How PuffCuff’s Online Store Reduced Marketing Automation Software Costs by 73.6% Using Maestra

PuffCuff manufactures and sells hair care and styling tools and accessories, specializing in products designed for all types of curly hair. The brand is best known for its patented hair clamp
Company size. 
More than 218,000 customers
author
Founder and CEO of PuffCuff LLC
Challenges
Reduce marketing tech stack and decrease marketing costs
Solutions
Centralize communications in a multi-channel marketing automation platformUse warm customer segments for lookalike audiences in Facebook Ads
Results
Reduced automation tool expenses by 73.6%Reduced Facebook Ads cost per order (CPO) by 43.76% and cost per mille (CPM) by 63.9%

Integrated with. 

Shopify Order and Inventory Management LOOP for Product Returns and Exchange management

Switched to Maestra from. 

Two Klaviyo accounts and one Attentive account
In June 2023, PuffCuff’s online store switched to Maestra, merging data from Attentive SMS marketing and two Klaviyo accounts. This transition aimed to streamline its IT stack, making it easier to manage while reducing marketing costs. As a result, PuffCuff not only achieved a remarkable 73.6% cost reduction but also revolutionized its marketing efforts with:
  1. Expanded communication workflows. Over the course of two months with Maestra, PuffCuff has launched 35 automated workflows covering all stages of the customer journey.
  2. Personalized customer website browsing experience. Pop-ups help collect emails and phone numbers as well as increase average order value and website conversion rates.
  3. Launched Facebook Ads for lookalike audiences using warm customer segments. As a result, the brand achieved a 43.76% reduction in cost per order and a 63.9% decrease in CPM.

Marketing automation results

  • 73.6 %
    Cost reduction for PuffCuff marketing stack
  • 43.76 %
    Reduction in cost per order by optimizing Facebook Ads. That means PuffCuff can invest 43.76% less in advertising — and still get the same number of orders

How marketing has simplified with Maestra

The brand merged its marketing stack into a less expensive single-window system:
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Before Maestra
With Maestra
PuffCuff utilized several solutions: 
• Klaviyo for sending email campaigns, 
• Attentive for sending SMS messages, 
• Multiple Shopify apps, e.g., “Judge.me” for the product review collection, 
• LOOP for order tracking.
All email and SMS campaigns are sent through Maestra, which is integrated with PuffCuff store, Shopify apps and the LOOP app.
PuffCuff had to set up SMS messages and email campaigns using different tools. Because of this, it was difficult to analyze the effectiveness of their communications.
PuffCuff only needs one service to set up bulk, automated and transactional campaigns in different channels. Maestra provides unified reporting to assess the effectiveness of all communications from a single window.
The flows from Klaviyo and Attentive were not synchronized, leading to cases where a customer could receive an email and then immediately receive an SMS.
The flows are cascading: Customers are sent an email first and only sent an SMS campaign on the same topic if they did not open the email.
Lead capture pop-ups were set up in multiple services: Klaviyo and Attentive.
Maestra allows PuffCuff to set up all website personalization, including dynamic content and pop-ups, in a single service.
With a platform, PuffCuff was able to optimize social media advertising.
Based on customer behavior data, segments are formed, which are then automatically sent to Facebook and kept updated at all times.

Cascading workflows

In two months, PuffCuff launched 35 workflows, consisting of 56 email campaigns and 15 SMS campaigns.
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Before Maestra: Basic campaigns across the customer lifecycle
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With Maestra: Enhanced communication map that generates more marketing touchpoints with the customer
The workflows are cascading: customers are sent an email first, and only sent an SMS campaign on the same topic if they did not open the email.
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Example of a cascading workflow for a discounted product in an abandoned cart: First, we send an email, and after 3 hours, an SMS message
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An email campaign informing the customer that the prices of the items in their cart have been reduced
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A cart item price drop SMS is sent only if the customer has not made a purchase 3 hours after receiving the email campaign

Next Best Action

One Maestra feature that PuffCuff utilizes is product recommendations. Based on big data and machine learning algorithms, the system predicts when a customer is most likely to make a purchase. At that moment, the “Next Best Action” workflow sends an email containing personalized recommendations for each customer.
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Sales Digest

Automated monthly delivery of a digest featuring the most popular discounted products is sent to customers who have opened campaigns within the last month.
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Discount for leaving a review

After completing an order, we ask customers to leave a product review on the Judge.me platform. Additionally, we offer a 15% discount on their next order for those whose reviews get published as an incentive to encourage customers to share their feedback
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Request for a review
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Email with a personalized promo code and personalized recommendations after the review has been published

Dynamic Website Personalization

To improve the average order value and order and lead conversion rates on the website, we added automated pop-ups.

Pop-up increasing average order value

If a customer has added items worth less than $50 to their cart, a pop-up appears to encourage the customer to add more items to their cart to get free delivery.
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Welcome pop-up collecting emails and phone numbers

To make the pop-up less overwhelming for customers, it consists of two steps. In the first window, the customer is asked to enter their email address. In the second pop-up window, the customer is asked to enter their cell phone number.
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In the first pop-up window, the customer is asked to enter their email address
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In the second pop-up window, customers are asked for their cell phone number

Exit intent pop-up

If a customer attempts to leave the website, they are presented with an exit-intent pop-up asking them to stay, subscribe to the newsletter, and receive a personalized 15% discount on their next order. The average conversion rate is 1.47%.
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Exit intent pop-up collects 1.47% of visitors who decide to leave the website

Optimization for Facebook Ads

PuffCuff uses Maestra’s data not only in direct communications but also to increase the conversion rate of advertisements.
To improve lookalike campaigns on Facebook, the company formed a special segment with the help of the STRYDE agency. It included customers who had recently visited the site, made orders, and engaged with email campaigns over the last month—all this data is stored in Maestra. This customer segment was then passed on to Facebook Ad Manager, which used it to find similar audiences for targeting. The segment is updated automatically.
This strategy resulted in a 63.96% CPM reduction and a 43.76% decrease in the cost per order.

Ad Optimization results in Facebook Ads

  • 43.76 %
    Decreased CPO
  • 63.96 % 
    CPM reduction
  • 137.5 % 
    Increase in outbound CTR
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Example of ads for a LaL audience based on those who purchased products from the LAAAYED range

Next steps

The brand’s goal for the next six months is to work with its inactive base and improve the open rate. The average open rate for automated flows is currently 37.84%, while for bulk campaigns it is only 21.14%. We will launch feedback collection sequences for customers and test an ML-driven “Best Sending Time” feature that regulates the frequency with which emails are sent to each recipient.