Hey, it's Geb from Email Rev Lab!
I signed up for SISU's $5 discount through their website pop-up at 1:40 am.
The email arrived in one minute. Fast. Impressive.
Then I opened it and found the problem.
The pop-up said, "Get $5 Off SISU Products." The welcome email said, "Save $5 on Any SISU Product." But the fine print underneath read: "Click here to print coupon and present at register."
In-store only. On a website pop-up.
Someone who signed up online expecting an online discount code just got a printable coupon for a physical retail store. That's not welcome. That's a bait-and-switch.
The Brand
SISU has been around since 1980. Harlan Lahti started it out of his Vancouver pharmacy, Finlandia, because he wanted Canadians to stay healthier, longer. Forty-six years later, it's Canada's fifth-largest supplement brand, built on quality, education, and trust.
That legacy matters. Which is why a pop-up that overpromises and a welcome email that underdelivers hit harder for a brand like SISU than it would for a nobody DTC startup.
The Pop-up Test
Design is clean. The $5 offer is clear. But there's a mandatory consent checkbox that slows signups down. And the fine print at the bottom says the coupon is valid in-store only, during the coupon period, for first-time subscribers.
That fine print is buried. Most people won't read it. Most people will sign up expecting an online discount code. They won't get one.
The Tech Test
One-minute delivery is solid. That part works. But the confirmation page is a plain Mailchimp screen that says "Your subscription has been confirmed." No branded experience. No excitement. Just a grey page.
And the whole system runs on Mailchimp, not Klaviyo. That's a ceiling on what SISU can do with segmentation, flows, and revenue attribution.
The Inbox Test
The email landed in the Promotions tab, not Primary. Subject line: "High-five! 🤛 You're in." Friendly tone, but it doesn't connect to the $5 offer at all. If a subscriber is skimming Promotions, there's nothing in that subject line that reminds them why they signed up.
The Email Creative Test
The email opens with a big "WELCOME!" header and a product photo. Then it pivots straight into educational content about Canadian sleep statistics.
The subscriber signed up for a $5 coupon. SISU gave them a sleep tip instead. The email is warm. But it's serving the brand's agenda, not the subscriber's expectation.
The 3-Step Klaviyo Fix
Fix the pop-up promise. Either make the $5 offer valid online (with a real discount code delivered in the welcome email), or change the pop-up copy to say "Get $5 Off In-Store." Don't let online subscribers feel tricked.
Move from Mailchimp to Klaviyo. Set up a welcome flow with a real coupon code, a branded confirmation page redirect, and a sequence that mirrors the subscriber's intent at signup. This gives SISU proper segmentation, A/B testing, and revenue tracking that Mailchimp can't match.
Rewrite the welcome email subject line to reference the offer. Something like "Your $5 is inside, [First Name]" beats a generic high-five every time. Connects the subject line back to why they signed up.
According to Invesp, real-time welcome emails convert at 4.01% compared to 0.94% for delayed or mismatched ones. SISU's email arrives fast, but the offer mismatch between the pop-up and the inbox is doing the same damage as a delay.
Here's what I'm curious about: how many online visitors is SISU getting who sign up for the $5 offer, find out it's in-store only, and never buy at all?
SISU has the brand, the product quality, and the trust built over 46 years. They just need an email system that matches all of that.
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.