How Tushbaby Unified SMS and Email to Drive 287x ROI and 48%+ Open Rates with Attentive

What began as a single viral hip carrier has evolved into a broader lineup that includes multiple carriers, newborn and toddler options, bags, accessories, and kids’ products. This expansion introduced new lifecycle complexity, with customers entering the funnel for different reasons and returning at different points in their parenting journey.

The challenge

As the brand expanded, Tushbaby faced three core lifecycle challenges:

• Retaining customers beyond a single product purchase as parents move between stages and needs
• Personalizing messaging for shoppers, repeat buyers, and gifters without over‑complicating execution
• Managing Email and SMS in a way that keeps the customer journey clear and coordinated across channels

Tushbaby also sees a high volume of gifting behavior tied to registries, baby showers, and milestones. The team wanted to remain top of mind for these moments while still prioritizing relevance for core customers.

The solution

Tushbaby consolidated Email and SMS onto Attentive to centralize lifecycle strategy, simplify execution, and gain a unified view of subscriber behavior. With both channels in one platform, the team could design journeys more intentionally, align timing and targeting across channels, and iterate quickly based on performance.

From there, Tushbaby built a lifecycle program centered on VIP treatment, high‑intent automation, preference‑driven personalization, and AI‑powered targeting to improve efficiency and reach.

The strategy

Treat SMS as a VIP channel

SMS is positioned as a true VIP experience within the Tushbaby ecosystem.

“We like to treat our SMS program as our VIPs. They always get messaging first, whether that’s early access to sales, new product launches, or special deals.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

Subscribers receive first access to launches, early sale windows, low‑inventory alerts, and exclusive offers. This framing sets clear expectations from the start and reinforces SMS as the channel where the most engaged customers receive priority access.

This approach has translated into strong journey‑level performance, with SMS journeys driving high engagement and conversion, including a 13% overall journey click‑through rate and a 32% overall journey conversion rate.

Drive urgency with gamified SMS‑only flash sales

To keep SMS engaging and differentiated, Tushbaby introduced gamified flash sales that are exclusive to the channel.

“We provide a couple of codes that disappear throughout the day, and people don’t know when they’ll disappear. Subscribers absolutely love it.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

These campaigns use multiple high‑value discount codes that disappear at unknown times throughout the day. Subscribers do not know when a code will expire, which creates urgency and encourages immediate action.

The team monitors performance closely through Shopify and uses these insights to refine timing, offers, and messaging. This format has become a repeatable lever for driving short‑term spikes in engagement while reinforcing the value of staying subscribed to SMS.

Build retention through preference collection and lifecycle segmentation

Retention is a primary focus for Tushbaby, especially as customers enter the brand at different stages of parenthood.

“Personalization has been really big for us. We’ve been collecting preferences to identify where parents are in both their buying cycle and parenting cycle.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

The team uses preference collection to understand where subscribers are in both their parenting cycle and buying cycle, then applies that data across journeys and campaigns.

This strategy supports several key motions:

• Re‑engaging customers who originally purchased a core carrier with newer products and accessories
• Tailoring messaging for repeat buyers as their needs evolve
• Staying relevant for gifters without over‑messaging core customers

The impact is especially clear in the Welcome Journey, where SMS performance has reached a 900x ROI and delivered a 132% conversion rate lift, setting the foundation for long‑term engagement.

Consolidate Email and SMS to unify the customer journey

Tushbaby migrated Email to Attentive to bring both channels into one system and simplify lifecycle management.

“We’d always wanted to consolidate Email and SMS to have a clear customer journey, and Attentive just made the most sense for what we’re trying to do.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

Consolidation made it easier to understand how individual subscribers engage across channels and to design flows that work together instead of in isolation.

With Email and SMS unified, the team can:

• Coordinate cross‑channel journeys, such as following up via SMS when an email is not opened
• Maintain consistent segmentation and personalization logic
• Evaluate lifecycle performance holistically instead of channel by channel

Email continues to play a key role in the program, with strong engagement across both journeys and campaigns, including average open rates above 48%+ and healthy conversion rates across automated flows.

