In today's newsletter, we're going to go over one flow that most D2C brands ignore or don't even know exists.

From the second you acquire a new email subscriber, you're on a race against the clock to convert them as fast as possible.

But in the case of most e-commerce brands where a large majority don't end up purchasing after the first 30 or 60 days, what do you do?

Do you let those subscribers just evaporate? Do you remove them from your list, or do you try what you can to convert a (even if it’s small) percentage of those people into their first order?

Today, we're going to cover the “Reactivation” flow, what it is, and how you can use it for your brand to prevent losing customers simply because you lack a last resort.

Some stats for direct-to-consumer brands:

Now these are generally true, but exact %’s vary brand to brand.

So what does this mean?

From the moment you acquire a new subscriber, you’re on a timer to convert them as FAST as possible.

This will help reduce your CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) and make your brand more overall profitable.

Now you might be thinking, “Okay, so what should I do to convert more subscribers into customers before they churn for good?”

Great question. I’ll keep this short, and just give you one tip for this video that most e-commerce brands ignore or don’t know exists:

The “Reactivation” flow.

Let’s get into it…

This isn't a revenue hero. It's a safety net.

The Reactivation flow triggers at 60 days on list for anyone who has:

That engagement filter is critical. If someone has never opened or clicked, they're a deliverability liability. Don't email them.

This flow only targets people who showed interest at some point but never converted.

The email itself is dead simple: your most compelling angle/product benefits paired with your most aggressive discount. This gives them a reason to buy, and answer the “why should I buy TODAY?“ thought.

PRO TIP: Calculate your unit economics first. Figure out the deepest discount you can give while staying net profitable. If that's 25% off, send 25% off.

If you need to add a threshold like "$15 off $50+" to make the math work, do that. Whatever you do, make it the most compelling offer possible to get this person who's close to churn to feel it's worth acting on.

And here's the key: you can turn this flow off entirely if it starts hurting deliverability.

If it drives no revenue over a 30-day period and has higher-than-normal bounce rates or a click rate below 0.5%, kill it.

Protecting your sender reputation is more valuable than squeezing out another $200 from people who don't want your emails.

This flow typically converts 0.5% to 2% of the people in the segment.

That sounds terrible until you realize these are subscribers who were going to churn anyway.

You're not cannibalizing full-price sales or burning goodwill with engaged customers.

You're just seeing if someone who was about to disappear will take one last swing at becoming a customer.

One brand we work with had 8,400 non-purchasers sitting in this segment. Flow converted 1.1% of them into first orders over 90 days. That's 92 new customers who would've churned without ever buying.

At a $67 average order value, that's $6,164 in pure upside revenue from people who were going to fall off the list regardless, not to mention the long-term value for the % that come back again a 2nd time.

Not life-changing. But not nothing.

The flow took 45 minutes to build and hasn't been touched since. It just runs in the background, converting a small percentage of people who would've been lost forever.

Most brands obsess over their welcome series, their post-purchase flow, their browse abandonment sequence. All important.

But they completely ignore the 60–80% of subscribers who will never purchase and just let them evaporate without a fight.

The Reactivation flow isn't going to save your retention strategy. It's not going to be your biggest revenue driver. But it's a last-ditch effort that costs you nothing to set up and might convert 1–2% of people who were churning anyway.

Build it. Set the segment filters tight to protect deliverability. Make the offer as aggressive as your unit economics allow. Let it run.

And if it stops working, turn it off.