Engagement & Retention project | SNITCH

What is SNITCH?

SNITCH is a mass-premium men's fast fashion brand in India. All its products are made and sold in India. It started selling via its website in July 2020. Soon, it launched an app in 2021. In early 2023, their episode aired on Shark Tank India and the brand has seen immense growth since then. Today, it also has an offline presence in malls and stores in major Tier 1 and 2 cities.

Why did I choose SNITCH?

Having seen SNITCH in the Shark Tank episode I was always intrigued about the brand. But seeing their ads during the pre-Diwali season this year, I downloaded the app and also shopped for some shirts and t-shirts. I found the app design really modern and the styles were great. Since I haven't had any Whatsapp communication and only 1 email yet even after 20 days of signup, I thought there are a lot of engagement frameworks that can be experimented.

What differentiates SNITCH from its competitors? [Right to win]

SNITCH operates in a very competitive market. Being in the mass premium space, its main competitors are Westside, H&M, Louis Philippe, etc. It commands a 2.4 percent market share in the men’s fashion e-commerce segment. The website ranks fifth in India’s apparel and fashion category and records sales of 15 units per minute across online and retail platforms. It has differentiated itself from its competitors in the following ways:

• Usage of tech in the supply chain process. SNITCH manufactures new products in very low quantities and has pre-determined triggers present at a level of per-day number of orders. If those are breached, then accordingly the forecasting model places more orders in the factory
• Design to inception in less than 30 days. Traditional brands often take ~ 6 months to complete this cycle
• SNITCH’s model involves producing more products in a limited quantity, making them limited editions

What is SNITCH's core value proposition? [Value for the user]

• New Drops Every Week: SNITCH launches 4 to 5 styles (new drops) weekly and also provides an early bird discount on Thursdays for their new launch
• All things men's fashion: They sell men’s apparel across categories such as casual wear, formal wear, innerwear, loungewear, accessories, bags, fragrance, etc. (13+ categories)
• Personalized style: The more you shop, the better SNITCH's model gets at recommending what the user loves

How are users realizing the core value proposition?

• iOS and Android Application -
• • Users can download the SNITCH app and explore all the categories
  • 45% of the total sales come from the app (📌)
  • 4.4 stars - Android (1Mn + downloads) ; 4.7 stars - iOS
  • 1.5X conversion more in App vs Website (as per founder in YT video)
• Website
• • 3.3Mn visits last month (as per Similarweb)
  • 35% contribution to total sales (📌)

• Physical stores
• • Present in 30+ stores across tier 1 and 2 cities
  • 10% contribution to total sales (📌)
  • Average order value is 2X compared to online purchases
• Marketplaces
• • 10% contribution to total sales comes from marketplaces

Most of our engagement strategies will be focussed on app and website. While we will push the visit to a physical store, we won't be delving into the physical store engagement bit

📌Source

Why do customers love SNITCH?

• Great styles at a mass-premium price point. AOV = ₹1200
• The quality and durability of clothes has been appreciated
• Delivery is done within 2 days in most parts of India (11,000+ pincodes)
• App experience is easy and great
• Diverse catalog for men - casuals, formals, loungewear, accessories, etc.
• Free delivery

Ideal Customer Profiles for SNITCH

Natural frequency of SNITCH

Fashion as a category often has varying natural frequencies for different types of users. For eg. a user might have frequent shopping behaviour but their AOV might be low vs a user who shops rarely but their AOV is often high since they shop multiple things together. In the table below, I will be classifying users basis natural frequency. We will touch upon the AOV bit in the user segmentation section

Engagement frameworks

Who is an active user?

An active user of SNITCH is a user who has purchased from website or app or offline store and not returned the item within 7 days post purchase. This active user is considered active if he has made at least one purchase in 6 months.

The duration stat comes from research that says in India users often spend on fashion based on seasonal trends. This happens because historically traditional brands have released 2 collections - summer and winter, hence forcing a consumer habit also in similar seasonal trends. While this is slowly changing, the average male user still shops once in 3 months.

Actions that help make someone an active user

• Ordering from a vast categories of men's fashion
• Engaging with the weekly drops on Thursdays
• Adding items to wishlists or carts
• Giving reviews to purchases products on the app
• Visiting offline stores and checking/buying from the catalogue

What are the engagement metrics to track?

