Vetain stands for high-quality vegan supplements that completely avoid artificial and animal-based additives. The social startup also places strong emphasis on sustainability and plants trees in Madagascar with every purchase. With this strong value proposition, Vetain has managed to grow in the crowded protein-powder market, position itself as the “probably cleanest supplements in the world” and build a loyal customer community.
Challenge
But even the most loyal customers eventually become inactive. Vetain therefore faced the typical challenges of DTC brands: reactivating existing customers and turning first-time buyers into second-time buyers.
VETAIN was already using email and WhatsApp marketing successfully for retention marketing. Despite these strong channels and above-average double-opt-in rates, the brand reached only about half of its customers. The other half? They no longer opened emails or did not receive them in the first place. This is exactly where Vetain wanted to use print mailings to activate those customers too.
Solution and campaigns
Postcards can be sent to all customers, even without advertising consent. VETAIN used this strategically to contact customers along the customer journey in a targeted way. Seasonal influences were also built into the customer journey. The campaign setup looked like this:
Automated campaigns
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2nd order push: 50 days after the first purchase, to all customers who do not receive emails or have not opened them for more than 60 days. By this point, more than 50% of natural repeat purchases have already happened. VETAIN used this moment to motivate the remaining customers to purchase again with a targeted offer.
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Winback campaign: 90 days after the last purchase, only to customers who do not open emails. To avoid oversaturation, only customers who had not received another postcard for at least 90 days received one.
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Integration into the email and WhatsApp winback flow: customers who had not reacted to email or WhatsApp communication were contacted specifically with a postcard.
Seasonal campaigns
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Black Month campaign: the goal was to spread Black Week demand across the entire month and use the full period to drive repeat purchases in a targeted way. The campaign addressed customers who could not be reached through other marketing channels. Reactivating customers who had not purchased for up to two years was especially successful.
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New Year campaign: traditionally a strong month for fitness companies. Among other things, the campaign aimed to convert first-time buyers from the Black Friday period into repeat buyers, a perfect occasion to start the new year with a purchase incentive.
Results
”Postcard marketing helped us reactivate customers we otherwise could no longer reach and keep them active.” - Philipp Riedl, Founder of Vetain
The results speak for themselves:
Overall performance across all campaigns:
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Revenue: €149,000
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ROAS: 1,310%
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Conversion rate: 8%
Best segment: repeat buyers who had not purchased for between 60 and 180 days
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Revenue: €54,000
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ROAS: 2,531%
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Conversion rate: 15.4%
Conclusion: the print-mailing campaigns helped Vetain win back hard-to-reach customers and increase customer lifetime value in a targeted way. Especially impressive: the winback campaign for repeat buyers achieved the best performance with a ROAS of 2,531%. Thanks to automation, the campaigns now continue to deliver top results without effort.