The story
The strongest cup in the room
Death Wish Coffee is for caffeine lovers who need to get the most out of their days. Exceptionally bold in flavor and strength, their coffee is for those looking to live each day to the fullest.
The idea for Death Wish came in 2012, in a coffee shop where customers asked day after day, “What’s the strongest cup of coffee you have?”
The challenge
Re-engaging dormant shoppers
As demand grew, so did the emphasis on the ecommerce customer experience. Death Wish launched its loyalty program, now Ritual Rewards, in 2017 to provide extra value to its most loyal customers.
Over the years, Death Wish noticed fluctuations in its loyalty program engagement rates. In June 2023, a low rewards redemption rate signaled the need for optimization.
Seeing the value on the table, Kelly Spencer, Communications Marketing Manager, and the rest of the Death Wish team quickly created a plan to leverage Smile and re-engage these dormant customers.
We recognized the immense value, and you’re not beholden to always having to drop new products to get people back to the website. The rewards program is providing value for the things they’re already doing and is positive reinforcement of ‘Hey, you’re supporting us, so we should support you in some way back.’
The solution
A loyalty program refresh and gamification techniques
With a brand focused on death from its name to its skull and crossbones logo, Reaper Rewards was initially a natural fit for a loyalty program name. But eventually, it became overkill and got lost in the sea of death-related references. In 2023, the loyalty program was rebranded to Ritual Rewards to encourage top-tier VIP members to start a subscription.
Death Wish also offers a subscription order and deems its coffee subscribers its Society of Strong Coffee. These frequent shoppers get exclusive access to perks like private merch drops, early access to exclusive product drops, sampling programs, and more.
The baseball-inspired Swig League campaign encouraged coffee subscribers to join one of two teams based on their coffee preferences: Pitch Black or Creamators. The 9-inning campaign takes place over 9 weeks and allows customers to earn team points for successful referrals, SMS and email opt-ins, and other challenges. Death Wish created two unique VIP tiers for each team in Smile to monitor points activity, track referrals, and send weekly email communications with embedded loyalty program information.
Death Wish uses the Smile and Klaviyo integration to personalize its email communications with dynamic loyalty program content, with custom flows and segments for each Swig League team. By turning its loyalty program email flows back on for the Ritual Rewards relaunch, the rewards program redemption rate reached 70%.
Death Wish introduced three main strategies to bring its loyalty program to the front of customers’ minds again:
- A loyalty program rebrand
- Gamification campaigns
- Personalized Klaviyo email flows and segments
The stack
Klaviyo
The outcome
Loyalty-driven revenue spikes
Death Wish’s Smile-Generated Value (all orders with a rewards code) has increased by 186% in one year. With points, referrals, and a VIP program, the coffee brand prioritizes relationships with repeat customers, driving a 4.8x higher AOV from this cohort.
Coffee is a categorically high-purchase-frequency product. The key is ensuring customers are shopping from your brand repeatedly. With regular loyalty program reminder communications powered by Klaviyo, Death Wish has achieved a 2.63x higher purchase frequency for active rewards program redeemers.
We use Klaviyo for all of our email marketing. That integration is great because I can dynamically include people’s referral codes and points balances in emails that remind them if they have rewards.
