BUILD | GROW | SUCCEED

Win customer loyalty

amid inflation
Templates, examples, and consumer data from 2K+ shoppers
What to expect
in this guide
In today’s digital era, online shopping is an integral part of consumer
behaviour. Understanding consumer preferences and behaviour is crucial
for businesses aiming to build a loyal base of customers—along with an
influx of new shoppers.
This guide explores key insights from consumer data in the UK—focusing
on email and SMS marketing, the importance of reviews, and the impact
of the economic climate.
Keep reading for
Consumer research overview........................ 3
Step 1 Build a loyal audience........................12
Step 2 Grow and optimise.............................21
Step 3 Succeed in hitting ............................ 30
(and exceeding) goals

Read about actionable strategies to build a loyal audience, acquire

customers effectively, and optimise marketing efforts to enhance
customer satisfaction and drive sales.

2
Consumer research
How the economy changes customer behaviour

With several significant global and regional changes in the last few years, UK
consumer behaviour is bound to evolve. Yet how exactly are people changing
how they shop online? In June 2023, we surveyed over 2,000 people across
the UK to understand just that. Keep reading to see the findings.

In this section

› Audience at a glance
› Competition for consumer attention is at an all-time high
› Insights on what marketers can do
› 3 consumer sentiments to be mindful of

3 OVERVIEW
Overview
Audience at a glance 60+ 18–29
12% 28%
Want to see how the survey respondents
compare to your own customer base?

The 2,050 people we surveyed are: Male Female 45–60

›
18+ 50%
Gender
50% 20%
Ages

›
Living in the UK
›
A household decision maker 30–34

›
On varied income 40%
›
52% childless / 48% have 1+ child

Income

£0 –£19,999 18%
£20,000 –£39,999 31%
£40,000 –£59,999 22%
£60,000 –£79,999 13%
£80,000+ 16%

4 OVERVIEW
Competition for consumer attention
is at an all-time high
As inflation and the cost of living crisis persists, it’s no shock that UK consumers feel economic
pressure. The data shows that UK consumers are nervous and, as a result, prioritise essential purchases
over indulgent ones—which leaves your brand forced to navigate the increasingly competitive online
shopping landscape. Here are the numbers of how people feel and shop lately:

Current outlook on the economy

14% 33% 23% 21% 9%

Very Somewhat Neither positive Somewhat Very
negative negative nor negative positive positive

Key takeaway
On average, people feel
slightly negative about
The economic state affects how 93% of UK consumers shop 93%
the current economic state
but are disproportionately
Buying fewer items 51%
cautious with their money—
Buying less expensive items 50% so spending is down.
Buying must-haves over nice-to-haves 44%
5 OVERVIEW
Current spending vs 6 months from now

23% 53% 18% 5% 1.8%

Very cautiously Fairly cautiously Neither Very freely Fairly freely

26% 49% 16% 6% 1.9%

Best tones to strike, as ranked by consumers

Reassuring Humorous Motivational Inclusive Educational Thought-provoking

40% 39% 34% 32% 26% 22%

6 OVERVIEW
Most important things to consumers when shopping online
Price 70%
Quality 67%
Shipping 53%
Reviews 41%
Returns 41%
Brand 37%
Ethics 20%

Key takeaway
As a marketer, you might not be able to influence how often
your business puts products on sale—but you can educate
customers about the things they rate as most important.
That means proving product quality, clearly displaying shipping
information, and highlighting product reviews, which all support
consumers as they decide whether to make a purchase.

7 OVERVIEW
What's a marketer to do?
Hope is not lost—but it’s time to find every ounce of
marketing acumen you can muster, because building
and growing a brand is only getting more challenging.
Insight 1: Email is still a favourite
Fortunately, across the board, people are still Top messages consumers want by email
open to receiving marketing messages—and
sales provide an important opportunity to engage Loyalty programme offer 80%
people who are on the lookout for savings.

Here are three learnings that show how email,

SMS, and sales can be a lifeline for businesses
88% Upcoming sales

Birthday deals 68%

80%

trying to grow amid economic uncertainty…

Receive emails
from brands New product announcements 65%
Recommended products 60%
Item in basket reminder 52%

People are open to marketing messages—but we

must pay attention to which ones actually work.
8 OVERVIEW
 Insight 2: SMS has huge
purchase potential

How Brits engage with SMS marketing

Receive texts 42%

Have made a purchase while subscribed 77%

Often purchase 29%

These percentages increase for folks who feel

more positive about the economy—so as the
economy improves, there's more potential for
SMS marketing to become even more effective.

