Effective communication with customers is vital for any business’s success in today’s digital world. Email marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for engaging with customers and driving business growth. Oatly, an oat milk brand and a household name, thanks to its sustained investment in brand marketing, recognized the importance of this channel and sought our expertise.
Broad top-of-funnel plays made sense for the brand’s global retail business, but after Oatly launched an ecommerce operation in 2018, they needed to layer in new marketing channels—like email.
Building a Sustainable Brand
Oatly’s mission is to spread the message of sustainability and positively impact the world through its oat milk products. With their distinctive “oat punk” brand identity, Oatly wanted to reach a wider audience and establish stronger connections with their loyal fanbase. However, when they initially approached us, they were relatively new to email marketing and lacked the necessary tools and expertise to maximize its potential.
Back in 2020, Oatly sent automated purchase updates through a constellation of different apps, even though the brand had a Klaviyo account. They sent order confirmations through Shopify, shipping updates through AfterShip, and subscription communications through Recharge.
That decentralization meant automated emails had inconsistent branding—and it caused deeper problems, too. Customer experience was a major priority for the Oatly team, but it was a black box post-purchase. Were they communicating clearly? Frequently enough?
The Solution & Strategy
Our team of experts worked closely with Oatly to understand their unique requirements and design a customized email marketing strategy. The first step was to map out the post-purchase email flows and identify the data available from Oatly’s integrated platforms, including Shopify, AfterShip, ReCharge, and Klaviyo. We could—and did—migrate nearly every flow into Klaviyo without sacrificing timeliness or losing key data.
On the contrary: Oatly gained the ability to view individual customer journeys in Klaviyo customer profiles. “In Klaviyo, Oatly could understand the whole customer journey post-purchase, and make sure that it was giving people the information they wanted—but not too much,” says Lisa Pepin, UX designer at Netalico.
Additionally, we designed and implemented a welcome series, browse abandonment, back-in-stock alerts, and other automated flows to nurture and engage Oatly’s growing subscriber list. We were able to optimize transactional emails to mitigate inventory and shipping issues, ensuring every customer received a stellar experience regardless of any challenges.
Flows
“Oatly’s not trying to sell oat milk,” Pepin explains. “They’re trying to build a sustainable culture around plant-based food. This early Klaviyo project showed them they could use email to build that culture and connect with their customers.”
Impressive Business Impact
The collaboration between Oatly and Netalico yielded remarkable results, highlighting the transformative power of effective email marketing. Oatly’s email open rates soared to an impressive average of 45%, far exceeding industry standards. Moreover, the clickthrough rate reached 12%, indicating the high level of customer engagement achieved through our strategic approach.
Since partnering with us, Oatly has sent over 690,000 emails in the past two years, solidifying its brand presence and fostering meaningful connections with its customers. Most significantly, Oatly experienced substantial subscriber growth, surpassing the 200% milestone. This significant expansion of its email list showcases our expertise in capturing new leads and nurturing existing relationships.
Conclusion
The Oatly-Netalico partnership exemplifies the transformative impact that a well-executed email marketing strategy can have on a business. Through our expert guidance, Oatly was able to harness the full potential of email marketing to connect with its fanbase and spread its sustainability message to a broader audience.
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, companies must recognize the value of effective communication channels. Oatly’s collaboration with Netalico is a testament to the power of email marketing when harnessed correctly, helping brands engage with customers, drive growth, and make a lasting impact.
