Company Case Studies

Theory is useful. Examples are better. This chapter examines ten companies that have built genuinely distinctive email programmes. For each one, I’ll cover what they did, why it worked, and what you can steal for your own programme. These aren’t case studies about average email programmes. These are companies that turned email into a genuine competitive advantage.

Casper: DTC Email Voice

Casper built a mattress empire partly on the strength of their email marketing voice. In an industry where every competitor sends the same ‘Save 20% on your new mattress’ promotional emails, Casper chose to be warm, witty, and obsessively on-brand.

Their welcome series doesn’t just pitch products. It includes sleep tips, bedroom ambience suggestions, and the science of better rest. They treat email subscribers as people who want to sleep better, not just as potential mattress buyers. This is a crucial distinction. By leading with value (sleep education) and following with product (our mattress helps you achieve this), they build trust before asking for a sale.

Their abandoned cart emails are legendary in the DTC community. ‘Come back to bed’ as a cart abandonment subject line perfectly blends product context (it’s a bed) with emotional warmth. It feels like a message from a partner, not a brand. The email copy continues this tone throughout, making the cart abandonment sequence feel personal rather than transactional. Most abandoned cart emails make you feel nagged. Casper’s make you feel invited.

The consistency across their entire email programme is what makes it work. The subject lines, the body copy, the imagery, the CTAs, everything sounds like it was written by the same warm, slightly funny friend who happens to know a lot about sleep. That consistency isn’t accidental. It comes from clear brand voice guidelines, strong editorial oversight, and a willingness to reject copy that hits the right metrics but sounds wrong for the brand.

The lesson: distinctive brand voice in email is a competitive moat. Every mattress company can match Casper on price or features. None of them can copy Casper’s voice without it feeling forced. Your email voice is one of the few sustainable advantages in a crowded market. Invest in defining it, documenting it, and protecting it.

Morning Brew: Newsletter Growth

Morning Brew’s growth from zero to over four million subscribers is one of the most studied cases in newsletter history. The tactics are well-known but still underutilised by most newsletter operators.

Their referral programme uses tiered rewards that create a genuine game for subscribers. Share with friends, earn rewards. Stickers at three referrals. A mug at ten. Premium content at 25. An invitation to exclusive events at higher tiers. The genius is that the early rewards (stickers, mugs) cost almost nothing but feel tangible and fun, while the effort required to earn them generates significant subscriber growth. The referral programme reportedly drove 30% of Morning Brew’s total subscriber acquisition at its peak.

Format consistency is underrated in their success. Same sections, same order, same tone, every single day. Subscribers know exactly what they’re getting. The business news, the quips, the puzzle at the end. This predictability builds the daily habit that makes Morning Brew part of people’s morning routine rather than an email they might open. The newsletter format becomes a container that subscribers trust, and that trust translates into consistently high open rates.

The economic model is worth examining. Morning Brew generates $50M+ in annual revenue primarily from newsletter sponsorships at $20 to $50 CPM. That’s a media business built entirely on email, proving that newsletters can be serious companies, not just marketing channels. The CPM rates work because Morning Brew’s audience is highly engaged and demographically attractive to advertisers: young professionals with disposable income and decision-making authority.

Tyler Denk was employee number two at Morning Brew and saw firsthand how these growth tactics worked. He later founded beehiiv to democratise these strategies, building the referral programmes, growth tools, and ad network infrastructure that Morning Brew built custom into a platform anyone can use. The ad network is particularly interesting: beehiiv publishers can sell sponsored placements through beehiiv’s network, removing the need to build advertiser relationships from scratch.

Duolingo: Retention via Email

Duolingo’s email programme is a masterclass in using loss aversion to drive retention. Their approach is deceptively simple, but the psychology underneath is sophisticated.

Their streak reminder emails apply the most powerful behavioural principle in retention marketing: people are more motivated by the fear of losing something they have than by the promise of gaining something they don’t. If you’ve built a 47-day streak on Duolingo, the idea of losing it is genuinely painful. Their emails tap into this beautifully, making the streak the star of the email rather than the language learning itself.

