JunkyardButcher

Work · Lifecycle email & SMS

Nobody buys
from a feed.

The email and SMS architecture behind regulated brands that can't buy their reach, and can't afford to waste the attention they earn.

Discipline
Lifecycle email & SMS
Stack
Klaviyo, owned channels
Built from
Delivery & dispensary engagements
Names
Withheld by design

One brand · one year · this architecture, end to end

$4.6MPlatform-attributed revenue in a single year
~$22KTotal platform spend across the same year
66→86%Deliverability, rebuilt from the sender up

The revenue is the headline. Deliverability is what made it possible. A list landing in inboxes two-thirds of the time has already lost a third of its value, and no copy outruns a bad sender reputation. That got fixed before a single flow was written.

The problem

The corner they're in.

Cannabis brands are locked out of most paid acquisition. The major ad platforms restrict or prohibit the category, enforcement shifts by state and product, and an account can disappear with its audience attached.

So most attention is earned, not bought: a post that travelled, a bag someone saw at a show, a friend who said try these guys. It arrives once, usually at the worst moment, and it's gone unless something catches it.

That makes the list the only audience the brand actually owns. Instagram's job is to make people curious enough to hand over an address. It was never the place to close.

The feed is the flyer. The list is the door.

The spine

Every route runs the same sequence. What changes is where someone enters, how fast they move, and which branch their behavior sends them down.

  1. Attention
  2. Capture
  3. Context
  4. Behavior
  5. Intent
  6. Purchase
  7. Experience
  8. Retention
  9. Advocacy
  10. Reactivation
  11. Pruning

The route

Five stages across email and SMS. Every automated send has to justify why it exists, or it doesn't ship.

Timings are representative for this kind of catalogue and purchase cycle, not fixed rules. Real cadence is set by the product, the replenishment clock and what the behavioral data says once the flows are live.

01

The catch

Acquisition → opt-in → consent

About one ask for every seven things given away, and the ask still has to be worth something on its own. The link goes to a door, not a product page.

  1. SocialTriggerThe offer postThe one-in-seven. Something worth having, gated behind an address rather than a purchase.
  2. InstantLandingThe signupEmail first, phone as a separate optional step, never bundled. Consent language and the age gate live here, not buried at checkout.
02

The introduction

Welcome → expectations → education

Most welcome flows are a coupon with a logo on it. This one says who the brand is before what things cost. The discount is why they joined, not why they'll stay.

  1. InstantEmailHere's what you just joinedDeliver the incentive, set expectations for what shows up and how often. No product grid.
  2. InstantSMSThe code, aloneIf they opted in, the code and nothing else. Text is utility.
  3. +2 daysEmailWho's behind thisThe origin story with no ask in it. This send decides whether the next four get opened.
  4. +4 daysEmailHow to actually use itFormat education, dosing, what to expect. Useful even to someone who never buys, which is the point.
  5. +7 daysEmailThe first askThe incentive is running out. A deadline, not a pitch.
03

The hesitation

Browse → cart → intent recovery

Split by how much intent someone showed. Browsing is a shrug. A loaded cart is a decision that got interrupted, usually by fees, minimums or a delivery window. Those get answered directly, not papered over with another discount.

  1. +4 hrsEmailBrowsed, no cartLow pressure, content-led. Discounting here trains people to wait.
  2. +1 hrEmailCart, interruptedTheir items, nothing else. Assume distraction, not doubt.
  3. +6 hrsSMSThe nudgeThe only SMS on a non-purchase. High intent was shown, so the interruption is earned.
  4. +24 hrsEmailThe objection, namedDelivery window, minimum or fee: whichever is killing the cart, answered out loud.
04

The second order

Onboarding → replenishment → cross-sell

The gap that quietly kills delivery brands. A first order is a trial; the second makes a customer. Almost nobody builds for it, and it's the cheapest revenue on the board.

  1. On orderSMSLogistics onlyConfirmation, driver, window. The most-read message the brand will ever send, so nothing is sold in it.
  2. +3 daysEmailHow was itA real question with a reply address. Feeds reviews and catches problems before they go public.
  3. +10 daysEmailReplenishment mathTimed to what they bought and how long it lasts. Different clock for flower than for a cart.
  4. +21 daysEmailThe next one upAdjacent to the first purchase, not a repeat. Widen the shelf.
05

The long goodbye

Segmentation → reactivation → sunset

Segmented by how often someone actually orders: heavy, steady, slipping. Campaign sends (drops, menu changes, events) ride on top and are held to the same ratio as the feed.

  1. Day 45EmailContent, not couponFirst contact after the cadence slips. A lot of people come back here, and it costs nothing.
  2. Day 60SMSThe one offerA single, genuinely good incentive. Not a standing discount they learn to wait for.
  3. Day 90EmailShould we let you goAsked honestly. The people who stay after this are worth ten who never answered.

What holds it together

SMS is a fire alarm, not a radio station.

It goes off when something is actually happening: an order is moving, a cart is dying, a drop is live. Every other send spends the permission that makes those work.

Every automation justifies itself or gets cut.

If nobody can say what a send is for beyond filling a calendar slot, it's dead weight in an inbox with the brand's name on it.

Compliance is structural.

Age gating, express consent, STOP and HELP handling and regulated-category carrier rules, built in from the first field. Built to be reviewed by the brand's own counsel, not to replace them.

Voice survives automation.

Automated is no reason to sound automated. Every send is written in the brand's real voice, because people smell a template in half a second.

What ships

  • Flow architectureTriggers, timing, branches, exits and suppression, mapped end to end.
  • Full copyWritten, not templated. Subjects, previews, bodies, SMS at length.
  • SegmentationBuilt on real behavior and maintained as it drifts.
  • Compliance layerConsent, age gate, opt-outs, category rules.
  • The calendarCampaigns layered on the automations without cannibalising them.
  • The handoverDocumented so the brand can run it without me. That's the point.

On proof

The brand isn't named here, on purpose. The numbers are evidence for the architecture, not an ad for one client.

If you want the name, the full reporting and the parts that didn't work, that's a conversation, not a landing page. The architecture draws on more than one delivery and dispensary engagement. The figures are one brand, one year. Nothing invented.

Start with The Dig → Read the full system