Get your SMS strategy in place now for people

who are already interested in it, so that by the
time others join in, you’ve got a well-oiled
texting machine.

9 OVERVIEW
Insight 3: Sales attract customer attention—but aren’t the end all be all

Most important sale periods, in order of how

likely consumers think they are to shop during

Black Friday 55%

Boxing Day/Christmas 44%

64%
of people say regular sales
Summer sales

Prime Day 21%

39%

are the most compelling

marketing strategy to them
Sale periods are important to Brits—with Black
Friday chief among them—but they’re not the only
thing consumers want from brands right now.
Unite sales with highly segmented marketing
campaigns to ensure you delight customers
while protecting your bottom line.

With the strategies outlined in the next pages,

But you can lean into a framework that draws in new
loyalty programmes and personalised shoppers while keeping your current customers
marketing are close seconds coming back.
(54% and 42%, respectively)

Keep reading to see how you can Build. Grow. Succeed.

10 OVERVIEW
3 consumer sentiments to be mindful of amid inflation
To understand what chimes with people
under financial strain, we looked at how people
feeling nervous about the economy compare
to those feeling neutral or even positive about
BRAND EXAMPLE
their finances. Here are three statistically
significant differences:
Fewer messages yields
› They want fewer email and SMS marketing
messages than people not concerned about
higher ROI for Mixtiles

the economy. Their favourite email and SMS

cadence was 1x per week.

› They’re more likely to unsubscribe due to

too many messages and irrelevant messages
16%
Fewer texts
50%
Increase in revenue
per SMS
about products they’re not interested in.

› They’re more interested in humorous tones

from brands.
Fewer messages yields higher ROI for Mixtiles

Key takeaway: Consider sending fewer

messages—and only the ones you know
are relevant to what the recipient cares about.
(Don’t worry, we’ll cover how to do this at scale
in the coming pages.)
When we excluded unengaged users and optimised the
contact frequency based on users’ actions, we generated
more revenue per user and more revenue per SMS sent.
Guy Pessah, Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Mixtiles

11 OVERVIEW
Build a loyal audience
Acquisition tactics and customer journey nurtures

Building a loyal customer base requires a comprehensive approach

that integrates acquisition tactics with customer nurturing. If you unite
acquisition with automations that continue the customer journey, you'll
be able to not just acquire customers—but actually convert them.

In this section, you’ll learn how to

› Reframe your mindset on customer acquisition

› Optimise your sign-up forms for long-term conversion
› Nurture your audience with 3 must-have templates

12
Build
Reframe your mindset on
customer acquisition
The data proved what you probably already Here are some channels that a new customer
knew—consumers are buying less often due could enter your business and how you can
to economic uncertainty. This means two things tap into them:
for acquisition:

Customer acquisition needs to be redefined as

› Organic search: Optimise your website for
search, start a blog
subscriber acquisition. A huge portion of your
audience might not be able to make a purchase
immediately—so give them the opportunity to
› Social media: Post and engage on Instagram,
TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
sign up to email and SMS marketing.
› Paid advertising: Run ads on Google Ads,
Facebook Ads
Acquisition is just the beginning. All acquisition
efforts must funnel people to nurtures that have
customer loyalty in mind to ensure the high cost › Customers:
programmes
Create loyalty or refer-a-friend
Reach people on
of acquiring a new subscriber turns into real sales.

To attract new customers, you’ll want to tap

› Influencers: Sponsor content to access
an influencer’s audience
the channels
directly into channels your target customers
are already using, like search engines and › Third-party sellers: Sell through Amazon FBA, they already use
social media. wholesalers, etc.

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Strategies that can help you acquire new customers,
based on consumers' preferences: Most popular social media channels

64% 17% 7% 50% 48% 32%

Facebook Instagram Youtube

Regular sales Frequent new products Influencers I follow

Key takeaway 19% 12%

27%
Whatever acquisition strategies TikTok Twitter Snapchat
you test with your audience,
the most important thing—
particularly amid economic 78%
concern—is that when people of UK consumers
interact with brands
visit your online shop, there’s a on social media 9% Pinterest 3% Twitch
way for you to capture people
who aren’t ready to make
a purchase.