• Average order value - SNITCH has an AOV of Rs. 1100. For our Money conscious ICPs, if they have lower AOVs then our engagement strategy can optimize for frequency for purchase for them to achieve the overall expected LTV at a yearly level from them
• Conversion rate - Most crucial metric. It is currently 4% in app and 1.6% in website for SNITCH
• D30, D60, D120, M6, M12 retention - Crucial to track at a per user level since natural frequency is different for different ICPs. Communication themes will be catered basis these metrics as compared to ICP average
• Average time spent per category - At a per-user level, knowing the average time spent per category gives us a great idea of what the tastes of the customer are. We can also personalize communications related to urgency to convert faster
• Number of categories explored vs added to wishlist vs added to cart vs purchased - This must be done at a per-user level to indicate the breadth of engagement for our user
• Number of app/website/store visits in a month - This is an indicator of TOMA for that user
• Items in wishlist vs cart - Indicates inclination to buy; can be used for communications during sales or price drops
• Number of purchases during sale vs off-sale period - Indicate customer behaviour and need for incentive
• Number of early bird discounts taken - This has to be explored at a category level per user to understand the category of weekly drops they are interested in
• Abandoned cart % - Necessary to understand incentivization for conversion
• Reviews for the purchased items - Indicates customer satisfaction with products

Additional metrics to consider

• Amount of time spent per session - This is just a sanity metric for now to check if we must start optimizing for depth. [No actions will be taken basis this in the assignment]
• Time taken per funnel stage - Will help us indicate if there are optimizations needed (for eg. Amazon has a 'Buy Now' to accelerate check-out
• Tech metrics like uptime, response time, UI bugs, Payment Gateway downtimes, etc. - To ensure a bug-free experience

Natural Frequency of users

So this is where things get very interesting!

We will be using a combination of segmentation techniques to come up with as mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive segmentation as possible. Our parent differentiation will be basis casual, core and power users basis frequency. We will also match some of our ICPs basis their buying behaviour to this segmentation.

Validation of the segmentation - basis user calls and secondary research

• For casual users:
• • These category of users often prefer simplicity and ever-lasting trends rather than experimenting constantly and following a herd. Hence, they often prefer brands which don't keep shoving trends to them because there is fatigue to keep resetting your wardrobe with every month
  • The need for the 'touch and feel' is still there and hence offline stores is more preferred. Users also stress how shopping offline is an experience since it transcends shopping to exploring multiple things and socializing
  • Return orders costing Rs. 100 is a deterrent for these users since they are accustomed to the trial room way of shopping. Hence they would order things, try it and if it does not suit their or their influencer's liking then they would want to return it. Possible in Myntra, Ajio, Westside, etc and hence less frequency on SNITCH
• For core users:
• • These are users who are often spoiled for choice. Owing to a number of fast fashion and elite brands out there, SNITCH often leaves their mind. After speaking with a Gen Z user who had shopped from a SNITCH offline store, he has never bought from SNITCH since last 3 months since the store is far from his locality + he hasn't downloaded the app since his needs are often served by H&M and Westside stores that are near him. He loves the t-shirt quality though
  • Having spoken to the 'people pleaser' persona, it was clear that a lot of their fashion decisions are influencer-led (not social media influencer, but wife/sister/girlfriend/ mother). So much that the influencer often forwards some of the latest trends which they think would suit their style and the discovery happens from there.
• For power users:
• • The need for validation is real! They are so in-trend that they wish to be ahead of the trend. They wish to be the trendsetters. Especially in the streetwear, sneakers and oversized t-shirts/shirts category.
  • Return orders costing Rs. 100 is a deterrent for them as well. They wish to often try out the shirt and see if the style suits them or no.
  • There is no brand loyalty since the rate of release of trends across brands is super quick. Often times comparison comes to cost or delivery time level metrics. Above that, new age brands often pay influencers with barter or money.

Campaign 1 - Casual to Core user -> Evergreen Classics

Objective - Increase the order frequency of the casual user

Campaign name - "Evergreen Classics"

Hypothesis - These users prefer simplicity over constant churn of trends. Even today, a black t-shirt and jeans with a pair of shoes is a classic party wear. Idea here is to curate such ever-lasting style combinations and share as a collection with the casual users every month.
NO WEEKLY TRENDS NOTIFICATIONS FOR THEM! It's annoying for them.

