When I started with WagWell, the numbers told an interesting story. The list was big (25,000+ subscribers) and engaged. People opened, clicked, and read. The program leaned on promotions, and there was a lot of room to give dog parents more reasons to act.
I'll be honest: I walked in thinking supplement customers would follow the usual playbook.
Holy crap on a cracker, was I wrong.
Meet WagWell
WagWell makes vet-formulated supplements, grooming products, and treats, developed with board-certified veterinary nutritionists and food scientists. Their customers care deeply about what goes into their dogs' bodies.
What I found
Email drove 3.45% of direct-to-consumer revenue.
The audience wasn't the problem - they were paying attention, but the opportunity was giving them better reasons to act than another discount.
The decisions
Sorting the list into four groups. Engaged buyers, engaged non-buyers, lapsed buyers, and the truly unengaged each need something different. Treating them the same was leaving money and goodwill on the table.
Testing everything, every month. Each month brought a report, what we learned, and the next round of tests. That's how we found out that gifts beat deep discounts, and that simple, text-only SMS beat image versions 3 out of 4 times.
Building the full lifecycle. From Welcome through Sunset, each flow got its own logic, so customers heard from WagWell at the moments that mattered to them.
What changed
Email grew from 3.45% to 5.84% of DTC revenue, landing inside the 5-8% goal. See the full results in the WagWell case study.
What I learned
Experience gives you the foundation, not the script. The fun part is staying curious enough to let your customers rewrite the playbook.
What this means for your business:
Before you reach for a deeper discount, test a free gift.
Try a simpler version of your emails and texts - it just might win!
Segment by engagement and purchase history, not just "everyone."
