How a Specialty Toy Retailer Achieved a 66% Increase in Incremental Email Revenue with Tie

Too many valuable shoppers were slipping through the cracks

The brand knew there was still revenue being left on the table.

While their email platform could identify some website visitors, the team felt too many shoppers were browsing products, leaving the site, and disappearing before they could ever be added to an email or SMS journey.

“We felt like we were losing out on a lot of traffic that was coming to our site. Our platform does a good job at identifying some of that, but there was still a lot we felt was on the table.”

For a brand constantly launching new products, restocking inventory, and running weekly promotions, every unidentified visitor represented another missed opportunity to drive repeat engagement.

Broad audience targeting limited campaign performance

Before adopting their current email platform, the brand had been sending emails to its full list. After migrating, campaigns were sent to a broad 90-day engaged segment. It was a step forward, but it still wasn't precise enough for a brand sending around five campaigns every week.

“We used to send basically all those emails to a large segment of our 90-day engaged list, and that was really it. There wasn’t much narrowing down further than that.”

The team wanted more confidence that they were sending each campaign to the people most likely to engage and purchase, rather than using engagement windows alone.

A lean team needed better automation, not more work

With a small marketing team managing email, SMS, the website, and digital marketing, efficiency mattered just as much as performance.

Their team wasn't looking for another platform that surfaced more data. They wanted software that helped them automate segmentation, improve targeting, and remove manual work from their email program.

“We’re trying to find platforms and software to make our lives easier and put processes in place that save us time on the back end.”

That extended beyond the product itself. The team also valued hands-on support that helped them build better workflows rather than simply recommending best practices.

Bringing more anonymous visitors into the funnel with Tie ID

The brand started with Tie ID, using it to identify anonymous site visitors and push those newly identified profiles into their email platform.

But the goal wasn't simply to grow the database. The team wanted those shoppers to enter lifecycle flows immediately so they could begin building engagement and eventually qualify for future campaigns.

“Right away we kind of went with the flow approach. Let’s get these identified profiles into flows, get them into our platform, get them to start receiving emails from us.”

Instead of losing visitors after a single session, they could begin building relationships earlier in the customer journey.

Using flow engagement to build stronger campaign audiences

Once those newly identified shoppers entered flows, the retailer used their engagement to refine who received future campaigns.

This created a more intentional system. Instead of relying only on a broad 90-day engaged segment, the team could prioritize subscribers based on how they actually engaged with Tie-powered flows.

“Since we’ve been with Tie, we’ve been narrowing that down even further.”

That shift helped the team move away from broad engagement windows and toward audiences built on recent customer behavior.

Prioritizing subscribers most likely to purchase with Tie Predict 

After establishing stronger audience foundations with Tie ID, the retailer layered in Predict.

Instead of treating every engaged subscriber the same, the team began using predictive purchase and engagement scores to identify who was most likely to convert before each campaign.

“Being able to use Tie Predict has really narrowed that down further to, ‘These are the people that are most likely to purchase from us, so let’s target them.’”

That gave the marketing team greater confidence that each campaign was reaching subscribers with the highest likelihood of generating revenue, rather than simply everyone who had engaged recently.

Hands-on implementation accelerated adoption

For the specialty toy retailer, the partnership extended beyond the platform itself.

Their marketing manager highlighted Tie's customer success team as a key part of the rollout, noting that they helped build flows, refine audiences, and implement new strategies directly inside the platform instead of simply providing recommendations.

“A lot of the platforms you work with give recommendations, but not a lot of them actually get into the platform and build it with you.”

That hands-on support helped the team move faster and made it easier to operationalize Tie across email and SMS.

Extending audience intelligence beyond lifecycle marketing

Although lifecycle marketing was the primary focus, the brand relied on the same audience intelligence to inform its paid media strategy.

The team started using Tie audiences across Meta and Google Ads to improve targeting consistency beyond owned channels.

“The targeted audiences Tie is pulling for us doesn’t stop at email and SMS. If you’re struggling with digital advertising, Tie also gives you the segments and audiences to do that as well.”

Instead of creating separate audience strategies for every channel, the brand can build from the same behavioral signals across its broader marketing program.

66% increase in incremental revenue from previously anonymous visitors

Tie ID started generating value during the brand's initial 3-month testing period, increasing incremental revenue by 66% from visitors who would have otherwise remained anonymous.

That early performance validated the team's decision to invest in visitor identification and proved that anonymous traffic could become a measurable source of lifecycle revenue.

“We were starting to see some growth toward the end of our three-month trial, and that was a big part of why we decided to continue the contract.”

31% increase in incremental revenue from Predict-driven targeting

After introducing Tie Predict, the brand refined its campaign audiences even further.

In one month of testing, Tie Predict increased revenue by 31% by helping the team prioritize subscribers with the highest likelihood of purchasing instead of relying on broad engagement segments.

“When we broke down the incremental revenue, Tie Predict was definitely the key contributing factor.”

23% higher campaign revenue while sending fewer emails

The strongest result wasn't simply higher revenue. It was achieving that growth while sending fewer emails.

Campaign revenue increased by 23%, even as they narrowed its audience and reduced overall send volume.

“When we’re seeing a 23% increase in incremental revenue, and we’re also seeing a decrease in sends, I think that shows the power of Tie Predict.”

Rather than increasing volume to drive more sales, the team improved performance by reaching the subscribers most likely to engage.

A more confident approach to lifecycle marketing

The revenue gains were important, but they weren't the only outcome.

Tie gave the retailer greater confidence in who to target, how to structure audiences, and when to send campaigns. Instead of relying on broad engagement windows, the team could make decisions based on richer customer signals and predictive insights.

“It gives you confidence that you’re sending to the right people.”

For a lean marketing team managing a high-volume email calendar, that confidence translated into a more focused, efficient, and scalable lifecycle strategy.

Turn Anonymous Traffic Into Incremental Revenue

DTC brands use Tie to identify more site visitors, prioritize high-value subscribers, and send smarter campaigns that drive more revenue with fewer sends.

If your team is looking to improve targeting, reduce wasted sends, and turn more anonymous traffic into customers, Tie can help.

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