How Built for Athletes generated 65% of Klaviyo-attributed revenue from automations in 12 months
65%
of Klaviyo-attributed revenue from automations over last 12 months
33x
Klaviyo ROI over last 12 months
10
live multi-channel flows
Founded in 2018, Built for Athletes is a premium performance brand centred on one hero product: distinctive, high-quality, large-capacity backpacks. Alongside its core backpack range, the brand has expanded into a wider ecosystem of customisable bag patches, accessories, and clothing that speak to a community of runners, swimmers, cyclists and everyday training fans.
The company primarily sells direct-to-consumer through its website while maintaining an in-store presence through premium retailers such as Flannels. It also has an extensive partnership network of leading sports teams, athletes and organisations.
Learn how Built for Athletes uses Klaviyo to make campaigns, automation, SMS, loyalty and app messaging work together in one platform
Challenge
Built for Athletes needed a CRM platform to support a sophisticated retention strategy. Because its core products are designed for longevity, the brand focuses on keeping customers engaged between purchases through relevant content, tailored customer journeys, loyalty, SMS, and app engagement.
The brand had used Klaviyo for three years before moving to Insider in search of greater cost efficiency. However, as the CRM programme evolved, the team needed a platform that allowed for faster execution, more intuitive segmentation, and easier management of campaigns and automated journeys without relying heavily on custom development resources.
Solution
Built for Athletes initially chose Klaviyo for its strong integration with Shopify, its advanced personalisation capabilities and its comprehensive selection of messaging channels and integrations. The team ultimately returned to Klaviyo because it provided both the flexibility and operational efficiency needed to support BFA’s evolving retention strategy. Klaviyo allowed the team to deliver more personalised customer journeys across email, SMS, and, since 2025, push notifications, while also giving a lean internal team the ability to self-manage campaigns, flows, segmentation and lead capture without heavy development support.
Klaviyo also addressed the brand's need for a more connected ecosystem. Its Shopify store, mobile app, loyalty programme, wishlist tool, paid ads, and surveys now all feed into one place, allowing Built for Athletes to collect data centrally, segment customers effectively and trigger email, SMS and push notifications from the same hub. No more stitching together multiple systems.
Klaviyo is powerful because you can self-service the majority of our CRM activity, without relying heavily on developmental support.
Strategy
Built For Athletes uses Klaviyo to stay relevant between purchases, using automation to turn CRM into a more connected, personalised customer experience.
- Automation that keeps customers engaged between purchases: The team uses Klaviyo automations driven by profile data and segmentation to share blog content, such as workouts of the week and athlete stories. These journeys draw on data sourced from purchase history, on-site forms and surveys about each customer’s interests, for example, whether they are more focused on functional fitness, running or cycling. This ensures that the content feels more relevant and community‑led.
- SMS aimed at high-intent customers: Built for Athletes uses Klaviyo SMS most effectively in high-intent automations, including checkout, basket, and browse abandonment flows, as well as early-access sale campaigns. The team segments audiences based on recent sign-ups and prior SMS engagement, helping keep SMS highly targeted, customer-first, and integrated with the wider CRM strategy.
- Loyalty activated through connected flows: Klaviyo helps Built for Athletes turn its loyalty programme into an active part of the customer journey, rather than treating it as a standalone retention channel. By integrating with Yotpo, the team triggers automated flows around key loyalty moments, including programme sign-up, tier changes, referral rewards and birthday points, while keeping those messages connected to the wider CRM experience.
It is really important for us to have everything consolidated. With a small team, having all our channels, apps, lead-gen forms and integrations connected through Klaviyo is key to our strategy, because it makes it easier to manage customer data, segment audiences and deliver a more joined-up experience across the customer journey.