Design Examples

Email design, on-brand.

Six emails I'd build for a supplement DTC brand. Each one is a real design, with the strategic reasoning underneath. Click any to see it full size.

01 Welcome · Email 1 of 5

Brand Name hello@brand.co

Just now

A quick hello from the founder

Plus what you need to know in the first 30 days...

Hi, I'm Sarah.

I started this brand because I couldn't find a greens powder that didn't taste like grass clippings or hide its ingredient list behind a "proprietary blend."

If you're here, you probably wanted the same thing.

For the next few days, I'll send you what I wish someone had told me when I started taking greens daily. No discount in this email. Just the stuff that matters.

Sarah,
Founder

What's coming next:

Day 2: What "proprietary blend" really hides
Day 5: How to read a supplement label in 30 seconds
Day 8: The 3 ingredients we'd never put in this

Why this works

No discount, no product pitch. Most welcome series open with "10% off your first order" and immediately train the customer to wait for a deal. This opener trades discount-friction for trust-building. The educational hook ("what to know in the first 30 days") creates open-loop curiosity that drags engagement through the rest of the series.

Founder voice, not brand voice. First-person from a real person ("Hi, I'm Sarah") outperforms third-person brand-speak ("Welcome to X") in supplement DTC because the category runs on trust. People buy supplements from people they believe.

Typical impact: Welcome series conversion 4.1% → 9.8%, open rates 38% → 51%.

02 Replenishment Flow · Email 1 of 3

Brand Name hello@brand.co

Day 23

Quick check, running low?

Reorder before you run out. Subscribe and save 15%.

Daily Greens

Time to restock?

If you've been scooping every morning since your last order, you're probably down to 5 to 7 days of supply.

Reorder now and your next bag arrives before you run out. Or subscribe and save 15% on every order going forward.

Reorder one bag → Subscribe & save 15% →

Why subscribe?

15% off every order, free shipping, skip or cancel any time. Most customers who subscribe stay 14 months on average, simply because they stop running out.

Why this works

Timing is the unlock. This email triggers 5 days before the average reorder date (day 23 for a 28-day supply). The window is narrow: too early and the customer ignores it, too late and they've already drifted. Most agencies skip this flow entirely because it requires understanding the product, not just pulling a template.

Two CTAs, not one. A single "Reorder" button assumes the customer wants the same thing they ordered last time. Offering subscribe-and-save side-by-side captures the customer who was leaning toward one-time but is willing to commit if the math is clear.

Typical impact: 20 to 40% reorder rate from a single email, and 25 to 35% of those convert to subscription.

03 Cart Abandonment · Email 1 of 3

Brand Name hello@brand.co

2 hours later

You left something behind

Your cart is still open. 4,200+ five-star reviews say it's worth it.

Still thinking it over?

That's fair. You're putting something in your body every morning, you should think about it.

Here's what other customers wish they'd known when they were where you are now:

★★★★★

"I'd been on three other greens before this. The taste alone made me give up on the others within a week. This one I actually look forward to. Six months in."

Maria K., verified buyer

Return to your cart →

Cart expires in 24 hours. Free shipping on orders over $40.

Why this works

No discount in Email 1. Discounting at the first cart-abandonment touchpoint trains buyers to abandon-and-wait. This email leads with social proof (a real review from a real customer in their situation), not urgency or savings.

"That's fair" disarms. Most cart emails feel like nagging. Acknowledging the customer's hesitation as legitimate ("you're putting something in your body, you should think about it") flips the dynamic. The brand becomes the trusted advisor, not the desperate seller.

Typical impact: 11 to 15% cart recovery rate. Email 2 (24h, education angle) adds another 4 to 6%. Email 3 (48h, time-bounded offer) adds the final 3 to 5%.

04 Subscription Save · Stage 2 of 5

Brand Name hello@brand.co

Just now

We saw you cancelled, can we help?

Quick read. Three options before you go.

Sorry to see you go.

Before you cancel completely, we have three options that might work better. No pressure, just thought we'd offer.

⏸

Pause your subscription

Skip a delivery without cancelling. Resume any time.

Pause for 30 days →

↔

Try a different flavor

Maybe this one isn't right. We have three others.

Swap flavor →

📅

Stretch the schedule

Move to every 60 days instead of every 30.

Adjust schedule →

None of these work? Cancel anyway, no hard feelings →

Why this works

Solve the actual problem, not the symptom. Most cancellations are not "I don't want this product." They're "I have too much already," "I want to try something else," or "I can't afford it this month." Each option here addresses a real reason.

The cancel link is still there. Hiding the cancel option creates a dark pattern that destroys trust. The link is visible, just deprioritized. Customers who don't fit any save option get out cleanly and don't leave a bad review on the way.

Typical impact: 28 to 43% recovery rate across the full 5-stage flow. Pause and skip are the biggest contributors (16 to 22% of total saves).

05 Win-Back · 90-Day Lapse

Brand Name hello@brand.co

Day 90

It's been a minute

Quick update on what's changed since you were here.

Three months, huh?

We noticed you haven't been back in a while. No guilt-trip email here, just a quick check-in.

If life got in the way, no worries. If something about the product didn't work out, we'd genuinely like to know.

A few things have changed since you were last around:

New flavor: Tropical Citrus.

Top requested by people who said the original was too earthy.

Cleaner formula.

We removed the natural flavors and added two new whole-food sources.

Lower subscription price.

Down from $49 to $42 per bag for active subscribers.

See what's new →

Or reply to this email and let us know what made you pause.

Why this works

No "we miss you" or 30% off. Both signal desperation. The first treats the customer like a sentimental object; the second admits the product wasn't compelling at full price. Neither helps you recover the customer.

The ask is information, not a sale. The reply-back invitation ("let us know what made you pause") is more valuable than the click-through. Lapsed customers who reply give you free product research and often re-engage on their own.

Typical impact: 8 to 12% reactivation rate at 90 days. Combined with a 120-day follow-up offer email, total recovery sits at 14 to 18%.

06 VIP Drop · Top 10% Customers

Brand Name hello@brand.co

Pre-launch

Before anyone else: the new Sleep Stack

48-hour early access for our most loyal customers.

VIP

Early Access

You're in the first wave.

You've been ordering with us long enough that we want you to be the first to try something new before it goes public.

Tomorrow we're launching the Sleep Stack: magnesium glycinate, L-theanine, and apigenin in clean ratios. The formula is one we've spent eight months testing internally.

For the next 48 hours, it's yours at the launch price ($38, will be $46 publicly), with first-shipment priority.

Claim your bottle →

No discount code needed. Price reflects automatically at checkout.

Why this works

Status, not discount. The 17% savings is real, but the email leads with access ("first wave," "before it goes public," "first-shipment priority"). VIP customers are price-anchored already; what they want is to be ahead.

Tight 48-hour window. Long enough to think about it, short enough to act. Tied to a specific public launch date creates honest scarcity rather than fake urgency.

Typical impact: 35 to 50% click-through, 12 to 18% conversion. New product launches sell out their VIP tier inventory in 24 to 36 hours when done right.

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