Filson grows SMS revenue 3.5x YoY and plans to integrate Klaviyo with full CX stack

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Filson is a heritage brand that has been making apparel, bags, and accessories designed for the demanding conditions of the outdoors since 1897. Originally crafted for pioneers, hunters, and explorers of the Pacific Northwest, Filson’s heritage is rooted in producing durable, reliable gear for those who value quality and craftsmanship.

Today, Filson has grown into a global brand, with stores around the world and a thriving ecommerce business—and they’re using Klaviyo to build a more personalized customer experience at scale.

Learn why Filson launched SMS with Klaviyo, and will keep plugging new channels into the platform

Challenge

As a more-than-100-year-old brand, Filson has lifetime loyalists—some with six-figure lifetime values.

“They are incredibly loyal and passionate about the brand,” says Filson’s retention marketing manager, Mike Swanson.

But when Swanson started with Filson in early 2023, email was the only retention channel—and the brand had built a huge subscriber list over the years.

That meant loyal customers who weren’t glued to their inboxes could still see notifications about limited-edition releases before they sold out.

Swanson saw an opportunity to alert VIPs about time-sensitive offers on SMS, a channel even more visible than email—and start building a cohesive, omnichannel retention experience powered by Klaviyo.

Solution

Prior to Filson, Swanson ran a Klaviyo partner agency, and he understood the value of having both email and SMS in the platform. It would mean a more personalized experience for Filson’s loyal customers, without the double-counted revenue that comes with a separate SMS provider.

With Klaviyo’s new model comparison tool, Swanson can even look at two different multi-channel attribution models side by side.

“Knowing how SMS is contributing to revenue helps me make a case for the health of the business, and more bandwidth in retention channels,” Swanson says.

I joke with the copywriters, ‘If I told you a year ago that you could write 160 characters or less and bring in this much money, would you have believed me?’

Operating email and SMS in one place also means a better customer experience for dual subscribers. The ability to segment on behavioral data from both channels means fewer redundant sends, and lower unsubscribe rates.

Initially, to gauge interest, Filson only offered the SMS channel to VIPs. Sign-ups were strong, and so was engagement—their first SMS campaign had a 63% click rate, and drove $4.85 in revenue per recipient.

They decided to open up SMS access to all their customers, and “it took off,” Swanson says.

The list grew, and unsubscribe rates stayed low. Adding SMS to core email flows boosted visibility and conversions. SMS revenue grew, without overstretching Filson’s talented creative team.

“I joke with the copywriters, ‘If I told you a year ago that you could write 160 characters or less and bring in this much money, would you have believed me?’” Swanson says.

On Thanksgiving night in 2024, Filson sent SMS subscribers early access to their holiday sale—and kicked off a great BFCM. Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, SMS drove 29% of Filson’s total Klaviyo-attributed revenue, which was up 22% YoY.

Strategy

Using Klaviyo to manage email and SMS is just a fraction of what Filson does—and plans to do—in the platform. The team sees it as the brand’s future omnichannel data hub, which they can use to:

• Collect preference data via Klaviyo Forms: When customers sign up for email and SMS, they get asked if they’re shopping for men’s apparel, women’s, or both. This data gets stored in their Klaviyo customer profile, and Filson uses it to personalize both automations and campaigns.
• Connect lifecycle with paid media and support data: Filson uses Klaviyo’s Meta, Google, and Pinterest integrations to enhance paid targeting, exclude certain audiences, and overall spend more efficiently. Also on Filson’s roadmap: pulling customer support data into Klaviyo, so they can exclude customers with open support tickets from promotional campaigns, for example.
• Promote brick-and-mortar stores: Filson is already seeing success with geotargeted Klaviyo email and SMS campaigns, which incentivize subscribers located near stores to shop in person, or attend in-store events. In 2025, the brand plans to integrate Klaviyo with their NewStore POS, to attribute store revenue to email and SMS and create an even more cohesive retail experience.

In 2025, Filson will migrate from Magento to Shopify, and continue centralizing more customer data in Klaviyo. Swanson is excited.

“Email and SMS are really where we make 1:1 digital connections with customers,” he says. “It’s essential to avoid messages that make our subscribers think, ‘Filson doesn’t know me.’ If we have all the data across systems in Klaviyo, and we know how people are interacting with the brand both positively and negatively, whether that’s through customer service or a retail store, we can create a seamless omnichannel experience that feels personalized—and drive more revenue.”

Email and SMS are really where we make 1:1 digital connections with customers. It’s essential to avoid messages that make our subscribers think, ‘Filson doesn’t know me.’ If we have all the data across systems in Klaviyo, and we know how people are interacting with the brand both positively and negatively, whether that’s through customer service or a retail store, we can create a seamless omnichannel experience that feels personalized—and drive more revenue.