From Setup to Monthly Optimization: HØJ’s Email Marketing Strategy

This Case | TL;DR

HØJ was founded in 2021 by Simon Folmann and Maaly was brought on board soon after to set up, maintain, and optimize the retention marketing system.

From lead generation, customer data management, flow optimization, and campaign strategy, we regularly help them achieve 50% of their recurring revenue from email marketing.

This is how we do it.
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About The Client

HØJ is a Danish cannabis accessory company that designs products that exist to change the way the herb is experienced.

Their hero products are a grinder that slices the herb using dual blades and a pipe with a mechanical cooling system.

The Challenge

HØJ’s products are high-ticket items compared to similar products in the market. While most weed grinders and pipes will cost between $20-$75, the KLIP and KØL are upwards of $120.

This presents a challenge in converting customers and increasing LTV via repeat orders.

We knew using email marketing to create a system that performed every month to generate predictable recurring revenue would be the key to HØJ’s forward growth. The primary challenges included:

• Email deliverability infrastructure
• Leveraging zero-party data
• Lead magnet optimization
• Revenue from repeat customers
• Continual email list growth

Thanks to a solid pre-existing SEO strategy, the website’s traffic was consistently high however this was not converting into leads and customers. We started by creating a strategy for each:

• Lead capturing (Landing page popups)
• Lead nurturing (Welcome Series)
• Lead conversion (Browse Abandon flow landing pages)
• Zero-party data utilization (Campaign segmentation)
• Customer retention (Post Purchase, Winback, Replenishment etc.)
• Customer event triggers (Click data)
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The Solution

Once we’d conducted our discovery with Simon we divided our strategy up into four parts; Awareness. Consideration. Acquisition and Retention.

The aim was to create a flywheel retention system that fed itself with new leads, customers, and repeat customers. 

So we customized our solutions accordingly.

Step 1

LEAD CAPTURE & NURTURE

After analyzing the URLs that received the most website traffic, a lead magnet was created for each to increase capture rates.

For example, an article titled “How To Roll A Joint At Home” had a dedicated popup asking visitors what problems they were encountering rolling joints.

Opt-in forms collected zero-party data and flows delivered dedicated content to position KLIP as the solution to their problems and nurture leads with more accuracy.

Similar forms were created for URLs further down the funnel, such as collection and product pages.

We outperform our client's previous pop-ups 10/10 times by Optimized Creatives and Optimized Incentives.:

• Be Clear And Concise: Don’t write your will in your pop-ups. Instead, be clear and concise about the incentive they’re getting in exchange for their emails.

• Use Contrast: This is a cornerstone design principle. There should be a contrast between the pop-up and the rest of the website. The contrast makes things stand out. Here are 3 ways to create contrast:
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  1. Go Big: In line with the principle above, make the most important parts of the pop-up bigger than the rest to signal reading priority.
  2. Go Bold: Use bolding to create contrast key information that will help to convert the lead.
  3. Use Faces: The faces of people get attention. Combine this with product reviews and you’ve got a winning combination.

Important: Once leads enter a flow after converting via a popup remember to suppress any email addresses that do not open or click any of the emails. This will help keep your list clean of low-quality leads. 

Step 2

LEAD CONVERSION

One such form on a product page A/B tested asking viewers ‘If They Were Ready To Buy’ vs the standard ‘10% Off’. If they selected ‘Yes’ they were taken directly to the checkout page with the item already loaded in their cart.

If they selected ‘No’, options as to why they were not ready were provided to collect zero-party data, and an offer was given to use once they were ready to buy. Emails collected entered a dedicated flow designed to address their concerns based on customer data provided.

This resulted in a 13% higher submission rate than the standard discount offer.

Step 3

DEDICATED LANDING PAGES

Another strategy deployed to increase the conversion rates of email leads was to create dedicated instant landing pages. These mobile-optimized landing pages are hosted on the front end separately from Shopify.

This maximizes loading speeds by hosting the front end separately from synchronized Shopify data such as products and collections.

Each landing page is optimized for conversions outside of what the standard Shopify theme page can do.

Clicks were directed from flows, such as the Welcome Series and Browse Abandonment, to these dedicated landing pages. When A/B tested against standard Shopify product pages we saw 6%-8% conversion rates against the standard 1%-1.5%.

Important: Use zero-party data insights to customize the content on these landing pages to handle customer objections more efficiently.

Step 4

FLOW CREATION

We deployed more than 17 automated email flows covering every step of a customer's purchasing journey.

For simplicity, we’ve divided these flows into two groups: triggered before buying and after buying.

Once we had our two groups of flows we determined the goals and objectives for the Awareness sequences, Consideration sequences, and Retention sequences.

The Awareness sequence's goal was to introduce potential customers to the HØJ brand and product range. It's about making leads aware of who you are and what you offer.

We customized the content inside these flows according to the zero-party data collected. For example, if we knew the lead was interested in the KLIP then that’s the information we provided.

The Awareness flows included the Welcome Series and Site Abandonment.

Next, the Consideration sequences aimed to provide more detailed information and persuade leads to make a purchase. These include all of the Browse, Cart, and Checkout Abandonment.

Inside these flows, we used trigger splits to segment the emails so that email leads would get content relevant to the purchase they were considering making. 

Finally, after a customer makes a purchase, the Retention sequences focus on retaining them and encouraging further purchases. A high revenue Awareness flow is the Product Cross Sell.

Due to the nature of HØJ products, they complement each other very well which means convincing customers to become repeat customers via a discount was a quick win.

Step 5

CONTEXTUAL INTENT DATA

Yes "zero party data" is helpful, but what’s truly helpful to HØJ’s winning email strategy is contextual intent data. 

Intent data (clicks) required real-time data to leverage tags and triggers designed to create custom, personalized journeys for HØJ’s leads and customers.

• We can now retarget the clickers of particular email campaigns with different targeted email flows based on their click data
• When a lead clicks on a KLIP or KØL inside an email, they get more information about that product

Due to the cost of HØJ’s products, purchasing power per transaction is limited so making sure the entire customer experience runs like a well-oiled machine is vital to recurring revenue. Focusing on what happens after the clicks is where the money is made.

We now understand the click and the patterns leading to a purchase, tied to website visits. This also means we can create more focused segments with tailored messages meaning we can send more targeted campaigns.

This has created a Retention Flywheel where campaigns feed leads back into automated flows continuously.

Why is this important? Brands should be sending email campaigns every day to prospective and current customers. Use zero-party and contextual intent data to segment these campaigns to avoid negative engagement signals.

The Results

• With the email backend running like a well-oiled machine, resources can now be dedicated to higher leverage tasks that have a greater impact on revenue
• Every month 50% of HØJ’s revenue comes from email marketing
• In 2023 sales revenue increased by 15% month-over-month
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Transformed

By prioritizing utilizing zero party and intent data, HØJ’s email marketing flows work with campaigns to turn retention into a flywheel of action. Now resources can be focused on tasks such as A/B testing to improve results.

If you want to replicate this success, invest in customer data and ensure your email marketing is personalized and data-driven.