Dec's Pets
How Strike Digital Increased Dec’s Pets Subscription Based Revenue
By 145% In Just 3 Months.
Project Overview
Dec’s Pets is on a mission to be “the most trusted, innovative and customer-centric pet store in the nation.”
Founded as a bricks-and-mortar store in 2018, they have since grown into one of Ireland’s fastest-growing eCommerce pet brands. However, although they were seeing decent growth in store and online, their digital strategy lacked scalability, particularly in driving recurring revenue and maximising lifetime value from repeat-buyers.
Strike Digital were tasked with creating a full funnel strategy that spanned across Paid Search, Paid Social and Email Marketing, and importantly to introduce a subscription model for own-brand products, thereby boosting AOV and subscriber LTV. With this strategy in place the expectation was to continually grow the brand while keeping the core values at the heart of everything.
Project Execution
1. Audit & Strategy Setup
We kicked off by reviewing Dec’s Pets’ Meta & Google Ads accounts, Klaviyo flows, product selection and repeat-purchase behaviour to identify where high-value opportunities lay.
We found that:
Own-brand products had a high repeat customer rate (indicating suitability for subscription).
The existing funnel focused heavily on one-time purchases and lacked automation, subscription triggers, and lifecycle flows.
Strategy defined: shift from one-off purchases toward a subscription-enabled funnel for high-repeat items, while maintaining acquisition of new customers and boosting AOV.
2. Subscription Model Introduction
We chose the own-brand products as the priority for subscription offers (given margin and repeatability).
Launched a subscription offering (e.g., monthly supply of pet food, care items) with clear benefits: convenience, savings, loyalty.
Integrated subscription checkout flows (e.g., via the subscription app compatible with Shopify) so the subscription option is visible on product pages and checkout.
Added prompts for existing customers (via email and retargeting) to convert from one-time purchase to subscription: “Never run out of your pet’s favourite food — subscribe and save.”
Setup retention flows triggered by subscription status changes: welcome to subscriber, upcoming renewal, missed shipment/pause, win-back paused subscribers.
3. Full-Funnel Paid Media & Email
Paid media:
Awareness campaigns on Meta/Google showing the brand story + subscription offer (“Make it monthly”).
Consideration campaigns targeting engaged users with subscription messaging (benefits of subscribing).
Conversion campaigns retargeting one-time purchasers to subscribe and targeting cart abandoners with subscription incentive.
Email flows via Klaviyo:
Post-purchase one-time buyer flow: “Loved your product? Here’s how to make it a monthly subscription.”
New subscriber welcome flow: covering how to manage subscription, benefits, pause/skip options.
Subscriber retention & churn mitigation: notifications for upcoming renewal, offering incentive if skip is happening, etc.
Creative & copy: high-quality visuals, honest brand tone, emphasizing customer-centric and pet-lover values.
4. Product & Offer Optimisation
Focused on own-brand products with high margin and stock volume for subscription emphasis.
Structurally elevated subscription option in product funnel (landing pages, PDPs, checkout).
Tested price-incentive structures: e.g., “Subscribe and save 10% vs one-time”.
Created cross-sell/upsell opportunities: one-time purchasers offered subscription discount + accessory upsell.
5. Measurement & Optimisation
Key metrics tracked: AOV, subscription signup rate, subscriber retention rate (churn), cost per subscription acquisition (CPSA), subscriber LTV.
Weekly data reviews to optimise: creative, audiences, flows, product-page layout, subscription messaging.
Leveraged learnings: e.g., what messaging converted one-time buyers into subscribers, which audiences had highest subscription propensity, which products were best fit for subscriptions.
Results
In Q4 2022, online sales for Dec’s Pets increased by 51% compared to the previous year.
Own-brand product sales grew by 37% (comparing Q4 2022 vs Q4 2021).
Most significantly: Average Order Value (AOV) increased by 145% within 3 months.
While exact subscriber numbers aren’t publicly disclosed, the case study notes that the subscription model drove higher basket values and higher rates of subscriptions (implying subscriber LTV uplift).
The combined effect: higher revenue, stronger customer relationships, increased repeat behaviour and a scalable subscription base in motion.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Dec’s Pets’ partnership with Strike Digital demonstrates how a brand can move from a one-time purchase model into a subscription-powered growth engine by focusing on repeat-product behaviour, integrating the right tech stack, and aligning paid/acquisition, funnel design, product strategy and retention flows.
Why this worked:
Identified repeat-purchase products with strong fit for subscription.
Built the subscription option into the funnel, not as an afterthought.
Aligned paid media + email + product selection around subscription messaging.
Tracked and optimised subscription-specific metrics (not just basic ROAS).
Recommended Next Steps for Dec’s Pets:
Scale subscription offerings: additional frequencies, premium tiers (e.g., subscription bundles).
Expand referral/incentive programmes: encourage current subscribers to refer friends for mutual reward.
Deepen segmentation in email: create tailored flows for subscribers based on product category (dog vs cat), subscription tenure, pause/skip behaviour.
Introduce loyalty/points system for subscribers to boost retention.
Experiment with upsell/upgrade paths for long-term subscribers (e.g., premium product add-ons).
Expand geographically if not already, leveraging subscription model to secure recurring revenue in new markets.
