Got a dog at home? Then you know that these days, if you need toys, treats, food, or anything at all really, you’re spoiled for choice when you shop online. Compared to other markets, the pet food/supplies segment has seen ridiculous D2C growth, outstripping every other CPG vertical aside from vitamins.

Additionally, with the pandemic driving a D2C boom in 2020, pet-friendly eCommerce brands suddenly found themselves with more customers than ever before. But unfortunately for Wüfers, this surge was not translating into a lot of long-term customer relationships. Dog parents were buying just once, and then leaving the funnel.

The brand enlisted our help (full case study coming soon), and together we helped them increase sales, keep customers shopping well after their first purchase, and increase CLTV by 26% by focusing on three key areas.

#1 / Remarketing to VIPs

We’ve written before about how important it is to properly segment your customers and come up with targeted campaigns for your VIPs—customers who buy more than once. This is exactly what Wüfers did, with remarketing campaigns that would follow multi-purchase buyers around the web.

Additionally, the company set up email campaigns designed to push people towards a second or third purchase. This helped reduce churn, and keep buyers in their pipeline longer. Today, the length of the average customer relationship has increased by 29.7%.

#2 / Going Beyond Q4

Looking at their data, it became obvious that the majority of their revenue (more than 75%) was coming from the holiday season. This feast-or-famine cycle made for a somewhat lopsided customer experience, without a lot of opportunity to nurture a long-term relationship with customers over multiple touchpoints.

To start selling beyond Q4, the company put together a Valentine’s Day campaign to encourage new and repeat customers to buy their pup something delicious in Q1. Balancing their sales in this way, they’ve managed to increase repeat purchases by 16.06%, turning more one-time buyers into multi-purchase Wüfers loyalists!

#3 / Adding a subscription service

Finally, with the help of Recharge, Wüfers put together a killer subscription service for their puppy parents. Aptly named, The Cookie Club, this model allows the brand to continue to sell their cookies to buyers without spending any additional budget on customer acquisition. Instead, subscribers would receive a box of cookies month after month, for as long as they keep their subscription active.

A year later, and the company's total ad spend as a percentage of sales has dropped by 6%. In other words, it's become six percent less expensive to entice people to buy. The Cookie Club also serves as a gateway to collecting a mountain of user-generated content, with happy customers taking photos of their dogs (not a difficult ask) and sharing their experiences.

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Learning new tricks from Wüfers…

There’s a lot of takeaways in this story. However, perhaps the most important lesson is one of customer experience. Wüfers looked at their data, their customers, and their products—then they came up with strategies that would make their brand more enjoyable to interact with. They segmented customers to provide relevant messaging & ads, as well as implementing a new subscription service that fit perfectly with customer needs.

As you look at improving CLTV in your own brand, remember to do the same. Consider any change you make from your customer’s point of view. Why do they love buying from you? What would make the experience better? What technologies, strategies, or changes can you implement that will help people buy?