The Art of eComm · retention systems for subscription brands

The art of the second order

Your front end wins customers. We build the back end that brings them back for Order #2 inside 30 days, and keeps them buying after that. We diagnose it with you, teach your team to run it, or build it ourselves.

The collection

Brands we have worked with

Brands The Art of eComm has worked with
The numbers

What the system moves

+30%
Month 1 LTV
first cohort after the build, inside one month
~2x
Month 2 LTV
against cohorts from three months prior
7.5x
Profit over 2 years
when 30-day repurchase moves from 60% to 75%
The problem

Acquisition without retention is gambling

Subscription LTV runs 2 to 5x higher than one-time LTV. Every customer who stops at Order #1 leaves that gap on the table, and the leak compounds every month you keep buying traffic on top of it.

The pattern shows up in three numbers. A payback period past 120 days, so cash comes back slower than it goes out. A 30-day repurchase rate under 60%, so the second order rarely happens. And a Retention Contribution Margin that covers operating costs and nothing else, so the brand funds every next move with new debt or new ad spend.

The RCM Pyramid: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Tin, Rust

Retention problems are math problems. Churn, slow payback, a low repurchase rate. All arithmetic. Which means they are fixable, in a specific order, once you can see them.

The restoration

How the work gets done

I

Appraise

We pull your subscription LTV gap, your payback period, and your RCM tier from your own store data. You see exactly how much the back end leaks each month and where.

II

Build

We design and ship the first-30-days system: how a new customer is onboarded, educated, and brought back for Order #2 before the window shuts. Email, SMS, and the service touches, sequenced against your numbers.

III

Compound

Every cohort feeds the next. Repurchase data sharpens the flows, the flows lift the cohorts, and the gains hold because the system runs on your numbers instead of templates.

Ways to work with us

Three ways in

I

The consultation

A paid working session. We pull your subscription LTV gap, payback period, and RCM tier live from your store, grade them, and map the system that moves them. You leave with the diagnosis and the plan, whether or not we go further together.

II

The workshop

Private, for your team. We teach your operators the retention system we run ourselves: the first-30-days experience, the flows, the measurement. Your team keeps the playbook and runs it in-house.

III

The implementation

Done for you. We design, build, and ship the full retention system into your stack, then hand it over running. The results below come from these builds.

The exhibition

Recent restorations

CPG subscription · ~1.4M customers
$62 → $81

Month 1 LTV, first cohort after the build. A lift over 30% inside one month. Month 2 LTV nearly doubled against cohorts from three months prior, and the gains held across the next three cohorts.

CPG subscription · ~440K customers
$147

Month 2 LTV, above the brand's prior 6-month range. Month 1 LTV moved up 11% in the first month. Same playbook, run on their numbers.

Curator's note

Why we do this

Jimmy, The Art of eComm

I have sat inside the Shopify accounts of brands doing mid 7 figures and watched a $96 LTV gap repeat across every customer, every month. The founders were brilliant at acquisition. The back end was an afterthought, and it was costing them the recurring revenue that makes growth fund itself.

We built The Art of eComm's retention practice around one conviction: the second order decides the business. Everything we ship is aimed at it.

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Visitor's guide

Frequently asked questions

What do you actually build?

A done-for-you retention system: the email and SMS infrastructure, the first-30-days onboarding and education experience, and the measurement layer (LTV gap, payback period, RCM tier, 30-day repurchase rate) that tells you whether it is working. You own everything we build.

Do you replace Klaviyo or our existing team?

No. We build on top of the stack you already run. Klaviyo, Shopify, your subscription platform and your team stay in place. We design the system, ship it into your tools, and hand your team the playbook to run it.

Who is this for?

US eCommerce brands, mostly CPG and subscription, typically 7 to 9 figures, that have already won on paid acquisition and hit an LTV ceiling. If your payback period is drifting past 90 days or your 30-day repurchase rate sits under 60%, you are exactly who we built this for.

How do we know if we have a retention problem?

Three checks, all from your own Shopify data: the LTV gap between subscription and one-time buyers, your payback period (under 90 days is safe, over 120 is problematic), and your 30-day repurchase rate (over 70% is excellent, under 60% is problematic). We run all three with you on the first call.

What happens on the consultation?

It is a paid working session, priced as a standalone product. We pull your numbers together and grade them live. You leave with a diagnosis either way: how much the back end leaks, which number to move first, and what the system to move it looks like. Whether we then build it, or teach your team to, is a separate decision.

Can you teach our team instead of building it for us?

Yes. We run private workshops for one brand's team at a time, teaching the same retention system we implement for clients, tailored to your numbers. Your operators keep the playbook and run it in-house.

Private viewing

See what your back end is leaking

Book a consultation and we will pull your subscription LTV gap, your payback period, and your tier with you, then map the system that moves them. From there: your team runs it, or we do.