212. The Retention Playbook Most DTC Brands Ignore ft. Vira Sadlak

Vira Sadlak is a Retention Marketing Strategist at Flowium, a retention-focused agency and Klaviyo Platinum Partner specializing in email, SMS, and lifecycle marketing for e-commerce brands. She works with DTC brands across categories to build the automated systems that turn one-time buyers into long-term customers.Most brands pour their budget into acquisition and go quiet the moment a customer converts. That silence is expensive. This episode gets into exactly what brands are leaving on the table and how to fix it.Eitan and Vira cover the nine foundational flows every brand should have in place, why segmented lists often outperform full sends revenue-wise, and how to build customer journeys that branch based on behavior rather than treating every buyer the same. They also get into the mechanics of growing and identifying your subscriber list, including identity resolution tools and zero-party data collection through quizzes.The conversation goes deep on KPIs that actually matter (open rates are no longer one of them), when and how to layer in SMS, the deliverability mistakes that land you in spam, and where AI fits into retention strategy today. Listeners will walk away with a clear framework for building retention programs that generate consistent revenue without relying on one-off campaigns.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: [email protected] website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Vira Sadlak, Retention Marketing Strategist, FlowiumVira Sadlak's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virasadlak/Flowium: https://flowium.comKey Takeaways:• A significant share of second purchases happen within 24 to 48 hours of the first order, before the package even arrives. Not messaging customers in that window is one of the most common and costly retention mistakes.• Open rates are no longer a reliable performance signal. Click rates and conversion by segment tell you far more about whether your emails are actually working.• Sending the same message to your entire list hurts deliverability. Segmented sends consistently produce equal or better revenue while protecting your sender reputation.• Plain text emails outperform designed HTML templates on engagement and inbox placement because email providers do not flag them as promotional material.• Klaviyo and similar platforms function as data collection and analytics tools, not just communication channels. The segment-level insights they produce can inform your broader marketing strategy across every channel.• Identity resolution tools can identify anonymous website visitors and add them to your flows, but they require healthy deliverability and meaningful traffic volume (50,000 or more monthly visits) to be effective.Chapters:[01:20] About Vira Sadlak and Flowium[02:40] The Nine Foundational Retention Flows[07:27] Segmentation and Branching: Why 50 Journeys Is Not Too Many[10:04] What Retention Actually Means[11:05] Growing Your Subscriber List and Identity Resolution[14:11] How to Nurture Leads Who Have Not Purchased Yet[16:05] Why Email and SMS Still Drive 25-30% of Shopify Revenue[17:53] The KPIs That Actually Matter (Open Rates Are Not One of Them)[21:11] Email Cadence, Educational vs. Sales Content, and Preference Pages[24:25] When to Add SMS and How Often to Send[25:34] WhatsApp, Telegram, and RCS: Emerging Channels[27:36] Deliverability: How to Stay Out of Spam[29:26] How Flowium Serves Clients and Where AI Fits In