Beekman 1802 grows BFCM email revenue 74% YoY with Klaviyo analytics

Beekman 1802 is named after a historic farm in upstate New York, where co-founders Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge live with their goats. In 2008, they made their first goat’s milk soap right at the kitchen table.

Since then, the business has scaled dramatically, to sell not only soap but a variety of skin health products. The brand now serves a national customer base throughout the year—but especially during BFCM.

Learn how Klaviyo testing and reporting helped Beekman 1802 optimize BFCM messaging

Challenge

Early in November 2023, Beekman 1802 was behind revenue goals, and competitor sales were launching left and right.

The team was worried. By the time their sale launched, would consumers still have the disposable income and energy to invest in a discretionary good—like Beekman’s luxurious, best-selling facial moisturizer Bloom Cream, or a 9-ounce bar of goat’s milk soap?

“We saw everybody start their Black Friday early,” says David Baker, Beekman 1802’s chief digital officer. “We felt that pressure.”

If Baker and his team wanted to make artisanal soap and skincare products resonate in a crowded, discount-saturated market, they needed to tightly optimize their Black Friday offer and communications.

Solution

To do this, Baker and his team relied on Klaviyo for 3 key things:

• Historical data from the prior 3 BFCMs
• A/B and multivariate testing
• Personalized messaging

Ultimately, Beekman 1802 exceeded their goals for the holiday weekend—growing revenue from email 74%—and they’re already prepping next year.

“We have planned out a good chunk of the merchandising for BFCM 2024,” says Baker. “We can look at that data in Klaviyo and see the pieces that worked really well in 2023 and the pieces that didn’t resonate, and plan accordingly.”

We have already planned out a good chunk of the merchandising for BFCM 2024. We can look at that historical data in Klaviyo and see the pieces that worked really well and the pieces that didn’t resonate, and plan accordingly.

Strategy

In 2023, Beekman 1802 used Klaviyo’s data and personalization capabilities in a few key ways to prepare for BFCM:

• To identify evergreen BFCM winners: By reviewing BFCM data from prior years, they identified the products and messaging that consistently perform best around the holidays—especially with returning customers. “That helps inform our merchandising strategy and our promotional strategy,” Baker explains.
• To A/B test their on-site pop-up: Testing many versions of their Klaviyo pop-up form throughout 2023 helped Beekman 1802 optimize the imagery, CTA, and offer to drive list growth before the holiday.
• To find optimal messaging for different segments: The team uses Klaviyo’s Peel integration to build segments based on purchase frequency—like frequent shoppers, lapsed one-time buyers, and new subscribers who have never bought. Then, they identify the messaging each segment likes best, by comparing campaign performance by segment across multiple sends.

When BFCM 2023 arrived, Beekman 1802 used all these insights to execute a successful personalized messaging strategy.

They sent new subscribers messaging around efficacy, and lapsed subscribers discount-focused messaging. For their most frequent shoppers, they focused on brand and heritage with a plain-text email from their founders.

“If we didn’t have that robustness of Klaviyo testing and segmentation reporting, we wouldn’t be able to listen to what’s resonating with each consumer and use that to grow,” Baker says. “I’ve worked with platforms from Mailchimp to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Klaviyo provides the best set of technology tools.”

If we didn’t have that robustness of Klaviyo testing and segmentation reporting, we wouldn’t be able to listen to what’s resonating with each consumer and use that to grow. I’ve worked with platforms from Mailchimp to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Klaviyo provides the best set of technology tools.