Our email list was a vanity metric
We have about 14,000 people on our email list for our candle brand. It took two years to build. Our open rate last quarter was 19%, which our Klaviyo dashboard cheerfully tells us is "above industry average." But when we actually look at who's buying from email vs. other channels, it's underwhelming. People are on the list. They're not really there.
Instagram is different. Our followers actually want the new stuff. They comment on launch teasers, they DM asking when things are back in stock. The engagement is real. We just weren't capturing it in any useful way.
What we tried for our autumn collection launch
Instead of our usual "sign up for early access" email form, we posted a teaser video and told people to DM us the word "AUTUMN" to get notified when it dropped. The automation sent back a message saying we'd DM them the link before it went public.
We got 480 DMs in 36 hours. When launch day came, we messaged everyone in that thread - which Instagram allows because they initiated the conversation - with the product link.
We sold out of three of the four new scents within six hours. Total revenue from that launch was about $11,200. Our previous best launch via email had been $6,800.
What actually made it work
A few things we learned that weren't obvious going in:
The confirmation message matters a lot. "Got it! We'll DM you when it drops 🕯️" feels like a human said it. "You have been added to our waitlist" does not. The first version converts. The second one gets ignored.
Timing the follow-up DM is important. We sent it two hours before public launch. Not a week before, not a month before - two hours. That's when urgency is real and people are actually in a buying mindset.
And honestly - the intimacy of a DM just hits differently than an email. People don't get marketing in their DMs the same way they do in their inbox. The novelty alone probably helps conversion.
We still send launch emails. We'll always send launch emails. But this is now the primary channel for new drops, and the numbers back that up.