HOP WTR Cuts Churn by 40% with Stay AI’s Flexible Bundles
Migrated from: Recharge
Industry: Food & Beverage
Subscription Growth by the Numbers
Reduction in Churn
Boost in Subscriber Save Rate
Growth in Monthly Recurring Subscription Revenue
How Giving Customers More Flexibility and Control Reduced HOP WTR’s Churn by 40%
HOP WTR founders Jordan and Nick always loved the ritual of kicking back with a cold, hoppy beverage. Knowing they needed to be at their best both personally and professionally, they came up with an idea: a brew that was still hoppy — but booze free. HOP WTR is a non-alcoholic, sparkling hop water that includes a proprietary blend of stress-busting hops, adaptogens, and nootropics. It’s now available online and in thousands of stores across the U.S.
Challenges
HOP WTR had a long-standing subscription program with another platform, but Brad and Ryan felt their prior provider had gotten complacent when it came to new features and releases — the kind that Stay was already building. For example, the team had been looking at some creative bundling strategies but was unable to implement them because of the level of development work it would require. They needed more flexibility, and a more forward-thinking partner.
The Solution: Stay AI
The HOP WTR team found Stay to have the forward-looking approach to innovation they were looking for, including an advanced bundling solution out of the box. After discovering all of the other features available on the platform, like the ExperienceEngine, RetentionEngine, and the ease of use of the analytics, moving to Stay was a no-brainer.
“Our data showed that the vast majority of our subscriptions were either the Mixed Pack, or a Month Supply, which is a 36-pack. Our goal was to offer a more customizable kind of mix pack, which is a Month Supply, but now they actually mix and match products. We wanted to give more flexibility for people who wanted to buy in bulk and get that price saving, but also offer them more customization opportunities. We were really looking at what that more flexible bundle product would do to move the needle in terms of churn, and at least the initial results are looking pretty strong.”’
— Brad Nogle, Head of Ecommerce, HOP WTR
“There were a lot of features that Stay was thinking about that [our prior provider] hadn’t really developed or been thinking about yet. I think they had for a long time been the only player in the game, which I feel like made them a little bit complacent, and they just weren’t advancing their products as much as we liked.”
Brad Nogle Head of Ecommerce, HOP WTR
Strategy
HOP WTR’s churn reduction is nothing short of incredibly impressive. Here are a few of the strategies they implemented to make it happen:
Slashing Churn with Advanced Bundles and Retention Strategies: Brad knows that their customers typically start with a variety pack to find their favorites, then mix and match after that. With Stay’s advanced bundling capabilities, HOP WTR subscribers have the flexibility to get exactly what they want — and it’s having a significant impact on churn rates. For customers that still do click the cancel button, they’re using RetentionEngine to send surveys and automate cancellation treatments, which has brought their save rate up to 10%. They also pass that information back to Klaviyo to customize future win-back messages based on cancellation reasons.
Engaging Customers with Promotions, Gifts, and Easy-to-Manage Subscriptions: Since switching to Stay, HOP WTR has seen a lot of success in improving engagement and reducing churn by prompting customers to manage their subscription and swap flavors. They use Stay’s Klaviyo integration and Quick Actions to send notification messages with easy links to the customer portal and one-click upsells. Up next, they’re planning a loyalty program that will send gifts to customers on order X and plan to optimize the program using built-in A/B testing.
“We saw the key transition point was around 120 days, so we’re trying to build a welcome packed and some free gifts into ExperienceEngine up to that point, and we’re going to A/B test that to see how impactful it is at reducing churn”
— Brad Nogle, Head of Ecommerce, HOP WTR
