How Smile.io Increased Loyalty-Generated Revenue by 186% For Death Wish Coffee

In 2013, Good Morning America aired a segment on Death Wish, and in 2016, they won a contest that earned them a Super Bowl ad, further introducing the brand to thousands of viewers.

The surge in demand brought on an increased emphasis on the ecommerce customer experience. Death Wish launched its loyalty program, now Ritual Rewards, in 2017 to provide extra value to its most loyal customers.

Over the years, Death Wish noticed fluctuations in its loyalty program engagement rates. In June 2023, a low rewards redemption rate signaled the need for optimization.

Seeing the value on the table, Kelly Spencer—Communications Marketing Manager—and the rest of the Death Wish team quickly created a plan to leverage Smile.io and re-engage these dormant customers.

With a brand focused on death from its name to its skull and crossbones logo, Reaper Rewards was initially a natural fit for a loyalty program name. But eventually, it became overkill and got lost in the sea of death-related references.

Death Wish also offers a subscription order and deems its coffee subscribers its Society of Strong Coffee. These frequent shoppers unlock exclusive access to perks like private merch drops, early access to exclusive product drops, sampling programs, and more. Subscribers enjoy these experiential rewards and the benefits of the VIP program.

In 2023, the loyalty program was rebranded to Ritual Rewards to encourage top-tier VIP members to start a subscription.

“The branding for our subscription program is this secret club-esque thing where they get the real view of what’s behind the velvet curtain, and so we wanted our rewards program to kind of ladder up into that,” Kelly explains. “We wanted the experiences to align so that we could also use it as a pipeline for people who are super engaged in the rewards program to get them moved into a subscription.”

Death Wish took gamification and community engagement to the next level by introducing its Swig League campaign. The baseball-inspired campaign encouraged coffee subscribers to join one of two teams based on their coffee preferences—Pitch Black or Creamators. The 9-inning campaign takes place over 9 weeks and allows customers to earn team points for successful referrals, SMS and email opt-ins, and other challenges.

“What it does in terms of just the community building is what’s made Death Wish what it was from the start. Building a foundation with people on an individual level and making the experience really special is what’s got us here,” Kelly tells us.

Powered through Smile.io, Death Wish has created two unique VIP tiers for each team to monitor the points' activity, track referrals, and send weekly email communications with embedded loyalty program information.

“With Smile.io, it's been super awesome because I get a report that lets me know how many referral purchases each VIP team made. Then, I know on an individual level who is on those teams, and I can go in and look at them on a rewards member basis and pull out MVPs that we can highlight on Facebook Lives and throughout the program.”

Death Wish takes advantage of the Smile.io and Klaviyo integration to personalize its email communications with dynamic loyalty program content.

“We use Klaviyo for all of our email marketing. That integration is great because I can dynamically include people’s referral codes and points balances in emails that remind them if they have rewards.”

With its recent Swig League campaign, Death Wish has created custom flows and segments in Klaviyo for each team to send specific updates. “It’s super beneficial, particularly for the Swig League campaign that we’ve been running. We’re doing weekly scoreboard drops in the email, and in it, I can say, ‘Okay, Pitch Black, you’re down this week. Here’s your referral code. Don’t forget every time you share this, your team gets 5 points.’”

Focusing on customer engagement, personalization, and loyalty has undoubtedly paid off for Death Wish Coffee.

Death Wish’s Smile-Generated Value (all orders with a rewards code) has increased by 186% in one year. With points, referrals, and a VIP program, the coffee brand prioritizes relationships with repeat customers—driving a 4.8x higher AOV from this cohort.

Coffee is a categorically high-purchase-frequency product. The key is ensuring customers are shopping from your brand repeatedly. With regular loyalty program reminder communications powered by Klaviyo, Death Wish has achieved a 2.63x higher purchase frequency for active rewards program redeemers. This means that customers who redeem a reward once are more likely to shop again.

Death Wish Coffee’s Loyalty-Generated Revenue Increased by 186% YoY with Smile.io

Store & Loyalty Program Name:Death Wish Coffee Company
Ritual Rewards

Industry:
Food & Beverage

Loyalty Program Type:
Points, VIP, Referrals

186% increase

4.8x higher

975% higher

About Death Wish Coffee

Challenge: Re-engaging dormant shoppers

Solution: A loyalty program refresh and gamification techniques

1. A loyalty program rebrand.

2. Gamification Campaigns

3. Rewards redemption rate soars to 70% with Klaviyo and Smile.io

900%

975%

887%

Outcome: Loyalty-Driven Revenue Spikes

186%

4.8x

2.63x

CASE STUDY

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