Hey, it's Geb from Email Rev Lab!
In 2004, Brendan Brazier and Charles Chang launched the first Vega product out of Vancouver.
Brazier was a professional Ironman triathlete and two-time Canadian 50 km Ultra Marathon Champion. He'd spent years running on plants while everyone else called it impossible.
Chang turned that formula into a brand. Together, they built Vega into the voted most trusted protein powder brand, NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Choice certified, and backed by a community they call Vegatopians.
These guys built something real.
So when I signed up through the footer of their homepage at 9:49 PM last night, I expected the email experience to match.
It almost did.
The Brand Bridge:
Vega stands for clean performance and no compromise. Brazier built his racing career on the belief that plant-based nutrition was the edge most athletes missed. Then he proved it on the course for seven years as a professional.
That edge only works if the message gets through.
Right now, Vega's welcome email is landing in Promotions. That's the tab where buyers go to forget about you.
The Pop-up Test:
No pop-up. The only way to subscribe is a bare "Become a Vega Insider" form buried at the bottom of the homepage.
The copy says nothing. No offer. No hook. No reason to type your email.
Omnisend's data puts the average pop-up conversion rate at 2.1% from over 1.24 billion displays. Vega isn't running one. That's a leaky bucket before a single email sends.
The Tech Test:
The email arrived at 9:49 PM. Same minute I signed up.
That part is perfect. Real-time delivery is exactly right. Invesp benchmarks real-time welcome emails at 4.01% conversion vs. 0.94% for standard sends. Vega nailed the timing.
The infrastructure is there. The problem is what happens next.
The Inbox Test:
Subject line: Welcome to VEGA—Your Free Shipping Offer is Inside!
It landed in Promotions, not Primary.
74% of subscribers expect a welcome email in Primary. When it hits Promotions, most buyers never see it on the day they're most likely to purchase. The Free Shipping offer is a real value. It's just sitting in the wrong folder.
The Email Creative Test:
The email itself is well-designed. Clean layout. Strong hero image. The rewards program breakdown is clear and scannable.
But multiple CTAs are fighting each other: rewards, quizzes, and SMS signups. The welcome email should have one job: get the first purchase. Vega's welcome email is selling memberships before it sells product.
The Klaviyo Fix:
Primary bottleneck: Promotions tab placement
Open your Welcome Series flow in Klaviyo. Select the welcome email.
In the subject line settings, remove promotional phrases. "Your Free Shipping offer is inside!" reads like an ad. Gmail routes it to Promotions because of the word "offer."
Test a plain subject line: Welcome to Vega or Your Vega account is ready. These read as transactional and land in Primary more often.
Add inbox placement preview text that feels personal, not salesy. One sentence. First person. Like it's from a person, not a brand.
Test both versions in Klaviyo using A/B subject line split. Run for 7 days. Check open rates by inbox tab.
The Impact Statement:
Most supplement brands lose a significant portion of their welcome email opens to Promotions tab placement because buyers never open what they never see on the day they signed up.
The Curiosity Hook:
Here's what I'm curious about: what's Vega's actual open rate on this welcome email right now? Because if it's sitting under 35%, Promotions tab placement is almost certainly why.
The Pitch:
Vega built a brand that elite athletes trust with their performance. The email system just needs to match that standard.
The fix here is a subject line rewrite and a pop-up that actually converts. Both take less than a day to implement.
I send these audits daily because bottlenecks like this can be fixed in one day with the right information.
Want me to audit your Klaviyo account the same way?
Reply to this email, and I'll send you a free breakdown of where your welcome series is leaking revenue.
Geb Vence
P.S. I run Email Rev Lab. We've generated $334k+ for brands by building systems that feel like conversations, not ads. I only work with 3 brands per month. Schedule your call here.