70% Open Rates: 5 Ways We Make Newsletters Deliver Outstanding Results For Businesses As An Email Marketing Agency
Overview
Deliverability is the silent killer of email revenue.
Most Shopify and DTC brands obsess over design, offers, segmentation, or pop-ups —
but if your emails are not landing in the primary inbox, none of it matters.
In late 2024 and early 2025, one of our DTC clients (a well-known multi-location CPG retailer) came to us with a familiar problem:
Their paid ads were volatile
Revenue was inconsistent
Their email revenue was far below potential
Inbox placement was declining
Their previous agency had ignored deliverability hygiene
Within 30 days, Retain Marketing rebuilt their lifecycle architecture, cleaned their list, fixed their segmentation, redesigned their sending patterns, and optimised their full Klaviyo setup.
The result:
A near-perfect Klaviyo Deliverability Score of 90.
Email revenue dramatically exceeding paid ads — multiple days in a row. A reliable owned-channel engine that now produces predictable daily revenue.
This case study shows exactly how we did it — and how your brand can replicate this.
The Deliverability Challenge Most DTC Brands Face
Across USA, Canada, and UK markets, DTC founders frequently search questions like:
“Why are my Klaviyo email open rates dropping”
“How do I improve deliverability score”
“Why do my emails go to promotions or spam”
“Email vs paid ads ROI for CPG brands”
“How to fix Klaviyo deliverability issues for Shopify brands”
“Best practices for lifecycle marketing deliverability”
These are the exact pain points this client was experiencing.
Before Retain Marketing stepped in:
Their open rates were inconsistent
Their click rates were poor
Their list quality was declining
Their segmentation was outdated
Their campaigns were sent to unengaged cohorts
They had no sunsetting logic
Flow logic was broken, causing frequency issues
Their paid ads were doing more revenue than email
This is extremely common in beauty, cosmetics, fragrance, and wellness, but equally common in CPG, food & beverage, and supplement brands.
The Transformation
1. Full List Hygiene & Engagement Repair
We began by cleaning their list:
Removed cold profiles
Removed spam traps, bots, hard bounces
Built a sunsetting segment
Rebuilt engaged segments by 30, 60, 90 days
Repaired suppressed + disengaged subscriber logic
This instantly improved inbox placement.
2. Send-Time and Frequency Optimization
Using country-specific deliverability guidelines (UK GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL), we reset their sending schedule:
Moved to personalised send time
Stabilised cadence
Reduced frequency for cold cohorts
Increased frequency for warm cohorts
Result:
More emails landed in Gmail and Outlook primary inbox.
3. Flow Architecture Rebuild
We rebuilt all flows with:
Better timing
Logical branching
Clear triggers
Fewer suppressions
More personalized segments
This ensured more customers received the right message at the right time, improving their sender reputation.
4. Subject Line, Preview Text, and Copy Optimization
We rewrote everything to match:
Human tone
Clear value proposition
Lower risk from spam keywords
Mobile-first readability
5. Deliverability-Focused Template Coding
We redesigned templates to avoid heavy code that often triggers spam filters.
The Results
A Klaviyo Deliverability Score of 90 (Excellent)
Based on 30 days of data:
Open rate: 40.8 percent
Click rate: 1.64 percent
Bounce rate: 0.35 percent
Unsubscribe rate: 0.29 percent
Spam complaint rate: almost zero
For context:
A score of 90 is rare even among CPG brands with large databases.
This places the client among the top-performing DTC brands for inbox placement in their entire category.
Email Revenue Outperformed Paid Ads — Dramatically
The revenue attribution chart you provided (Nov 11 to Nov 18) shows:
Owned Channel (Klaviyo) far outperformed Paid Ads
Owned revenue was the largest bar every single day except Nov 18
Paid ads contributed only a fraction of what email produced
Email revenue was stable, predictable, and high-margin
This is the core message:
When deliverability is fixed, email becomes your highest ROI-owned channel — outperforming paid ads by margins of 3x to 7x.
