Culture Kings grows global SMS click rate 338% after switching to Klaviyo

Over the past 12 years, iconic Australian streetwear brand Culture Kings has grown from a single Gold Coast market stall (run by now exited co-founders Simon and Tah-nee Beard) to a global ecommerce brand selling to over 8 million customers across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

It’s hard to miss one of Culture Kings’ 8 stores, which are kitted out with epic features from basketball courts to the world’s largest hat wall (23 metres!) to a state-of-the-art recording studio. Celebrity appearances have included Snoop Dogg and Lando Norris with his F1 car.

Learn how Culture Kings improved engagement after consolidating email and SMS in Klaviyo

Challenge

Initially, the Culture Kings team had a fragmented marketing tech stack, with SMS managed in Yotpo and email marketing in Klaviyo.

With multiple platforms in play, it was difficult to manage subscriber communication preferences, track performance, and accurately attribute conversions to SMS vs. email marketing.

“At Culture Kings, we have over 8 million customers and thousands of different audience segments with unique interests,” explains Jarrod Hinvest, head of ecommerce at Culture Kings. “Our aim is to ensure every customer feels like we’re talking directly to them and replicating that personalised in-store experience online.”

At Culture Kings, we have over 8 million customers and thousands of different audience segments with unique interests. Our aim is to ensure every customer feels like we’re talking directly to them and replicating that personalised in-store experience online.

Solution

With email marketing already managed in Klaviyo, Culture Kings turned to their Klaviyo customer success manager (CSM) for help bringing SMS marketing into Klaviyo, too.

Now, the team can accurately track all engagement across SMS and email, allowing Culture Kings to run multi-channel automated flows that consider each subscriber’s channel preferences, product interests, and behaviours.

Plus, the team has swapped a batch-and-blast SMS strategy for delivering personalised messages to the right shoppers on the right channel at the right time.

“We know that when we’ve got a great deal or offer to promote, SMS is the way to go,” Hinvest says. “It’s perfect for urgent messages because customers respond more rapidly, with a higher click rate and conversion rate.”

As a nimble marketing team, Culture Kings is also leveraging Klaviyo AI to resolve resourcing challenges and create, learn, and iterate effectively.

“We’re always looking for new ways to uncover statistically significant trends. With SMS and email marketing under one roof in Klaviyo, we can quickly see what is and isn’t working and pivot our strategy quickly to improve performance.” explains Hinvest.

We’re always looking for new ways to uncover statistically significant trends. With SMS and email marketing under one roof in Klaviyo, we can quickly see what is and isn’t working and pivot our strategy quickly to improve performance.

Strategy

Since consolidating all email and SMS marketing activity, Culture Kings drives even more engagement with Klaviyo AI by:

• Harnessing SMS for time-sensitive sales and limited-time offers. Since switching to Klaviyo for SMS, Culture Kings has driven a 338% YoY increase in their global SMS click rate—indicating that customers want to receive flash sales alerts and last-chance offers via this channel.
• Leveraging Segments AI to target the right audiences at scale. The team uses this Klaviyo AI feature to quickly create segments of shoppers who have purchased during a sale period. Then, the team retargets those customers with promotions to reach their 30- and 90-day win-back goals.
• Leaning on subject line AI to save valuable time. The Culture Kings marketing team uses Klaviyo’s generative AI features to streamline the task of creating high-performing email subject lines, which saves them hours of debating which copy will perform the best.
• Tapping into dynamic product feeds for additional personalisation. Dynamic product feeds help bring Culture Kings’ personalised offline experience to online shoppers, ensuring customers receive more relevant recommendations—and never feel lost in a sea of millions of customers.

“We have diverse audience segments across 3 regions, each requiring a unique approach,” Hinvest says. “That’s where Klaviyo, supercharged by its powerful AI features, comes in. It enables us to easily and effectively build complex automated flows that deliver the right message to the right customers, in the right region, at the right time.”

We have diverse audience segments across 3 regions, each requiring a unique approach. That’s where Klaviyo, supercharged by its powerful AI features, comes in. It enables us to easily and effectively build complex automated flows that deliver the right message to the right customers, in the right region, at the right time.

Bonus

Learn how Culture Kings harnesses authenticity and builds engaged communities in this Behind The Brand episode.