Case study

How we reopened a list of 1,629 customers to a 45.1% open rate

A Romanian handmade-accessories online store had a customer list that no longer received any emails. Within a few months we brought it back to life with results above the ecommerce average, without discounts.

Updated: July 2026

The results in short

These results are real, from a DeviDevs Agency project with a Romanian handmade-accessories online store (WooCommerce). The name stays confidential at the client's request; the figures are from the platform and the store. We don't present invented results, results vary by store.

The challenge

A customer list that received no emails

The store had a list of over 1,600 customers who had already bought at least once, but received no emails after their order. The brand had a strong voice on social media, yet complete silence in the inbox: the cheapest source of sales sat untouched.

What we did

Three weeks of setup, then flows that run on their own

Import and segmentation

We cleaned and imported the existing list into our platform, ClevMail, segmented into batches for a controlled warm-up.

Authentication and deliverability

We configured SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the store's own domain, so every email lands in the inbox, not spam.

Automated flows

We activated a welcome flow for existing customers and an abandoned-cart recovery flow.

Campaigns in the brand's voice

We wrote the monthly campaigns in the brand's real voice, not a generic corporate tone.

Results

The numbers after reactivation

45.1% open rate on reactivation

We reopened a list of 1,629 existing customers who received no emails. The first campaign hit a 45.1% open rate, over double the ecommerce average.

Story beat the discount

Same list, same week: a brand-story campaign got 44.9% opens, a 30%-discount one only 18.3%. 2.45x more engagement without eroding margin.

6,519 RON attributed directly

Over the tracked period, 35 of 82 orders (43%) used codes we created and promoted via email. Deliverability 98.8%, complaint 0.07%.

Real figures from a DeviDevs Agency project, anonymized. We do not present invented results; results vary by store.

Why it worked

The story beat the discount

Same list, same week, two campaigns: one with the brand's story, one with a 30% discount. The story campaign got over twice as many opens, without eroding the store's margin.

Have a customer list that no longer gets emails?

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