The escalating urgency sequence is brilliant in its simplicity. The Duo owl character starts happy (‘Don’t forget your lesson today!’). If you miss a day, Duo looks concerned. Miss two days, Duo looks sad. Miss three, Duo is heartbroken. it’s emotionally manipulative in the best possible way, using a cartoon owl to make language learners feel genuinely guilty about skipping practice. The emotional escalation creates a narrative arc within the email sequence itself, turning a series of reminders into a story.

The breakup email is their most counterintuitively effective message. After a sustained period of inactivity, Duolingo sends: ‘These reminders don’t seem to be working. We’ll stop sending them.’ This generates significantly higher reactivation than any of the preceding reminder emails. Loss aversion again. The threat of losing the reminders (and by extension, your learning commitment and your relationship with Duo) motivates action more than the reminders themselves.

Gamification elements like streaks, leagues, XP, and achievements are all reinforced through email. Each email connects to the broader gamification system, creating multiple feedback loops that drive daily engagement. The email isn’t an isolated channel. It’s one touchpoint in a carefully designed behavioural system.

The lesson: loss aversion is more powerful than gain framing in retention emails. ‘You’ll lose your streak’ outperforms ‘Come back and earn XP’ every time.

Spotify: Year-in-Review

Spotify Wrapped is the single best example of turning customer data into marketing gold.

Every December, Spotify sends each user a personalised summary of their year in listening. Top artists, top songs, total minutes listened, genre breakdowns, listening personality type. The data itself is interesting but not revolutionary. The execution is what makes it extraordinary.

Every element is designed for shareability. The graphics are formatted for Instagram Stories, TikTok, and X (Twitter) with the right dimensions, colours, and text sizes for each platform. Users don’t just consume their Wrapped data, they share it. Wrapped season generates a 461% increase in related tweets. App downloads spike by 21% during Wrapped, driven entirely by non-users seeing their friends’ Wrapped posts and wanting their own. Spotify essentially turns its users into a marketing army every December, and it costs them nothing beyond the engineering effort.

Identity reinforcement is the psychological engine. ‘You’re in the top 0.5% of Taylor Swift listeners’ doesn’t just share data, it validates identity. People share their Wrapped because it says something about who they are. Music taste is deeply tied to personal identity, and Spotify gives users a beautifully designed way to express that identity to their social networks.

The lesson every brand should internalise: you have data that could be ‘Wrapped’. Purchase history (your most-ordered items, total saved, new products tried). Fitness data (your best month, total distance, personal records). Reading habits (books finished, genres explored, reading streaks). Banking data (biggest saving month, spending categories, financial milestones). The formula is: take personal data, make it visually appealing and shareable, add identity-reinforcing superlatives, and deliver it as a year-end gift. Very few brands have executed on this, which means there’s enormous opportunity for the ones that do.

Booking.com: Triggered Urgency

Booking.com built one of the most sophisticated triggered email programmes in travel. Browse a hotel in Barcelona, and within hours you’ll receive an email showing that property with real-time pricing, availability, and social proof.

‘Only 2 rooms left at this price!’ emails are triggered by your browsing behaviour and pull from actual inventory data. The prices update. The availability is real. The demand signals (‘15 other people are looking at this hotel right now’) reflect actual session data. This real-time data integration is technically impressive and commercially effective.

This real-time data integration makes the urgency credible. And credible urgency is dramatically more effective than manufactured urgency. When a subscriber knows the scarcity claim is based on actual inventory rather than marketing tricks, they respond to it differently. The email becomes useful information rather than manipulation.

However, Booking.com also serves as a cautionary tale. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and EU regulators scrutinised their urgency claims, questioning whether some of the pressure tactics crossed the line from informative to manipulative. ‘Only 2 rooms left’ is useful information when accurate. ‘Only 2 rooms left!!!’ combined with countdown timers, stress-inducing colours, and ‘book now before it’s too late’ messaging starts to feel coercive, even when the underlying data is real.