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Optimise your sign-up forms for long-term conversion
An optimised sign-up form is crucial for gathering
important customer data. This section outlines best
practices for creating sign-up forms that encourage
visitors to provide their details willingly. Collecting
essential customer data helps you personalise
your marketing efforts more effectively.
Want to design a high-converting sign-up form?
Here are some stats based on over 80,000
ecommerce brands using Klaviyo forms that
can guide you.
Keeping your form short and sweet will help
keep conversion high, but don’t be afraid to test An optimised sign-up
a couple of additional fields. Forms with 5 or fewer
fields perform very similarly to forms (within 0.1% form is crucial for
conversion) with just name and email—so
consider including product preference and phone gathering important
number, which you can use later to convert people
into customers. customer data.
Tip: Ask for important customer data on
your forms.

Forms asking
The top 10%
for mobile numbers
Pop-up forms convert of signup forms
and emails convert at 85%
50% higher have submission
rates of over 2.9% of forms have two
than fly-out forms fields or less
6% vs. email-only at 2.7%

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EXAMPLE
“
When people subscribe, they can
click whether they’re interested
The UK-based razor brand learned
the benefit of longer forms firsthand. in male or female products, or
both. Data about what people
are interested in helps us provide
them with relevant content, so
we’re willing to sacrifice a bit of
conversion for that. But we actually
haven’t seen a drop off yet.
John Pagni, Ecommerce Assistant
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So, what extra questions might
you consider testing on your form?
Look for the marketing messages
that already successfully use
personalisation. Think automated
birthday emails, gender-oriented
messages, first names in the
subject line.
Once you've tested a new field in
your signup form, use the data to
tailor and target your marketing
from as early as your welcome
messages.
Nurture your audience with
3 must-have automations
Once you’ve acquired a new subscriber or
customer, the next step is to nurture your new
contact. Automated email workflows play a
pivotal role in growing customer relationships.

This section provides templates for three essential

automations that you can set up and optimise to
ICONIC increased
automations’ revenue to 33%
build a loyal customer base: from 7% of their total revenue.

› Welcome series
› Abandoned cart flow
› Post-purchase series
These workflows help engage customers, recover
abandoned carts, and encourage reviews.

Klaviyo’s advanced segmenting and clear analytics have allowed us the flexibility
to target customers with market-specific content based on shopping behaviours.
These crucial insights helped us dramatically increase our email and SMS revenues.
Kathleen Loftus, Global Digital Director

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 Basic template
Welcome series
Overview
For a standard welcome series, ecommerce
How to make it work amid inflation: TRIGGER
brands that use Klaviyo see the most success
Nurture new subscribers who are Newsletter subscription
with a 3-email series over the course of a week.
interested in your brand but may be
unable to purchase immediately.
As you saw with Wilkinson Sword’s sign-up form
WELCOME SERIES, EMAIL #1
example, your welcome series can greatly benefit
Thanks for signing up!
from personalisation—in fact, they saw 20x
average conversion just by using tailored versions
of their welcome email based on if the subscriber
Wait 3 days
was interested in men’s or women’s razors.

So, if you have customer data like product

WELCOME SERIES, EMAIL #2
preferences, add segmentation to the basic
Follow us on social media
template we’ve outlined on this page.

What to include in your welcome series

›
Welcome offer/discount
Wait 4 days

›
Showcase relevant products
›
Personalise based on information
they shared in the sign-up form
WELCOME SERIES, EMAIL #3

›
Promote your social media
Check out these best-sellers.

Exit

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 Basic template
Abandoned cart series
Overview
There is no one-size-fits-all rule for the best time
How to make it work amid inflation: TRIGGER
to send abandoned cart messages. For example,
Educate tentative buyers about the Checkout started
if you sell big-ticket items, like high-end jewellery,
benefits of your products and
the buying process likely requires more
provide financial incentives only
consideration than something smaller, like shoes. Wait 2 hours
where most effective.

