Case study · Pet · subscription
Building the retention engine behind a $1.4 billion exit.
PrettyLitter went from $1 million in capital to a $1.4 billion exit to Mars. In the first 2.5 years, I built the retention and lifecycle infrastructure that kept subscribers around longer and made each one worth more.
Head of Retention & Lifecycle Marketing, contract · 2017 to 2019
- Exit to Mars
- $1.4B
- Starting capital
- $1M
- Building the foundation
- 2.5 yrs
The situation
Where PrettyLitter was
PrettyLitter is a subscription brand. Growth depends on more than winning the first order: every month a subscriber stays adds to lifetime value, and every cancellation has to be replaced with a new customer.
The brand brought me in early to own email end to end and to build the retention foundation the business would scale on.
The approach
What I did
01
Lay the foundation
Set up Klaviyo and the supporting vendor relationships as the core of retention and lifecycle marketing, with list hygiene and compliance built in from day one.
02
Automate the lifecycle
Built and managed the automated flows, including welcome, abandoned cart, and win-back, so every subscriber got the right message at the right moment without manual sends.
03
Run the weekly program
Set up, tested, and QA'd weekly promo, content, and retention emails, and directed new creative with a freelance designer within brand guidelines.
04
Report on what matters
Delivered monthly reporting so the team could see retention performance and act on it.
The results
What changed
For a subscription brand, retention is the business. Getting the foundation right early pays off for years.
- Better subscription retention rates, with less churn
- Higher customer lifetime value
- A retention foundation that supported the brand's growth to a $1.4 billion exit to Mars
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Next step
Let's look at your retention program together.
Book a 30-minute call. Bring your questions or your Klaviyo login. You'll leave with at least two things worth fixing, whether we work together or not.