Go with the Klaviyo flow: POM scores with e-mail marketing

POM Amsterdam originates from a classic entrepreneurial story that started with a sewing machine and beautiful scarves, which were enthusiastically received by the friends and family of the founding sisters Violet and Liesbeth Lotgering. Ten years later, a full clothing line has been established and the brand can be found in more than 800 stores in Europe, America and Asia. Code has been helping POM with their Shopify webshop since 2019 and we are guiding them in using Klaviyo for more effective e-mail marketing since 2021.

CLIENT

POM Amsterdam

INDUSTRY

Fashion

TECHNOLOGY

Shopify plus webshops Klaviyo

PACKAGE

Webshop migration

Services we provided

Replatforming

Store building

UX/UI Design

Email Marketing

Time for Shopify Plus

Many e-commerce merchants will recognize themselves in the tipping point that Matthijs Bijl (Managing Director at POM Amsterdam) paints: “We worked with Magento in 2019 and ran into the limits of the software. Our marketing manager pointed out to me that it was really time for something new.' POM did some research and spoke to various agencies - and soon realized that Shopify was the future. Matthijs laughs when he thinks back to the first contact with Code. "We got kinda seduced by Bob! Truth be told, developing our new shop was no easy task, but together with Code we really created something beautiful.'

Monkey business

Magento wasn’t the only system in need of an update. POM saw a lot of potential in e-mail marketing, but the suboptimal relationship between MailChimp and Shopify was a source of concern. Matthijs: 'The integration of Klaviyo and Shopify is much better, while the costs are comparable to MailChimp. So we contacted Bob to find out more, and it turned out Code was just setting up a dedicated team for Klaviyo! You can imagine, it was an easy decision.' There is a lot involved in putting a new system into good use, explains Matthijs. ‘Internally, colleagues had to learn how to work with a new e-mail tool.

Code really guided us through the process, getting us familiar and up to speed with Klaviyo. But you are also facing other technical challenges. For example, because you send your mail from a different server, it is possible that your messages suddenly end up in the spam folders of customers. So we implemented the switch from MailChimp to Klaviyo very gradually.' Matthijs is positive about the role that Code played in the process: 'By providing top-notch service for Klaviyo implementing the software was largely a carefree undertaking for us.'

Want to know more about our extremely experienced Klaviyo team? Code is the first and only Elite Klaviyo Partner (the highest tier) in the Benelux.

Sales: tripled

Sales figures show that the switch to Klaviyo was a great choice. The turnover from e-mail marketing has more than tripled compared to last year. Matthijs points out there’s some nuance to these impressive figures: 'We have also started sending more e-mail. But that's because Klaviyo is just much easier to use. For example, we work with a loyalty program in the form of POM points. We can enter these in Klaviyo and they can be easily shared with customers. And there are many more options that ensure better integration. As a result, we use e-mail much more than we did before.”

Go with the flow

An important part of POM’s e-mail marketing are the so-called flows we set up in Klaviyo. Flows consist of series with 'if' conditions. ‘For example, if someone has already received an e-mail from us in the past few weeks, we will not send them certain e-mails. And if you've created an account, but haven't shared your birthday yet, we'll ask you about it, so we can send something nice on that special day. You can set up endless flows that are very customer-specific. What has a customer bought in the past? If those are just scarves, for example, then you may want to put other products in the spotlight. We can send a gift to loyal customers as a token of appreciation. The back-in-stock flow is also a good example: giving a signal when a product is back in stock.'

A very useful flow is the so-called sunset flow. If POM sees that someone is not very active and usually throws e-mails away immediately, we send two or three last e-mails to see if there is still any interest. If there is no response, POM unsubscribes the receiver. Throwing away customer data seems strange, but a good open rate is important, says Matthijs. “Google sees that we send out “healthy” e-mails, so they will end up in the customers’ inbox more often. In addition, the more emails we send, the more costs we make, so we prefer to send as little ‘useless’ mail as possible.

Reviewing ideas on a weekly basis

You have to set up your Klaviyo flows once, after that you can sit back and relax because the rest is automated. The knowledge Code has when it comes to Klaviyo has been of great value to POM in this regard. We meet weekly to discuss ideas, deliver content and discuss tech. Matthijs: 'Midge, our project manager, often comes up with suggestions and ideas about new and existing flows. He has already gained a lot of experience with other customers, and we are really reaping the benefits of his knowledge. e-mail marketing is really an art, but with Code in the lead ensuring good follow-up in the project, we’re seeing really strong results.' When asked what he would recommend to other companies

when they want to get started with e-mail marketing and/or Klaviyo, Matthijs laughs: 'exactly what we did - call Bob! But on a more serious note: work with a dedicated company. It’s really a matter of setting up the basics once and moving forward on that basis. Sound knowledge from the outside is so immensely valuable. It's a waste of your time to struggle on your own trying to reinvent the wheel. This is typically something that you can easily outsource. In-house, you should focus on your newsletter content, tone of voice, images, etc., as far as I’m concerned. But establishing a good foundation and building up the flows – let an agency like Code take care of that.’