If you email someone too soon without giving

them the opportunity to finish making a purchase, ABANDONED CART: EMAIL #1
you might turn off customers who are already It looks like you left something behind...
financially concerned—so test and err on the side
of longer delays to see what performs best for
your business. Wait 20 hours

A good starting point for brands with relatively

average-priced products is to send the first ABANDONED CART: EMAIL #2
message between 2–4 hours after someone starts Your cart is about to expire
a checkout, and then sending a second email
1–2 days later.
Exit
What to include in your abandoned cart flow
›
Visual reminder of the products they
were considering
›
Product education
›
Social proof and positive product reviews

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›
Coupons, if applicable
 Basic template
Post-purchase series
Overview
Even more so than an abandoned cart flow, a
How to make it work amid inflation: TRIGGER
post-purchase flow will vary based on your brand,
Cultivate loyalty to ensure that the Order placed
product ranges, and business goals.
high costs of customer acquisition
amid inflation don’t eat away at your
This is a basic template that you can use to Wait 2 days
profit margins and bottom line.
nurture people who have made a purchase to give
product reviews and make their next purchase,
POST-PURCHASE EMAIL #1
but it’s by no means the only option for a post-
Have you joined our loyalty programme?
purchase flow.

When you create your own post-purchase flow, Wait 12 days

think about different versions of each email that
you can send to unique segments—like people
POST-PURCHASE EMAIL #2
who have purchased more than once, or spent a
How do you like your new product?
certain amount on their last purchase.

What to include in your post-purchase flow Wait 4 days

›
Thank-you message
›
Cross-sell or up-sell with related products
›
Product review requests
POST-PURCHASE EMAIL #3

›
Loyalty programme information
Check out these related products

Exit

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Grow and optimise
Fine-tuning strategies for success

Once the acquisition engine is running, you have time to focus on fine-
tuning your strategies. This involves testing new tactics, investing in
what works, and optimising customer interactions. By tapping into your
existing customer base, businesses can unlock valuable insights and
foster loyalty with your customers.

In this section, you’ll learn how to

› Unlock the power of your loyal customers

› Use reviews to grow your customer base
› Market across channels with cohesive SMS + email messages

21
Grow
Unlock the power of your loyal customers BRAND EXAMPLE

Wild Nutrition combines

As consumers become increasingly cautious
1. Point-based
with their spending, effective loyalty programmes loyalty and values
offer a way to engage customers, foster repeat
Pro: Simple programme that rewards customers
purchases, and cultivate brand advocacy.
for key actions that your brand can determine.

Thinking of implementing or switching up your

Con: Doesn’t typically add a unique brand
loyalty programme? Here are the pros and cons
experience and can reduce loyalty into a
of 6 different types of loyalty programmes you
more transactional relationship.
might consider:

Tip: Consider taking a hybrid approach and

combining this strategy with another loyalty
programme type to stand out from the crowd of
points-based programmes.
Our Wild Rewards programme
80%
of consumers say thanks our customers for their loyalty,
they want loyalty
programme offers 2. Value-based but also helps the planet, too. One
in five rewards claims are for good
Pro: Allow customers to donate a percentage
causes such as planting a tree or
54% of their purchases to welfare programmes and
donating to a charity. The programme
of consumers prefer charities that align with their values.
loyalty programmes increases customer purchase
as a marketing tactic
Con: Must find and research charities that align frequency, LTV, and retention.
with your customers and brand values. Naomi Hyde, CRM and Loyalty Manager,
Wild Nutrition

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3. Tiered 5. Partnered

Pro: Customers can access different levels
of benefits based on metrics such as purchase
volumes or order history.
Con: Can be difficult to implement as customers
in lower tiers might not be motivated to engage.
Pro: Reduce the costs of implementing
a loyalty programme.
Con: Can dilute brand value and reduce
the likelihood of customers redeeming their
rewards with the same brand.

Tip: Overcome that challenge by offering more

6. Gamified
ways for loyalty members to upgrade tiers.

Pro: Incentivise actions by turning them into

small games or competitions, then awarding
4. Paid
benefits upon successful completion. Gamifying
desired actions such as purchases and social
Pro: Give customers exclusive benefits and
media shares is an easy way to increase customer
rewards for a fee. When implemented correctly,
engagement.
paid loyalty programmes can be highly profitable.
A 2020 survey by McKinsey revealed that 62% of
Con: It’s easy to lose track of value as you focus
customers spent more with a brand after joining
on gamification.
their paid loyalty programme.

Tip: Consider creating a gamified points system

Con: Present a high barrier to entry and, therefore,
that offers value based on the impact of customer
must provide tremendous value to succeed.
actions, such as referrals and reviews.

