How A Single-Product UK DTC Brand 2.37×’D Email Revenue In 4 Months
Without Burning The List
A UK DTC brand with a single SKU (product) was scaling quickly (≈£1.6M/month). Email already contributed 25–30% of total revenue, but campaigns relied heavily on 3×2 and sale angles. The channel wasn’t educating, nurturing, or creating demand, just discounting.
ESP: Omnisend
Objective: Stop repelling subscribers with constant promotions and turn email into a value-first, profit-compounding channel that addresses pains, objections, and use cases to lift LTV.
The Challenges
Promo Addiction → List Fatigue
Discount-led sends trained buyers to wait for offers, compressing perceived value and AOV while risking deliverability (unsubscribes, spam complaints).
“Design Doesn’t Work” Myth
Plain text wasn’t the fix, relevance was. Without visuals and structure aligned to the buyer persona, benefits and proof weren’t landing.
Under-Sending & No Narrative
3–4 sends/month couldn’t cut through today’s inbox. There was no systematic education to overcome objections or create buying intent between promos.
Our Process
Phase 1: Audit & Strategy Reset
Reframe email from “discount distributor” to “decision enabler.” Map customer pains, objections, desired outcomes, and critical use cases.
Phase 2: Architecture & Cadence
Move from ~80/20 to ~82% value / 18% promo, scaling to ~3 sends/week with engagement-based segmentation to protect deliverability.
Phase 3: Creative System (Design-First)
Shift to 95% designed emails (lightweight assets to avoid clipping). Clear visual hierarchy, skimmable proof modules, and unmistakable CTAs.
Phase 4: Segmentation & Targeting
Use behaviour and interest signals in Omnisend to identify cohorts needing nurture before offer and route them through proof/education tracks.
Phase 5: Measure What Matters
Optimise to email share of revenue, repeat rate, and LTV signals, not just OR/CTR. Apply kill rules to weak angles and iterate winning themes.
Implementation
Campaigns & Calendar
Cadence ramped to ~3/week with fixed pillars:
Education (why/when/how to use the product and Science)
Objection handling (“Is it for me?”, “How fast will I feel it?”, “What if…”)
Social proof (UGC, expert quotes, reviews, before/after stories)
Use cases & routines (morning/evening, travel, busy weeks)
Promos capped at ~18% of sends and timed after value sequences (e.g., end-of-month payday).
Creative & Messaging
Design-first, image-light, fast-loading templates; headline → benefit → proof → CTA.
Angle testing: routine-based benefits, “feel the difference in X days,” stackable usage, lifestyle-led imagery.
Micro-iterations: same hook with alt hero, tighter leads, proof blocks made skimmable, friction-free CTAs.
Segmentation & Deliverability
Engagement tiers (0–30–90-day recency), interest tags, behaviour triggers.
Hygiene: regular list scrubs, sunset flows, and throttled resends to non-openers with refreshed subjects/hooks.
Automations (Tuned, Not Just On)
Welcome (education-first → soft offer)
Post-purchase (proper usage, habit building, next-step education to improve retention)
Win-back (value-led reminders before any incentive)
Browse/Cart (benefits + proof before price)
Results
February 2025 (Before)
Email revenue | Campaign share of email | Avg. open rate | Sends |
|---|---|---|---|
£335k(27.7% of total revenue) | 15.8%(majority from automations) | ~30% | 3-4/month(mostly promotions, largely plain text) |
July 2025 (After) {best month ever}
Email | Campaign share of email | Avg. open rate | Sends |
|---|---|---|---|
£793k(42.8% of total revenue) | 52.5%(increase from 15.8%) | 44.6% | ~18% of sends(vs. “mostly promos” before) |
At a Glance
Metric | Feb 2025 | Jul 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Email Revenue | £335k | £793k | +£458k (+136.7%) |
Email % of Total | 27.7% | 42.8% | +15.1pp (+54.5% rel.) |
Campaign % of Email | 15.8% | 52.5% | +36.7pp (3.32×) |
Avg. Open Rate | ~30% | 44.6% | +14.6pp (+48.7% rel.) |
Promo Share | “Most sends” | ~18% | Down sharply |
Context: Low seasonality. Promos are used strategically after value sequences and around payday to match intent without training discount dependence.
Key lessons for founders
More promos ≠ more profit.
If someone ignores three discounts, the fourth won’t save you. Give reasons to buy, education, proof, outcomes-and you’ll grow LTV, not just spikes.
Design works when it adds clarity.
Lightweight, well-structured design plus list hygiene drives deliverability and makes benefits obvious.
Compete for attention, not just inbox slots.
Gradually scale to ~3 sends/week with smart segmentation to protect deliverability and lift revenue per recipient.
