DOUXE grows Email Marketing revenue 70% YoY using Klaviyo

Dutch brand DOUXE has been selling hotel-quality beds, bedding, bath textiles & accessories since 2006, offline and online, B2B and D2C. When they migrated to Shopify in 2022, they started using Klaviyo email marketing to build a loyal audience for their luxury products - and saw their revenue from email grow by 70%.

CLIENT

SNURK

INDUSTRY

Lifestyle, Home

TECHNOLOGY

Shopify plus webshops

PACKAGE

Webshop migration

Services we provided

Replatforming

Email Marketing

B2B

Growth Strategy

UX/UI Design

Internationalization

D2C hotel luxury

DOUXE is a Dutch brand bringing hotel luxury to the individual consumer. Founders Bart Kleiman and Liselotte Koenders started it in 2006, in response to the many hotel guests who asked them: “Where can I buy the wonderful bed I just slept in?”

Although the brand has an ‘e-commerce first’ approach, it soon became what Bart calls a ‘mix of clicks and bricks’. “It just fits our brand. People want to try out our products before buying, so we opened two showrooms in The Hague and Amsterdam. They are a fusion between a hotel and a store, where hoteliers, private clients and their interior architects can go for advice, to select colors and materials, and to test our beds and mattresses.”

Recently, DOUXE has worked on bringing parts of the showroom experience to their online store. “The showroom converts really well, especially for beds and mattresses. But there’s a growing number of tools available to achieve a personalized experience online, too, such as product quizzes where people receive advice based on their preferred sleeping position. And we started using email marketing with Klaviyo to create brand loyalty.”

New ambitions with Shopify, Klaviyo and Code

DOUXE started with Klaviyo shortly after Code launched their Shopify store, in the summer of 2022. Bart explains the move: “We’ve been online since 2006 and have tried practically every platform available. We even upgraded from Magento 1 to Magento 2 [now Adobe Commerce Cloud] at some point, but the self-hosted setup was always a challenge.”

→ … and more about migrating to Shopify with Code here.

Updates and security became a topic for the DOUXE team, and the cost of development was high. Bart: “So we started looking for a platform where we didn’t have to look under the hood all the time. That’s when several fellow e-com entrepreneurs recommended Code and Shopify.”

The migration was a good moment to upgrade their email marketing game as well. “Up to that point we used MailChimp, only to ask customers for a review. Since Klaviyo works really well with Shopify, and because Klaviyo marketing is one of Code’s strong points, we decided to start taking it a bit more seriously.” Recently, DOUXE also appointed Chiel Bosgoed as their new Director of E-commerce, to underscore their ambition and sustain their steady growth.

Finding the sweet spot with Klaviyo

After the Klaviyo onboarding phase with Code, DOUXE started with a Welcome Series and an Abandoned Cart flow. From the start, they used email also to invite online visitors to one of their showrooms. Midge, Head of Klaviyo at Code, explains: “Since the showroom converts so well we use that CTA for several flows, instead of the usual ‘come to our online store’.”

→ Check out the 5 essential email flows every online business should have, according to Code

DOUXE is also eager to avoid annoying their customers. Bart: “Because people get a lot of marketing emails these days and there is a growing awareness of privacy, we are constantly looking for the sweet spot. How often do you send an email, and what should be in it? Klaviyo gives us very useful data to monitor this. When we started, we created more flows only when we saw it was successful with our audience. And it was, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we quickly got some steady revenue from it.”

→ Curious about Code’s Klaviyo services? Here we explain why Klaviyo is the best

Chiel explains the DOUXE strategy: “We aim to use Klaviyo to retain customers and keep our brand interesting for them. In the Welcome Series we tell subscribers about our brand, and we follow up with a newsletter that alternates between actions and brand-related inspiration. Our subscribers are surprisingly loyal, they like our products and what we do. This varies per channel by the way, the discount hunters who are attracted by our actions on Instagram and Facebook usually unsubscribe quickly. So we’re currently testing ways to retain them.”

→ Want to up your marketing game? Read Code’s 21 tips on how to boost your email marketing…

→ … and how to avoid the most common email marketing mistakes

Current Klaviyo flows

About 1.5 years in, DOUXE runs a lot more Klaviyo flows. Among them is a POS flow that follows up on potential clients who request a quote in the showroom, which also notifies the sales team in case they want to do a personal follow-up. The updates on the estimated time of delivery are really useful for products like beds and mattresses, which take a while to be produced and delivered.

→ Interested in Shopify POS? Check out our blog about it here

In addition, they connected Klaviyo to JudgeMe to collect reviews and use a post-purchase flow with housekeeping tips. Midge: “A post-purchase flow counts as a transaction email, so customers don’t have to be signed up to DOUXE’s email marketing to receive it. In the email, a button leads to the online store, where we put an opt-in for marketing emails.”

What emails work particularly well for DOUXE? Chiel: “Our Abandoned Cart flow is very successful, it keeps growing every month. Last month it was by far our best performing flow, together with our Welcome series.”

→ Looking for inspiration? Check out these 9 email marketing flows

Futureproof with Code

What are DOUXE’s plans for the future in terms of Klaviyo email marketing? In a nutshell: further expanding their B2B marketing automation, and finding new sales channels. Chiel: “We are already working on expanding into the German market and into marketplaces. Together with Midge we’re looking into SMS marketing as well, to see if it’s something we might want to use.” According to Midge, combining email & SMS can be powerful. Especially personalized offers and transactional updates.

→ SMS Marketing with Klaviyo is now available in The Netherlands: Code posted a blog about it here

They will definitely continue working with Code, and Klaviyo. Bart: “I was a bit sceptical about email marketing at first, I admit, but it works! Midge is very dedicated, he knows everything. Very pragmatic, too, meetings with him always end with a good action list. And Code continues to be a very professional growth partner - they really think along with you on how to generate extra revenue, it goes way beyond building a store for their clients.”