Evolv
Building a brand system and retention engine
Services
retention marketing
websites
branding
paid media
Links
Overview
Evolv is the first oral peptide GLP-1 supplement, engineered to activate the body's natural satiety pathways without injections or stimulants. Darkroom's engagement began before the product launched - building the retention infrastructure, website, and lifecycle flows that would convert early interest into revenue from day one and compound as the brand scaled.
Outcomes
48%
Of total BFCM revenue driven by retention
14x
Placed order rate above industry benchmark (1.56% vs. 0.11%)
01
A legacy institution with an outdated digital presence
Evolv was entering one of the most competitive and scrutinized categories in consumer health - GLP-1 - with a product that required education, trust, and a fundamentally different customer journey than a typical DTC supplement. There was no existing audience, no email list, and no purchase data to optimize against. Most brands build retention after they've proven acquisition, but Evolv couldn't afford that sequence, the product's price point and subscription model meant lifetime value depended on converting early adopters into repeat buyers from the first touchpoint. Darkroom identified that the retention program had to be built before launch: welcome flows, post-purchase sequences, replenishment logic, and subscriber nurture, all live and tested before the first order shipped.
02
From zero list to 48.5% of BFCM revenue
Darkroom partnered with Evolv to architect the full retention program pre-launch, building welcome flows, post-purchase sequences, winback triggers, and browse abandonment logic, then refining each through A/B testing as real customer data came in. The Welcome flow alone drove a third of all retention revenue with no discount, and the post-purchase series averaged an 11.9% click rate - confirming that the content strategy was driving genuine engagement rather than just transactional opens.
By Q3, retention accounted for 31.6% of total revenue in Evolv's first full quarter. By Q4, email and SMS drove 39.8% of total store revenue with the list growing 42.93% quarter over quarter. BFCM was the breakout: retention delivered 48.5% of total revenue, converting 588 first-time customers and adding 837 new subscribers. The placed order rate across the program ran at 1.56% - 14 times the industry benchmark of 0.11%.