Engagement framework - Frequency of engagement

Channel of distribution - Whatsapp, Email

Persona/ICP - The simplicity loving next door 'adarsh bhaiya'

Target feature - Personalized collections

Offer - Flat 10% off on the collection

Goal of the campaign - Getting the user to complete a purchase of an AOV of Rs. 1200 and increasing their frequency of spend for their preferred style of clothing

Details - Find in whimsical below:

Success Metrics - CTR and conversion % of comms sent, Increase in casual users orders, shift of casual users from casual to core, increase in LTV for cohort. With this campaign, users will know SNITCH is not only about latest trends but also about classic, evergreen styles at great quality

Campaign 2 - Casual, Core user and Power users -> Trials at home

Objective - We want our casual and power users to try out their preferred new styles without the burden of return fees at least once every month if they commit to a sufficiently large AOV.

Campaign name - "Try styles at the comfort of your home"

Hypothesis - If we remove the return order fees of Rs. 100 then we will be able to encourage more orders and experimentation of new styles from SNITCH. In a way this also solves for the need for 'touch and feel' that we hear as needs from casual and core users.

Engagement framework - Frequency and Breadth of engagement

Channel of distribution - Whatsapp, Email, In-app, SMS, Push notifications

Persona/ICP - All but mainly the fashion influencer, Gen Z, people pleaser

Frequency - Monthly once when ordered in that week. For eg. Orders placed in the second week of November above Rs. 5000 have no return order fee when returned within 7 days.

Offer - Flat 10% off on all new styles. Try it at the comfort of your home and return it for free if you don't like them. [Minimum purchase value = Rs. 5000]

Terms and conditions - 1- The return of units in that order has to be done once and together. For eg. if you purchase 5 items and wish to return 3 - the return has to be done together for all 3 items within 7-days;
2- This is a one-time valid offer only;
3- A thorough quality check will be done and only then will the refund take place within 5-7 business days;
4- Offer not valid on accessories, sunglasses, inners, boxers for hygiene reasons

Details -

Success Metrics - CTR and conversion % of comms sent, AOV increase from users, Repeat order rate, Frequency of orders, New categories explored

Campaign 3 - Core and Power users -> Loyalty campaign

Objective - Make SNITCH a brand of choice for core and power users through stickiness and not lose them to competition.

Campaign name - "SNITCH Loyalty campaign"

Hypothesis - If SNITCH creates a loyalty campaign for its core and power users, it will make them stick to the brand more and increase their purchase frequency. This has been created basis the insights from users where they mentioned that they are unable to stay loyal to a brand in spite of having a great experience because of the

Engagement framework - Frequency

Channel of distribution - In-app, catered notifications basis the level

Persona / ICP - The people pleaser, Gen Z and Fashion influencer

Details - Refer the loyalty campaign in whimsical below:

Success Criteria - Average order value, frequency of purchase, new categories explored, number of days between orders must reduce, sales vs non-sales behaviour

Campaign 4 - Core to power user & Power user-> Accessories/Testers free

Objective - Increase the discovery of additional categories

Campaign name - "SNITCH Santa"

Hypothesis - Today accessories and perfumes are not discovered or bought by users much. These items can be used to entice users to increase their AOVs to get free perfume testers or chains/bracelets

Engagement framework - Breadth of engagement

Channel of distribution - In-app, Whatsapp, Push Notifications

Persona/ICP - Gen Z, The people pleaser, Fashion influencer

Target feature - Accessories, perfumes

Offer - Shop for Rs. 5000 and get a gift from SNITCH. This gift will be either perfume 20-50ml testers or bracelets/chains. The Gen Z and fashion influencer will get bracelets; people pleaser will get perfume testers.

Goal of the campaign - Increase AOV and make the user explore a category in the product

Timing - During Christmas

Details - Please find the whimsical below:

Success metrics - CTR and conversion % of comms sent, Increase in AOV, new category exploration for perfumes and accessories, repeat order rate increase for perfumes or accessories

Campaign 5 - Core to Power user & Power user retention -> Whatsapp Channel

Objective - To retain the power user and engage the core user such that they become a power user. This will be done through communications via a free medium. YES, FREE!