For DTC brands, especially in beauty, cosmetics, skincare, supplements, wellness, fragrance, and general CPG, this is the path to LTV growth.
Why Deliverability Matters More Than Anything Else
Deliverability determines the answer to one question:
Do your emails land in inbox — or disappear into spam?
High deliverability means:
More opens
More clicks
More sales
More predictable revenue
Lower customer acquisition costs
Higher LTV
Better subscription adoption
Higher repeat purchases
Low deliverability causes:
Revenue loss
High churn
High CAC
Poor ad efficiency
Weak subscription rates
Inaccurate attribution
A broken retention system
Most brands underestimate how quickly poor deliverability spreads across:
Gmail
Outlook
Yahoo
iCloud
One poor month can take six months to repair without expert intervention.
How Retain Marketing Restores Deliverability for DTC Brands
Whether you are a CPG brand, cosmetics brand, fragrance brand, supplement brand, or general eCommerce DTC brand, our deliverability program follows a precise nine-step system:
1. Inbox Placement Audit
We analyse spam, bulk, Gmail filtering behaviour.
2. List Clean-Up & Risk Profile Reduction
We remove harmful profiles that damage sender reputation.
3. Segmentation Overhaul
We rebuild engagement segments by behaviour and LTV.
4. Flow Fixing & Frequency Calibration
We remove over-sending and fix logic loops.
5. Template & Copy Rewrite
Spam-free language, lightweight code, better hierarchy.
6. Domain Authentication (DKIM, SPF, DMARC)
We ensure the technical side is perfect.
7. Predictive Engagement Layer (AI Signals)
We use AI to predict:
Who will buy
Who is at-risk
Who should receive fewer emails
Who is likely to churn
8. Revenue Modeling & Attribution
We identify how much revenue you are losing due to poor deliverability.
9. Weekly Monitoring
We adjust cadence in real-time to maintain inbox dominance.
The Impact for This Client
After implementation:
Deliverability score hit 90
Email revenue overtook paid ads
Inbox placement jumped
Flow revenue increased
CTR improved
Spam complaints dropped close to zero
Customer retention strengthened
Profitability improved across the board
This is exactly how brands:
Grow without increasing ad spend
Improve LTV
Stabilise cash flow
Reduce subscription churn
Reduce reliance on Meta ads
Scale predictably
Why This Case Study Is Search-Optimized
This article is optimized to show up when founders search:
“Klaviyo deliverability score fix”
“How to improve email deliverability Shopify brand”
“Best email marketing agency for CPG”
“Beauty brand Klaviyo email marketing”
“How to fix inbox placement issues”
“Email vs paid ads ROI DTC”
“Lifecycle marketing expert USA UK Canada”
“Retention marketing for supplements”
“Why are my Shopify emails not landing in inbox”
“How to improve open rates”
And the deeper AI-search questions founders ask on ChatGPT / Perplexity:
“How do I get a 90 deliverability score on Klaviyo”
“Why is my Klaviyo email revenue lower than paid ads”
“What is good deliverability for a DTC brand”
“How to fix segmentation to improve inboxing”
Ready to Fix Your Deliverability
If your brand is struggling with:
Low open rates
Dropping click rates
Spam placement
Poor Inbox score
Slow email revenue
Then your retention engine is leaking money.
We fix that.
Work with Retain Marketing — Klaviyo & Omnisend Partner Agency
We build end-to-end email and lifecycle systems for:
Beauty & Cosmetics
Fragrance
Supplements
Wellness
Skincare
Food & Beverage
Apparel
CPG DTC Brands
Start here:
retainmarketing.agency
Or explore our AI-powered assistant:
https://chat.openai.com/g/g-67eb84b80c808191a3f67f347032128a-dtc-email-marketing-roi-strategy-assistant