Hey, it's Geb from Email Rev Lab!
At 11:30 PM, I went to Nordic Naturals' website and signed up for their 10% discount.
A pop-up appeared. Entered my email. Simple.
Then it asked for my phone number.
Then it asked for a 6-digit SMS code to verify.
At 12:02 AM, 30 minutes later, the code still hadn't arrived.
I never claimed my 10% off.
The Brand Bridge
Joar Opheim founded Nordic Naturals in 1995 because he believed people deserved better. Better ingredients. Better taste. Better standards. Stanford, UCLA, and Cedars-Sinai run clinical studies with Nordic Naturals products because of their commitment to purity and science.
That's a brand built on trust.
But trust breaks when your sign-up flow asks for an email, a phone number, AND a verification code, then ghosts the subscriber for 30 minutes.
The purity in your product means nothing if the experience getting there is broken.
The Pop-up Test:
The pop-up design is clean. Strong product image of the Ultimate Omega bottle. Clear headline: "Get 10% Off Your Order." Subtext promises future deals, new releases, and more.
The problem? It's a three-step form.
Email. Phone number. SMS code.
Each extra step is another chance for a subscriber to bounce. Research from Nielsen Norman Group shows that every added interaction costs engagement, and for pop-ups, that means fewer completions the more fields you add.
The Tech Test:
I signed up at 11:30 PM.
The welcome email hit my inbox at 11:32 PM. That's a 2-minute delivery. Solid.
But the SMS verification code? Never arrived. Not in 30 minutes.
That's a broken trigger. Either the SMS provider failed, or the flow has a configuration error in Klaviyo.
No code means no discount claimed. No discount claimed means the subscriber signed up for nothing.
The Inbox Test:
The welcome email landed in Gmail's Promotions tab. Not ideal, but common for supplement brands.
Subject line: "Say Hello. Save 10%!" - Generic. No curiosity. No specificity. No reason to open beyond the discount they already signed up for.
Preview text reads: "Get to know Nordic Naturals and save 10% off your first purchase." It does the job, but it's still flat.
The Email Creative Test:
Inside the email, the design is polished. Professional header image. The promo code WELCOME10 is front and center. Four product showcase blocks: Ultimate Omega, Gummy Chews, Ultimate Omega 2X, and Algae Omega; each with a "Shop Now" button.
But this is a one-email welcome. No sequence. No education. No story about Joar bringing suitcases of fish oil from Arctic Norway because Americans deserved better.
For a brand this rich in founding narrative, this welcome email is doing the bare minimum.
The Klaviyo Fix:
The primary bottleneck is the broken SMS verification step. Here's the fix:
Audit your SMS provider integration in Klaviyo. Go to Account Settings > Integrations and confirm your SMS provider (Attentive, Postscript, or Klaviyo SMS) is active with no failed status flags.
Add a fallback trigger. If the SMS code isn't sent within 60 seconds, Klaviyo should automatically fire the welcome email with the discount code anyway. The email capture already happened, don't hold the reward hostage to a broken SMS step.
Separate the SMS opt-in from the discount delivery. Collect the email first. Deliver the 10% code immediately via email. Then offer SMS as an optional upsell inside the welcome flow, not as a gatekeeping requirement before the subscriber gets what they were promised.
The Impact Statement:
Every subscriber who signs up but never receives their SMS code is a warm lead who walks away without the discount they were promised, and likely never comes back.
The Curiosity Hook:
Here's what I want to know: how many people signed up for Nordic Naturals' 10% off this week, completed all three steps, and still never got their code?
Nordic Naturals has 30 years of brand equity and clinical-grade credibility. They just need their sign-up tech to match.
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.