Marine Layer grows Klaviyo revenue 40.4% YoY using email, SMS, and POS integration

Marine Layer is a casual, California-based apparel brand with a relatable origin story: 10+ years ago, CEO Michael Natenshon’s girlfriend threw out his favorite old t-shirt. He wanted to replace it—so he founded a company that made shirts so soft, they felt like old favorites right off the rack.

Since then, he and his team have custom-developed 100+ ultra-soft fabrics, reinvented weekend wear with an emphasis on textile recycling and sustainability, and expanded to 45+ stores.

Today, they consolidate and activate their customer data in a platform they’ve grown with for ~8 years: Klaviyo.

Learn how Marine Layer activates in-person and online customer data in Klaviyo

Challenge

Ever since CMO Renee Halvorsen started with Marine Layer in 2016, the brand has had two sales channels: brick-and-mortar stores and ecommerce.

Behind the scenes, they operate quite differently—but from the outside, they need to present as one seamless brand.

That’s how their customers see them—and “the customers shopping on both channels are often our most valued customers,” Halvorsen says.

That posed a challenge to her and the team: How could they create a cohesive brand experience for customers shopping in-store and online?

Solution

The key has been consolidating all their customer data in one platform: Klaviyo.

Marine Layer pulls purchasing data into Klaviyo via integrations with their ecommerce platform, Shopify Plus, and their in-store POS software, NewStore.

Klaviyo pulls in two main events from NewStore:

• Email sign-ups: At check-out, customers can sign up for marketing emails—and the shoppers who subscribe get automatically imported to Marine Layer’s email list.
• Purchases: If a customer gets an email receipt at check-out, that purchase gets added to their Klaviyo profile.

“We have stores across the country, and we have a fast-growing DTC business,” says Halvorsen. “Thank goodness we’ve been able to put all our data in Klaviyo, so we can use that information to inform how we’re contacting buyers.”

We have stores across the country, and we have a fast-growing DTC business. Thank goodness we’ve been able to put all our data in Klaviyo, so we can use that information to inform how we’re contacting buyers.

Strategy

Marine Layer activates their email sign-up data in real time, with two welcome flows: one for people who subscribe online, and one for people who do it IRL.

To help customers understand the full range of shopping experiences available, each flow features slightly different creative:

• The welcome flow for in-person shoppers highlights the extensive online selection, and Marine Layer’s free shipping and returns policy.
• The welcome flow for DTC shoppers is more focused on boosting awareness of Marine Layer’s retail stores and encouraging repeat online purchases.

Recently, Marine Layer started offering a more VIP experience for superfans, too: an SMS channel, with access to exclusive collections and flash sales.

Marine Layer runs their SMS marketing with Klaviyo—so they can now track engagement across ecommerce, retail, email, and SMS in one platform.

This helps them control their messaging cadence and make more informed big-picture decisions.

“Having all our data consolidated in Klaviyo makes it easier to ingest performance,” says Halvorsen. “We can look in one place for a read on whether our season is performing and the health of our business.”

Having all our data consolidated in Klaviyo makes it easier to ingest performance. We can look in one place for a read on whether our season is performing and the health of our business.