The lesson is twofold. First, real-time data makes urgency credible, and credible urgency converts. Second, fake or exaggerated urgency risks both brand trust and regulatory action. The line between persuasion and manipulation is real, and your customers can feel when you’ve crossed it.

Amazon: Transactional Cross-Sell

Amazon treats every email as a revenue opportunity. Their shipping confirmations include product recommendations. Their delivery notifications include related items. Their review requests include products the customer might like based on their purchase. Every touchpoint sells.

The recommendation engine reportedly drives 35% of Amazon’s total revenue. That’s not just the website recommendations. That’s email recommendations, on-site suggestions, and app notifications working together to surface relevant products at every interaction. The engine gets smarter with every purchase, every click, and every browse session, building an increasingly accurate model of each customer’s preferences.

Their replenishment reminders are particularly clever. Based on historical consumption rates (you bought laundry detergent 45 days ago, and the average customer reorders every 50 days), Amazon sends a perfectly timed ‘Running low?’ email. This transforms a routine repurchase from a decision the customer has to remember into a one-click action in their inbox. For consumable products, these reminders drive substantial repeat revenue.

Price drop alerts for wishlist items are another strong example. They turn passive browsing (adding to wishlist) into active engagement (you wishlisted this item and the price just dropped 20%). The trigger is genuine (the price actually dropped) and the value to the customer is clear (save money on something you already want).

Review request timing at five to seven days post-delivery gives customers enough time to use the product but is close enough to the purchase that the experience is fresh. This timing window consistently generates the highest review response rates.

The lesson: every transactional email is a marketing opportunity. Your shipping confirmations, your receipts, your account notifications, these are among your highest-opened emails. They don’t have to be purely informational.

Patagonia: Mission-Driven Email

Patagonia leads with mission before product. Their emails talk about environmental activism, conservation efforts, and sustainability initiatives before they mention jackets or backpacks. This isn’t a marketing tactic bolted onto a standard ecommerce programme. It’s the foundation of everything they send.

‘We’re in business to save our home planet’ isn’t a tagline in their emails. It’s the organising principle. Product emails are framed through the lens of sustainability: materials sourced responsibly, fair trade certified, designed to last decades rather than seasons.

The ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ philosophy, which ran as an actual ad campaign, paradoxically drives loyalty and sales. By telling customers not to buy unless they truly need the product, Patagonia positions itself as trustworthy in a market saturated with brands pushing unnecessary consumption. Customers reward that trust with fierce loyalty and higher lifetime value.

Their long-form storytelling emails work because their audience genuinely cares. A 1,500-word email about protecting a specific river in Chile would be absurd for most brands. For Patagonia, it drives engagement because their subscribers self-selected into a community that cares about these issues. The email isn’t selling a product. It’s reinforcing shared values. And shared values are the strongest foundation for customer loyalty.

The Worn Wear programme emails promote buying used Patagonia gear, having existing gear repaired, and trading in old items. Anti-consumption messaging from a company that sells things. It works because it’s authentic, backed by real programmes and real investment.

The lesson: sustainability storytelling must be backed by real action or it backfires spectacularly as greenwashing. Patagonia can send these emails because they actually put 1% of revenue toward environmental causes, they actually run a repair programme, and they actually use recycled materials. Brands that copy the messaging without the substance get called out quickly and publicly.

Nike: Activity-Based Personalisation

Nike personalises by identity and activity, not just purchase history. This is a crucial distinction. Most brands personalise based on what you’ve bought. Nike personalises based on who you are as an athlete.

Nike Run Club integration means your run data feeds into your email experience. Post-run summaries, training plan progression, personal milestone celebrations (‘Your fastest 5K this month!’). These emails aren’t selling shoes. They’re reinforcing your identity as a runner who happens to use Nike products. The purchase follows naturally from the identity, not the other way around.

