Death Wish Coffee Abandonment Flow CVR Goes Up 40% with Monocle
Monocle’s AI analyzed customer behavior in real time and decided which emails and offers to send, helping DWC turn its abandonment flow into a profit driver.
40%
increase in CVR
35%
increase in ARPU
<1%
change in average discount
about
Death Wish Coffee (DWC) is a USDA Organic & Fair Trade-certified coffee company founded to help thousands overcome their groggy morning woes. Born in a basement with the dream of delivering naturally stronger and bolder coffee to its customers, DWC's premium products can now be found online and on shelves almost everywhere, with a thriving subscription business on its DTC channel.
"Monocle has been invaluable in helping us deliver a shopping experience that captivates and converts without sacrificing profitability."
The Challenge
Scaling Retention Without Diluting the Brand
DWC built rapid growth on strong brand equity, a premium customer experience, and a subscription program that turned shoppers into loyalists. But as demand began to level off, the team needed to find new ways to drive repeat purchases and keep customers engaged.
Relying on blanket promotions wasn’t sustainable—it risked training customers to only buy on sale and undercutting the brand’s premium positioning. Kelly Spencer, DWC’s Communications Marketing Manager, wanted a smarter way to boost performance in core flows like subscription, winback, and abandonment—one that balanced growth with long-term customer loyalty.
"We'd gotten a bit too used to offering discounts to incentivize customers in our abandonment flows. While these offers drove results, the entire process lacked direction."
The Solution
AI-Driven Retention, No Extra Lift
Monocle first plugged into DWC’s stack and trained on their customer data. Through the integration, Monocle had access to all of DWC’s existing email templates, including versions with different offers.
From there, the AI started making the decisions the team used to manage manually—who should get which email, in what sequence, and when. For each customer, Monocle also chose the right offer, balancing conversion with profitability so the brand wasn’t over-discounting.
The result was that DWC’s abandonment flow kept using the same creative they’d always built, but every customer got a version tailored to them—without the team having to pull lists, test rules, or constantly adjust timing.
"Monocle's ability to determine customer purchase intent and personalize experiences for those who need a push to convert has been a complete game changer."
The Results
40%
increase in CVR
35%
increase in ARPU
<1%
change in average discount
The Results
Abandonment Flow Performance Up 40% With No Margin Loss
After switching its abandonment flow to Monocle, DWC saw a 40% lift in conversion rate and a 35% increase in ARPU, all while keeping average discounts essentially flat.
For the team, this proved that personalization could deliver stronger results without training customers to wait for deeper promotions. By letting Monocle make the decisions behind the scenes, DWC turned a core retention flow into a more profitable growth driver—without adding more work for its marketers.
"We can't wait to test more with Monocle."
