How SNDYS Drove 90x ROAS With Attentive’s Triggered SMS Journeys

Building on the moments that already worked

SNDYS already knew SMS could perform. The team used it deliberately around high-value moments like sale periods and Black Friday, when customers were already primed to shop. And it delivered.

That raised a useful question: if SMS worked this well a few times a year, what could it contribute in between? SNDYS saw an opportunity to make SMS more responsive to what customers were already doing—signing up, browsing products, adding items to cart, and moving closer to a purchase.

At the same time, SNDYS wanted a simpler tech stack to work from. As the business grew, the team had added tools to solve specific needs, with Shopify Flow and Zapier bridging gaps along the way. Each decision made sense on its own, but together they created more moving parts than a lean team wanted to manage.

Consolidating more of the program would give the team fewer connections to maintain and a platform more people could use confidently.

“We don’t have a dedicated CRM manager, and some of the people building campaigns aren’t technical marketers. Whatever platform we use has to make sense to the whole team. People need to be able to get in, understand what they’re looking at, and build without needing specialist training.” — Chantel Brayley, Brand Advisor, SNDYS

SNDYS tested Attentive alongside its existing setup and let the results guide its next step.

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The first month showed where the opportunity was

SNDYS ran Attentive alongside its existing tools and used the results to guide its decision.

The SMS program went from kickoff to live in about two weeks, with sign-up units, list certification, and the first triggered journeys in place. Three test campaigns in, the picture was already becoming clear.

Campaigns converted at 7.2%, compared with a 2.6% apparel benchmark. Journeys reached an 18.2% click-through rate against a 12% benchmark and, within the first month, were already driving 45% of SMS program revenue. The overall SMS program returned 7x ROI during the trial.

“We were really happy with the results. It gave us confidence pretty quickly that there was more we could be doing with SMS beyond those big campaign moments.” — Danielle Knox, Ecomm and Digital Experience Lead, SNDYS

Those early results gave SNDYS confidence to expand triggered messaging and keep SMS working between major campaign moments.

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Triggered journeys became the growth engine

Over the last 90 days, SNDYS’s SMS journeys delivered 90x ROAS. Triggered journeys now account for more than 50% of attributed SMS revenue, despite representing only a small share of total message volume.

Relevant timing is a big part of what makes these journeys perform so well. Welcome journeys connect with new subscribers while interest is fresh. Add-to-cart and checkout journeys give shoppers a useful touchpoint while they’re considering a purchase. Browse and product-view journeys let SNDYS respond to behavior the team couldn’t follow up on one by one.

Instead of waiting for the next campaign, the program can respond when customer behavior creates a useful reason to reach out. That’s given triggered messaging a much bigger role in the SMS program: keeping the relationship moving between the major moments on SNDYS’s marketing calendar.

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Campaigns stay focused on the moments that matter

With triggered journeys keeping the program active between sends, SNDYS can use campaigns more selectively around the moments customers are already paying attention to.

That might mean reaching non-purchasers with an enticing Afterpay Day offer, or going wider during a major retail moment like the end-of-financial-year sale. Rather than asking campaigns to carry the program all year (and risk tuning out their list with too many offers), the team can use them when there’s a clear reason to reach the broader list.

And this approach is clearly working. Across the program, campaigns have reached a 7.6% conversion rate—roughly three times the 2.6% apparel benchmark.

Together, campaigns and journeys have distinct roles that balance each other out: campaigns create impact around bigger moments, while journeys keep SNDYS connected with customers in between.

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A platform the whole team can use

At SNDYS, nearly everyone on the team can build in Attentive. That matters for a lean team where e-commerce, design, and social all contribute to the program.

“Our team has really favored Attentive because people across e-commerce, design, and social can all use it confidently. They can build campaigns, understand the audiences they’re working with, and make changes themselves without needing a lot of training.” — Chantel Brayley, Brand Advisor, SNDYS

That confidence extends to segmentation, where the team can see how audiences are built and adjust them directly as the program evolves.

And when the team does need support, it’s close at hand. Knox describes the regular working rhythm with the Attentive team as a “well-oiled machine” and says the relationship feels like an extension of the SNDYS team. That combination—being able to move independently, with support there when it’s needed—has helped the team keep building as the program grows.

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Looking ahead

SNDYS is heading into peak season focused on getting more from existing customer relationships.

More journeys are a priority, alongside the segmentation to support them. Email has just gone live alongside SMS, giving the team more opportunity to coordinate how the two channels work together instead of treating them as separate programs.

The team is taking a deliberate approach to AI, too. SNDYS is testing AI-assisted send timing for SMS and exploring how AI can challenge assumptions as the business grows.

“AI helps remove bias. As brands, we can get very close to our own assumptions about what works. Having another layer of intelligence can help challenge that thinking and make better decisions about what customers actually respond to.” — Chantel Brayley, Brand Advisor, SNDYS

For SNDYS, the next step builds naturally on what has already worked: more relevant journeys, clearer roles for each channel, and a program that can keep adapting as the business grows.

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Results

Since partnering with Attentive, SNDYS has achieved:

• 90x ROAS from SMS journeys over the last 90 days
• More than 50% of attributed SMS revenue from triggered journeys, up from 45% in the first month
• 7.6% SMS campaign conversion rate, roughly 3x the 2.6% apparel benchmark
• 7x SMS ROI during the initial trial
• 18.2% journey click-through rate during the trial, compared with a 12% apparel benchmark

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