Campaign name - SNITCH Exclusive Whatsapp Channel

Hypothesis - Core users like Gen Z and power users like the influencers often prefer to know about the latest trend but with so many apps on their phone, one can't expect them to engage through push notifications alone. Hence, we have a non-invasive manner of communication in Whatsapp Channel that can be used to share latest trends, trends that are still in design qualification stage and exclusive deals

Engagement framework - Breadth of engagement

Channel of distribution - Whatsapp (one-way communication)

Discovery of channel - An in-app plug for the Whatsapp channel will be done. Email to these users regarding the channel will be sent after they successfully order from the latest styles. Whatsapp message after the first order.

Persona/ICP - The Gen Z college kid, The fashion influencer

Target feature - Weekly drops in the styles

Communication Themes - New trends, deals, styling ideas, pre-order exclusive trends, limited time offers, polls

Frequency and timing - Posting Daily is crucial. A content calener can be made, check in Whimsical below for the themes and the weekly calendar

Apart from the above themes, festivals or special days will have their own themes. For eg. Independence day special, Christmas special etc.

Goal of the campaign - For the fashion influencer, this channel helps them be the trendsetter by informing them on trends even before they are released to the general public. For Gen Z, they can discover unique styles, deals and current trends

Success metrics - All the links shared in the channels will be shared with their corresponding UTM parameters. Idea will be to identify pre-orders, guage trend acceptance and overall engage with the audience. CTR and conversion % of comms sent basis UTM links. Some ancillary metrics like number of followers, daily increase in follower count, emoji reaction count on message, etc. will also be taken

[Bonus] Campaign 6 - Core to Power user -> Talk to the influencer!

Objective - Increase the discovery of new styles and trends for the influencer of 'The people pleaser'

Campaign name - "My personal stylist"

Hypothesis - For a lot of men in India, fashion decisions are influencer-led. This means that their wife, sister, girlfriend or mother often suggest brands or styles to buy and the men trust their choices and make them happy. This campaign aims to bring them into this buying process by showing them some styles and trends that men in that age and demography wear.

Engagement framework - Frequency and Breadth of engagement

Channel of distribution - Whatsapp channel, Instagram broadcasts, In-app, Ads

Persona/ICP - The people pleaser

Target feature - Personalized curated fashion

How will we target? - Users who have added their anniversary dates in the profile section

Construct - Share your account with the influencer and prepare wishlists together

Retention understanding for SNITCH

• SNITCH has a repeat rate of 44%. The general fashion e-commerce companies have a repeat rate of 35% and hence SNITCH has far outperformed the rest in a very short time
• Basis revenue retention, M12 metrics stand at ~70%. This means that if a cohort a users give a revenue of Rs. 100 in month 1 then that same cohort gives a revenue of Rs. 70 in month 12. Obviously there must have been users churned in this cohort but the overall average revenue metrics still remain sufficiently high due to increased AOV of retained users [Based on discussions with some investors]
• Retention curve below is for the active users. This is basis guesstimate and some of the figures quoted by the founder in this video

The retention curve starts flatenning from month 8 onwards

Which ICPs drive the best retention?

• Gen Z and Fashion influencers. They often make a lot of purchases. Gen Z sometimes shops in spurts but ends up making higher AOV spends
• This is mainly because they have the need to be constantly updated with the trends due to social goals (mentioned in JTBD in ICP section)

Which acquisition channels drive the retention better?

• App has the highest conversion rate of around 4.6% followed by website of 1.6%
• AOV of offline stores is 1.5X of the online channels but these are still early days to comment on online retention through offline purchase
• Direct organic traffic from SNITCH website to the application drives most retention. An excellent hack that website has done is to say '10% off on first shopping done from app'. This hook makes the user download the app.
• Organic and paid search traffic especially for keywords like 'men fashion', 'stylish men clothes', 'co-ords for men' etc. perform great for retention as well.

What are the top reasons of churn?

Negative actions to look out for

• Bad reviews on Google, app store, play store
• Deletion of payment information (card or UPI) from the app
• Deletion of address information from the app
• Logged out from the app
• Deleted account from the app
• Permissions for notifications, location given but disabled
• Blocking or reporting of Whatsapp ads or messages
• Increase in support tickets
• Bad CSAT scores post query resolution
• Bad product reviews inside app
• Increased return orders or refund requests
• Reduced app visits

Top Reasons for Churn (based on user reviews)

• The support team is non-responsive
• Quality is not up to the mark
• Return order fee charged without consent or prior information
• Clothes haven't reached on time, or haven't reached at all
• Sizing issues
• Abandoned cart because of better options elsewhere

Campaign 1 - Resurrecting abandoned carts

📌Insight - The key in fashion e-commerce is to manage inventory. Any dead inventory is worth as good as nothing so providing deep discounting on such inventory is not a bad idea for recovering some gains rather than complete loss

Segmentation of user type - Casual user

Timing of reach out - When the stock becomes part of dead inventory

Pitch/Content - "Looks like patience has its own fruits!🕺 The t-shirt you added to cart few days ago is now available at 30% off. Isnt that a steal deal? 😍

Limited time offer. Act now!"

