Subscription results from real DTC brands
Real numbers from subscription brands we have worked with: take rate, retention at order 3, saved cancellations and reactivated subscribers. Your brand could be next.
SunMed is a fast-scaling CBD subscription brand with 300+ stores. The subscription program needed retention to compound as the subscriber base grew past 2,000.
We rebuilt the subscriber journey as a connected habit-formation system.
Triple Whale cohort
Boka is a fast-scaling oral healthcare subscription brand. Month 3 subscription retention sat below 50%.
We rebuilt the lifecycle as a connected habit-formation system. Same brand, same products, better retention.
Triple Whale cohort
Worked for 80+ subscription brands like you
Mushroom supplements
Global skincare
DTC skincare
How a $5M subscription brand's near-collapse rewired our entire agency
“We’re losing 22% of subscribers every month.
We pay to acquire them.
They cancel before we break even.
We’re going broke.”
CEO of a subscription CPG brand who hired us to work on retention.
From the outside, everything looks right.
Klaviyo running. Recharge billing. Paid ads are working.
Churn was brutal.
They lost 50-60% of subscribers by month 3.
A $5M brand losing $400K a quarter to invisible churn.
They had tried everything.
Email agency. Loyalty app. Better creative. Stacked discounts.
Then we started calling their customers.
It turned out the customers weren’t consuming the supplements.
Most fell off the wagon. Without consumption, no results.
Without results, no reason to subscribe.
We had to create the habit.
I read Atomic Habits by James Clear. The key takeaway:
“Habits Are Built Through Cues, Cravings, Responses, and Rewards”
So we built a system around it.
Cues through onboarding emails.
Cravings through anticipation messaging.
Responses through the cancel flow.
Rewards through surprise and delight.
This became the Subscription LTV Maximizer™.
30+ touchpoints across email, SMS, and the subscription platform.
The full subscriber journey. One connected system.
We’ve since shipped this for Boka, SunMed, FreshCap and 30+ others.
Monthly churn dropped from 22% to 9% in 30 days.
The brand hit its first $1M subscription month soon after.
That’s when we saw the pattern.
Every $1-10M subscription brand was running into the same wall.
Email agencies showing them Klaviyo dashboards while their cohorts bled out.
Subscription platforms have been running default settings since launch.
Three different teams. Nobody owns the subscriber journey.
If your brand is on that wall, you’re not alone.
You’ve built the brand. You’ve nailed the product.
The subscription metrics tell you something is leaking. You can’t name it.
You’ve tried email agencies. You’ve tried platform tweaks.
None of it moved the cohort curve.
That’s the gap Subscription LTV Maximizer™ closes.
Three phases: Activate, Retain, Scale.
Each one a 10-day sprint. Live in your stack by day 30.
Most agencies treat subscription as a billing setting.
We treat it as a habit-formation system.
Retention you can see in the cohorts
Words from subscription founders
SunMed's 90-day repeat purchase rate, up from 61%.
“Our biggest focus was consistency, and I love that RetainUP built on that. Their work is so much better than what we did, I mean, I can't even compare.”
“Unlike other email agencies we have worked with, they have a deep understanding of the subscription journey.”
“I had them do our subscription lifecycle. In a month, they generated higher subscription revenue than our past performance.”
“They take subscriber retention seriously. The repeat purchase journeys are exactly what we needed.”
“40% of store revenue comes from RetainUP's automations. Best investment we've made.”
“They understood our customers and built the right lifecycle automations. $40-60K extra every month.”
Subscription results, answered
What results have RetainUP clients seen?
SunMed, on Skio, went from 61% to 73% on 90-day repeat purchase rate. Boka, on Recharge, went from 41% to 63%. FreshCap's returning customer rate rose from 69% to 79%, and ZitSticka's 90-day repeat purchase rate from 44% to 58%.
Which subscription platforms were these built on?
SunMed runs on Skio and Boka on Recharge. RetainUP builds on Recharge, Skio, Stay AI and Loop, across 80+ subscription brands.
How are these numbers measured?
From each brand's own store data. The SunMed and Boka numbers come from the Triple Whale cohort tables shown above, comparing cohorts from before the work with cohorts after it.
How fast will my subscription numbers move?
The Subscription LTV Maximizer™ is live in 30 days, or a full refund. Retention gains show over the next 60 to 90 days, as your first cohorts reach their second and third orders.
Can I see where my subscription program stands first?
Yes. The free Subscription LTV Scorecard™ scores your program on 8 dimensions and 48 checkpoints, and lands in your inbox within 24 hours.
How does RetainUP compare with other subscription retention experts?
Compared on model, platforms, public price and minimums, the five main subscription retention experts sit side by side in the 5 best subscription retention experts for DTC brands.
Not sure where to start? Get your Subscription LTV Scorecard™
The same audit we run on every paying client, free.
- A personalized 20-page report
- 8 dimensions, 48 checkpoints
- Benchmarked against Grüns, IM8 and Mars Men
- Delivered in 24 hours
Just your email and store URL.