Stop burning out your email list: how DKNY made more money by sending fewer emails

DKNY is designer Donna Karan’s love letter to New York street style—or “the energy, the colors, the collision of personalities and styles from all over the world that give New York its heart and soul,” as she puts it.

Founded in 1989 with a denim focus, the brand has grown into a household name in fashion. Today, DKNY sells an eclectic, always-changing array of apparel, accessories, and shoes online and in brick-and-mortar stores.

But recently, DKNY had a huge opportunity to improve their email efficiency.

The brand had a massive subscriber base, but their revenue driven by Klaviyo (Klaviyo-attributed value, or KAV) was relatively low compared to their list size. 

DKNY had been sending general, frequent campaigns, and they felt like they were oversaturating their audience with messages, according to Griffin Hawkinson, director of CRM and loyalty at AM Retail Group, who manages lifecycle marketing for DKNY.

Use channel personalization to grow KAV

AM Retail Group wanted to cut down DKNY’s send volume and take a more personalized approach. One way they did this was by fine-tuning their welcome email automation. 

Now, when someone signs up for email at check-out in a brick-and-mortar store, the contact gets added to Klaviyo via API, and their first welcome flow email includes an in-store-only discount barcode—incentivizing them to buy again from the same retail channel. 

If someone signs up online, on the other hand, they go down a different branch of the flow—and get an ecommerce discount code in their first email.

Now, the brand drives 30% of KAV from automated flows.

Get similar results 

Your business can leverage personalization in automations with Klaviyo, too. Here’s how:

• Read the full DKNY x Klaviyo case study 
• Learn how to send targeted messages