SNKRS limited releases create extreme email engagement because early access to limited-edition sneakers is genuinely valuable to sneaker enthusiasts. Open rates on SNKRS emails likely exceed 80% because missing the email means missing the drop. The scarcity is real, the demand is real, and the email is the access point. This is perhaps the purest example of email marketing where the email itself is the product (access) rather than just the medium.

Content and commerce blend naturally in Nike’s approach. A training tips email includes relevant product recommendations. A new running shoe launch email includes a training plan designed for the shoe. The product always serves the activity rather than the other way around. This means Nike’s emails feel useful even when they’re selling.

Early access as a loyalty reward is worth noting because it costs Nike nothing but feels valuable to the customer. Getting access to a product 24 hours before the general public creates a sense of exclusivity without any discount or additional cost to the brand. The perceived value is high. The actual cost is zero.

The lesson: personalise by identity and activity, not just purchase history. ‘You bought running shoes’ is a data point. ‘You’re a runner training for a half marathon’ is an identity that drives ongoing engagement, ongoing purchases, and genuine brand loyalty.

Starbucks: Loyalty Programme Email

Starbucks’ rewards programme is one of the most successful loyalty programmes ever built, with over 30 million active members generating approximately 50% of US revenue. Email is the connective tissue that makes it work.

The Star system is deliberately simple. Buy things, earn Stars. Accumulate Stars, get free items. The simplicity is the point. Complex point systems with multipliers, tiers, exceptions, and restrictions create friction. Starbucks’ system is immediately understandable: spend money, get Stars, Stars get free stuff. A child could understand it.

‘You’re 25 Stars away from a free Iced Latte’ progress visualisation is textbook goal gradient effect. The closer you are to a reward, the more motivated you are to earn it. Their emails show this progress prominently, creating a clear incentive to make one more purchase. The progress bar does more selling than any copy ever could.

Personalised offers based on purchase history drive incremental visits. If you always order lattes, you might get a bonus Star offer on Frappuccinos, encouraging trial of a new category. If you usually visit in the morning, you might get an afternoon double-star promotion, driving a second daily visit. These offers feel like they’re made just for you, even though they’re generated algorithmically at scale.

Seasonal FOMO around limited-time drinks (Pumpkin Spice Latte, holiday specials) creates natural urgency that doesn’t feel manufactured. The drinks genuinely are available for a limited time, and the email notifying you of their arrival is genuinely useful information.

The lesson: simple mechanics, progress visibility, and personalised offers beat complex point systems. If your customers need a guide to understand your loyalty programme, it’s too complicated.

Basecamp/Hey.com: Anti-Tracking Philosophy

Basecamp and their email service Hey.com represent a fundamentally different philosophy about email marketing. No open tracking pixels. Plain-text-first emails. A deliberate choice to respect recipient privacy over marketer convenience.

Most email marketers would consider this approach impractical. How do you measure engagement without open tracking? How do you clean your list? How do you optimise send times?

Basecamp proves that you can build a successful email programme without surveillance-style tracking. They focus on click-through rates (which require deliberate action from the recipient) rather than open rates (which are increasingly unreliable anyway post-Apple MPP). They measure what matters, actual engagement and business outcomes, rather than vanity metrics.

Hey, the email app they built, was designed around the philosophy that users should control their inbox. It features screening for new senders, separate feeds for different email types, and the ability to block tracking pixels. Building a product around inbox control while also running an email marketing programme forced Basecamp to practice what they preach.

Their emails are consistently among the most-discussed in the tech community. Not because of clever design or sophisticated automation, but because the content is genuinely interesting and the approach respects the reader. Jason Fried’s writing about business, work culture, and product development drives engagement through substance rather than manipulation.

The lesson: respect for privacy and strong email marketing aren’t mutually exclusive. With open rates becoming unreliable due to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, Basecamp’s approach of focusing on meaningful engagement metrics looks increasingly prescient. You can build a loyal, engaged email audience without knowing whether they opened your email at 8:42am on their iPhone.

---