Deliver the Code Above the Fold in Email One
Drunk Elephant generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, and their automated welcome flow does heavy lifting from the first second someone opts in. When a subscriber signs up for an incentive on your site, email one has exactly one job. It needs to deliver the promised discount immediately.
In Drunk Elephant's first email, the discount code sits directly above the fold. The reader does not need to scroll down a single pixel to find what they came for. I see too many brands bury their voucher code beneath three lifestyle images and two paragraphs of copy. That is a mistake.
Make the code obvious, pair it with a direct call to action, and get out of the way. Drunk Elephant also uses simple visual icons beneath the header to highlight their ingredient philosophy, specifically their core rule around avoiding six common ingredients. A clean graphic communicates far faster than a wall of text.
Remind Non-Buyers in Every Subsequent Email
Here is something surprisingly common: brands send a discount in email one, and then completely drop the reminder in emails two and three. If a subscriber has not converted on the initial send, they still want the product, but they got distracted.
Drunk Elephant repeats the offer in their subsequent welcome emails to non-purchasers. In my books, every automated message a prospective customer receives before their first order should carry a gentle reminder of that active incentive.
You do not need to make the entire email about the voucher. A simple banner at the top or a discrete reminder near the bottom keeps the incentive top of mind without devaluing the rest of your brand messaging.
Categorise Hundreds of SKUs into Clear Buckets
Large catalogues overwhelm new subscribers. If you present a first-time visitor with hundreds of individual SKUs, decision fatigue sets in and they close the tab. Drunk Elephant solves this by grouping their entire product line into four simple collections in their second email.
Instead of pitching individual bottles, they ask what the reader is looking for and offer four clear routes: moisturisers, serums, masks and treatments, or cleansers. That is it.
Taking a massive catalogue and condensing it down to roughly four clickable categories makes browsing effortless. It lets the subscriber self-select their immediate skincare priority rather than hunting through product pages.
Use Category Clicks for Segment Tagging
Breaking your catalogue into categories inside the welcome series is not just about making the layout look tidy. It is also an effective way to gather zero-party data directly inside Klaviyo.
When a subscriber clicks on the moisturiser block in email two, you can configure your ESP to tag that profile with a specific interest. Even if they do not purchase immediately, you now know their primary concern.
We use these interaction tags across future campaign sends. Instead of sending a generic product drop to the entire list, you can send tailored campaigns focused on moisturisers directly to the segment that showed interest during onboarding. It instantly improves your relevance and conversion rates.
Tell the Founder Story (And Why It Should Be Plain Text)
The third email in Drunk Elephant's welcome sequence shifts focus to the founder story and mission statement. Introducing the person behind the business creates an authentic connection between the reader and the brand, which helps build long-term retention.
They write this message from a genuine first-person perspective, explaining why the founder started the company and what problems she wanted to solve. The narrative itself is strong, but I have one gripe with the execution: it is designed as a standard image-heavy graphic email.
When you share a personal note from a founder, it should be built as a plain text email. A plain text message looks like a genuine one-on-one email sent from a real person's inbox. It lands better in the primary tab, improves overall deliverability, and feels dramatically more human than a styled marketing template.
Final Thoughts
Drunk Elephant's welcome flow works because it keeps things simple: instant discount delivery, catalogue organisation into four core buckets, and a personal founder sign-off. If you run a large catalogue, stop confusing subscribers with too many options on day one. Deliver your offer cleanly, let them choose their category, and use those clicks to drive smarter segmentation.
If you want our team to audit, design, and build a high-converting automated flow architecture for your store, take a look at our email automation services.