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Grow product reviews—automatically
Template
When you’re able to lead marketing messaging
with product reviews, showcasing the positive
All components of a review
experiences of satisfied customers, you build trust are important, but people You'll want to make sure a customer has actually
with your audience—making new subscribers received and had a chance to use their purchase
more likely to make a purchase. The stats prove it: focus more on qualitative before asking for a review.

data, like comments and We recommend sending your product review

photos, than the actual flow 14 days (two weeks) after an order’s fulfilled.
This will give your customers a chance to get to
starred rating. know your products before you ask them for a
review. And it will ensure their items have actually

70% been delivered—there's nothing worse than

of consumers say reviews Ranked in order of importance
are very or extremely important
when considering a product
1 Commentary
2 Photos
3 Rating
getting a product review email for an item you
haven't received yet.
TRIGGER
Fulfilled order
Wait 14 days
REVIEW REQUEST #1
How do you like your new product?

To make collecting product reviews easier, Exit

create an automated flow for all purchases.

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 What to include

› Image and name of the product

› Link to leave a review on your site
BRAND EXAMPLE

After Brava Fabrics gets a new review, they create

personalised flows based on what kind of reviews
customers give. If someone gives the product 4
or 5 stars, they get an email with a discount code
they can share with their friends.

For customers who give 3 stars or fewer, Brava

Fabrics tries to turn the customer experience
around in two key ways: by reaching out to them
and by offering a small discount to entice them.
to shop again.

“
When you give something a 5-star review, you’re likely to recommend it to a friend.
So if we know our happy customer is going to share our brand, why not make it easier?
Ivan Monells, Co-Founder, Brava Fabrics

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 Quality reviews within days
“Having product reviews within Klaviyo is a
game changer. Previously, we used Trustpilot,
which was expensive and lacked native
integrations and customer data—which made it
hard to give customers a great experience.
With Klaviyo reviews, we collected quality,
informative reviews within days.”
Oli McLean, Email & Direct Marketing Manager

Learn more about Klaviyo reviews

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Market across channels with
cohesive SMS + email messages
Amid economic concerns, SMS marketing offers an effective and cost-efficient channel
to engage with customers directly. Texts have high open and engagement rates and allows
marketers to provide personalised offers, discounts, and timely updates—which can help
drive conversions and build relationships.

These percentages increase for folks who feel more

positive about the economy—so there’s even potential

78% 29% that as the economy improves, SMS marketing will become
even more effective at driving sales.
of people who subscribe say they often
to SMS marketing have make purchases
Get your SMS strategy in place now for people who are
made a purchase
already interested in it, so that by the time other folks join in,
you’ve got a well oiled texting machine.

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Learn more on the numbers behind how and why you should introduce SMS marketing into your existing channels
(if you haven’t already):

How often consumers want texts What makes people unsubscribe Top messages consumers want by SMS

5% Daily 60% Too many 46% Delivery/shipping

12% Several times a week 48% Repeated 28% Order confirmation

20% Once a week 47% Irrelevant 23% Back-in-stock notifications

11% Once a fortnight 30% Repeated by email and SMS 23% Birthday deals

13% Once a month 28% Inappropriate times 22% Loyalty programme offers

13% Less frequently than once a month 14% Only regarding sales/discounts 19% Upcoming sales

25% Not at all 16% Item in basket reminder

Key takeaway: SMS marketing won’t be for all your
subscribers—so don’t force an opt in. Let people
choose whether they want to engage on SMS,
which will maximise the ROI on the cost you put
into sending messages.
Key takeaway: Ensure your texting cadence
doesn’t rise too far above once a week. Use an
SMS platform that connects to your email software
so you know someone will never receive duplicate
messages and consider them spammy.
Key takeaway: Prioritise the messages that people
are more likely to be interested in, and save the
more nice-to-have messages like recommended
products only for your subscribers who engage
with text more often.

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 When in doubt: Avoid over-marketing to
concerned customers
Amid economic crises, it’s more important than
ever to ensure your marketing channels are
in-synch. Uncoordinated messages can easily
cross the line into spam to consumers already
sensitive about spending. Unite email and SMS
in one platform to ensure your messages never
double up and lead to the dreaded unsubscribe.

Combine email + SMS

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Succeed in hitting
(and exceeding) goals
Throughout this guide, we've seen examples of UK brands that
have yielded impressive results despite the economic turmoil.
Next, it's time for you to put that into action.

Need a marketing automation platform to translate your customer data

into a personalised, economically-sensitive customer experience?

Learn more about the Klaviyo platform.

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