Offer - 20-30% discount on dead inventory

Distribution channel - Whatsapp, Email, Push notification

Frequency and timing - 1 whatsapp per month, 2 emails per month, 1 push notification per 3 days

Success metrics - Conversion, CTR, TOV increase

Campaign 2 - Resurrecting people with support tickets

📌Insight - Users always appreciate brands that own up to their mistakes and treasure the customer. They often speak about it on social media also if the language of communication is empathetic

Segmentation of user type - Casual, Core, Power who had raised a support ticket and the problem is solved now but with bad NPS

Timing of reach out - A day after ticket closed

Pitch/Content - "We are not proud of our service to you. It is not what we stand for. We deeply regret it and promise to improve going forward. As a token of our gratitude for your purchase, please accept this coupon "SMSQK10" to get a 10% off on your next purchase. This coupon will be valid for any purchase that you make in the next 6 months. Thank you for shopping with us and we hope to serve you better soon"

Offer - 10% on entire cart value

Distribution channel - Whatsapp (I would prefer if this comes from a separate number that shows to the user its coming from some senior person in the company. It shows involvement and customer obsession)

Frequency - Twice. 1st time after ticket closure, 2nd time a week before the coupon is set to expire without usage

Success metrics - CTR, Conversion, Retention % uptick, NPS, CSAT

Campaign 3 - Resurrecting a power user who has reduced his frequency of purchase

Segmentation of user type - Power user who used to shop at least once a month is now transacting once in 6 months with reduced AOV

Pitch/Content - "We don't talk anymore 🎼😔
It's someone else, isn't it? Are they really giving you the best quality clothes? Are they really having weekly drops of the most stylish trends from the world? Do they deliver their clothes before 5-7 days always? Do they give you exclusive discounts the way we are going to now?

Get 10% off on your entire purchase and something special in your package 😉They can never give you what we have!"

Offer - 10% off on cart value + perfume testers in small plastic bottles

Distribution channel - Whatsapp, push notifications, Email

Frequency - Push once every week, Whatsapp once every month, Email once every 2 weeks

Success metrics - Conversion, frequency of purchase post offer use, AOV

Campaign 4 - Resurrecting a user who has quality issues

Segmentation of user type - User has an issue with the quality of the product and has stopped shopping because assumption is that all clothes have same quality

Pitch/Content - "We hear your feedback and we strive to do better with our product quality. We wanted to inform you that we have a wide variety of clothes across different fabrics from cotton to linen, silk, corduroy etc. Our customers often rank us as the top shirt-making brand with 4.9/5 stars from 30,000+ reviews. We have curated this special collection for you and we guarantee, its fabric quality that you have never experienced before. Check them out and get a trial discount of Rs. 200 on your purchase.
We deeply regret your earlier experience"

Timing - When the ticket for quality issue is closed

Offer - Flat Rs. 200 off on Luxe, Linen, Silk and high ASP items.

Distribution channel - Whatsapp, Email

Frequency - Once

Success metrics - AOV increase, CTR, Conversion, Repeat order, Retention %, new category explored

Campaign 5 - Resurrection of users with address of city where we launch a store

Segmentation of user type - Users with delivery issues or quality issues and are present in a city where SNITCH has launched a physical store

Pitch/Content - "Can we ask for one more chance please? We know we failed in delivering our promise earlier due to delivery issues/quality issues. But we aim to improve on both of them now. How you may ask?
Well we have launched a new store in your city at [address]. Its a grand store with 5000+ styles and we are sure you will love it. Touch the fabric, do a fit-check, experience the premium experience and we promise you will love it. Also, show this message and get a straight 10% off at the store. So we will see you there?"

Timing - 1-2 days after shop launch

Offer - 10% off on purchase

Distribution channel - Whatsapp

Frequency - Once

Success metric - Store visit, Purchase made, Store review, Discount used, AOV

Happy Shopping at SNITCH!