Interim and Fractional Ecommerce Leadership for DTC and B2B ECommerce Brands

Driving a CRM-Led Email Turnaround with 5 Key KPIs

Following the 2017 administration of VIP Vaping, the business was acquired by British American Tobacco and integrated into the VYPE portfolio. The digital operation needed rapid stabilisation, particularly across CRM and email, which had become a weak point in the customer lifecycle.

 

Email should have been a core driver of retention and repeat revenue, but the existing programme was underperforming across every metric. Customer acquisition was declining, repeat purchases were flat, retention was weak, and campaigns lacked any meaningful personalisation.

 

The challenge was to rebuild the CRM programme into a measurable commercial growth engine.
The CRM function lacked structure, ownership and measurable goals.

 

Key issues included:

 

  • 1 – Declining new customer acquisition
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  • 2 – Low repeat purchase rates
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  • 3 – Increasing customer churn
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  • 4 – Limited customer segmentation
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  • 5 – Generic email campaigns with little relevance
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Most importantly, there were no clear KPIs guiding the CRM strategy. Without these, the team had no clear way to prioritise activity or measure commercial impact.

 

The result was a reactive marketing approach that risked losing a large portion of the customer base.
Working with the team at British American Tobacco, I implemented a simplified CRM framework built around five core lifecycle KPIs. These metrics provided a clear structure for improving retention and driving repeat revenue.

 

1 – New Customer Acquisition – Improved visibility through targeted SEO and non-branded search campaigns to increase the volume of new customers entering the funnel.
 
2 – Second Orders – Segmented first-time buyers by product category and introduced tailored follow-up campaigns designed to encourage a second purchase.
 
3 – At-Risk Customers – Used behavioural data to identify early signs of churn and triggered personalised communications to prevent customers lapsing.
 
4 – Lapsed Customers – Introduced win-back campaigns based on customer behaviour and purchase history to re-engage inactive users.
 
5 – Won-Back Customers – Added further segmentation and targeted offers to maximise reactivation and drive additional revenue from dormant segments.

This KPI-led framework gave the team clear priorities and turned CRM into a measurable growth driver rather than a reactive marketing channel.
  • Within 18 months the CRM programme was transformed into a major contributor to customer retention and revenue growth.
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    Key results included:
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    • 1 – Second orders increase –  from flat performance to +19% growth
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    • 2 – At-risk customers reduced  – 30% reduction in customers entering churn risk

    • 3 – Lapsed customers reduced – re-engagement increased from -6% to +30%
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    • 4 – Won-back customers growth  – increased from +46% to +153%
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    • 5 – New Customers Increase – from -43% decline to +32% year-on-year growth
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    By aligning CRM activity with a small set of commercially meaningful KPIs, the business was able to rebuild its customer lifecycle strategy and turn email into a powerful retention and revenue channel.