Leverage AI Pro to improve targeting and efficiency

Tushbaby uses Attentive AI Pro not just as a performance add-on, but as a structural layer within its omnichannel strategy. Rather than sending to broad segments and optimizing manually, the team relies on machine learning models to determine who is most likely to convert, who is unlikely to engage, and where incremental revenue exists across both SMS and Email.

Audiences AI: Smarter inclusions and exclusions at scale

Audiences AI dynamically evaluates subscriber behavior, purchase history, engagement patterns, and predictive signals to identify high-propensity shoppers for each send. Instead of relying solely on static segments, Tushbaby can automatically include subscribers who are statistically more likely to convert.

• Campaign Inclusions: 
  
  • SMS: 
    
    • +11% send lift‍
    • +7% 0-day click + view revenue lift‍
  • ‍Email:  ‍
    
    • +20% send lift‍
    • +31% 0-day click + view revenue lift

At the same time, Audiences AI exclusions suppress subscribers who are unlikely to engage or convert, improving efficiency without sacrificing performance.

Identity AI: Expanding reach in high-intent journeys

Identity AI focuses on identifying previously unrecognized site visitors by leveraging first-party behavioral signals and matching them back to known subscribers. This is particularly impactful in high-intent journeys such as abandonment flows, where missed identification can mean lost revenue opportunities.

• Within abandonment journeys: 
  
  • SMS:
    
    • +41% send lift
    • +20% 0-day click + view revenue lift
  • Email:
    
    • +25% send lift
    • +20% 0-day click + view revenue lift

Rather than increasing send volume indiscriminately, Identity AI ensures that more of the right shoppers receive timely follow-up, driving incremental revenue during peak intent moments.

Together, Audiences AI and Identity AI allow Tushbaby to move beyond traditional segmentation and into predictive, intent-driven lifecycle marketing across both SMS and Email.

Use transactional messages as revenue drivers

Transactional journeys such as order confirmation and order shipped are treated as strategic touchpoints, not just informational messages.

“Our order confirmation and order shipped messages always surprise me. Transactional messages end up converting more than you’d expect.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

Tushbaby layers in thoughtful cross‑sell and upsell content where appropriate, turning high‑open transactional moments into consistent contributors to lifecycle performance.

The team has also begun routing a meaningful portion of abandonment traffic through AI‑powered journeys during peak periods, helping maximize performance when intent is highest.

Connect messaging with customer experience and service

Tushbaby uses Attentive Concierge to manage subscriber replies and route time‑sensitive questions to the appropriate support team through their customer service platform. This setup allows the brand to maintain conversational messaging while ensuring customer issues are handled quickly and accurately.

The team also plans to deepen review‑driven personalization by activating integrations that bring customer feedback directly into lifecycle messaging in a natural way.

Results

Across SMS, Email, and AI‑powered journeys, Tushbaby’s lifecycle program has delivered strong, scalable performance:

SMS

• 32% overall journey conversion rate
• 287x overall journey ROI
• 900x Welcome Journey ROI
• 132% conversion rate lift within Welcome messaging

Email

• 48%+ average unique open rate across Journeys and Campaigns
• 48% open rate across 19.8M+ campaign sends
• 13% journeys CVR
• Automated flows driving 37.8% of total Email conversions

Why Attentive

Tushbaby values Attentive as a long‑term lifecycle partner that combines powerful technology with hands‑on strategic support.

“Attentive is consistently the best partner that we’ve had. They are so responsive, and the support is unmatched.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

The team works closely with Attentive to stay ahead of best practices, adapt to evolving compliance requirements, and continue refining their lifecycle strategy as the business grows.

“It’s been really great having the ability with Email and SMS in one place to identify people’s customer journeys in an easier way and really streamline how we personalize messaging.”
- Evelyn Eichler, Director of Marketing at Tushbaby

Looking ahead

As Tushbaby continues to expand its product catalog, the team plans to go deeper with personalization tied to parenting stage, buying behavior, and channel preference. With Email and SMS unified on Attentive and AI‑driven tools embedded into the program, Tushbaby is well positioned to continue scaling retention, engagement, and lifetime value over time.