Why travel brands need a different retention plan
Most travel bags and accessories are bought once and last for years. A shopper who buys a carry-on or a compression bag does not need another one next month, so the replenishment flows that drive supplement or coffee brands do little here. Repeat revenue in travel comes from 3 places: the next trip, the rest of the travel kit, and gifts for other people who travel.
The second difference is doubt. Many travel products sound too good to be true: fit 2 weeks in a carry-on, never pay a baggage fee again, a bag that survives every airline. Shoppers have usually tried packing cubes or cheap copies before, so they want proof before they buy. Every email has to show that the product works.
The third is timing. Travel demand follows the calendar: summer holidays, school breaks, Christmas trips and gift season. Sales land best when they are timed to the moment someone is planning a trip, not to a random week.
What we build for travel bag and accessories brands
| Flow or campaign | Trigger | What it does for a travel brand |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome series | Pop-up or quiz sign-up | Answers the doubt first: how it works, the guarantee, the awards and reviews |
| Checkout and cart abandonment | Started checkout | Handles the top objection: will it fit, is it allowed on the plane, does it last |
| Post-purchase | First order placed | Shows how to use the product before the trip, then offers the next item in the kit |
| Cross-sell | Days after delivery | Moves a one-bag buyer to a second bag for a partner, or to pumps, cubes and organisers |
| Review and photo ask | After the likely first trip | Asks for a review when the customer has actually travelled with it |
| Winback | No order in a set time | Ties the next email to a trip moment or a gift date, not just a discount |
| Campaign calendar | Close to daily sends | Mixes travel stories and packing how-tos with sales timed to payday, summer and Prime Big Deal Days |
Turning a one-time product into repeat revenue
When the hero product lasts for years, the post-purchase flow does most of the work. The first order is when the customer trusts you most, so that is when we offer the rest of the kit: a second bag for a partner or child, a spare pump, organisers, a luggage scale. Bundles and "buy 2" offers lift order size because most people travel with someone.
Gifting is the second lever. A travel product that proves itself on one trip becomes a gift for the next birthday, Mother's Day or Christmas. We plan gift campaigns around those dates and aim them at existing customers first.
For more on running retention when customers buy once, read our guide to retention for products customers buy once.
Writing emails that prove a travel product works
Travel shoppers buy when they recognise themselves in the email. We start from a moment every traveller knows, like sitting on a suitcase to make it close or paying at the check-in desk, and then back it up with something real: the guarantee, the awards, and reviews from people who stopped checking a bag.
Story and how-to emails sell too. A packing method, the real carry-on rules or the maths of one checked bag teaches the reader something and sets up the next sale. A customer question answered in a full email, such as whether 2 offers stack, can earn as much as a sale launch.
EK proof for travel brands
- TwoPackBag (vacuum travel bag with a USB-rechargeable pump), with us since April 2026. Email grew from 17.3% of store revenue in our first 90 days to 23.7% in the 90 days to 8 October 2026: $1,408,087 of $5.94M. With SMS, Klaviyo brought in $1,658,694, or 27.9% of store revenue. Read the TwoPackBag case study.
- Post-purchase rebuild: TwoPackBag's post-purchase flow made $22,348 in the 2 months before we rebuilt it and $72,992 in the 2 months after, with 5x the orders.
- Single sends: on the last day of Prime Big Deal Days, "Tomorrow it's FULL PRICE" made $10,553. An email answering one customer's question about whether 2 offers stack made $8,972.
- In Spanish too: we also run TwoPackBag's Spanish-language store for Latin America, in its own Klaviyo account. In the 90 days from 4 August to 2 November 2026, email brought in 33.0% of that store's revenue, up from 19.6% in the 90 days before.
Other agencies that come up for travel brands include Get Better, Magnet Monster and Flowium. Ask each of them the questions below, and ask to see a travel client.
What to ask a travel brand email agency
- Which travel or luggage brands do you run today? Ask for a named case study with store revenue, not only email revenue.
- How do you sell a product people buy once? Listen for post-purchase cross-sell, bundles and gifting, not only discounts.
- How do you answer "does it really work?" The answer should name proof the agency would use in the first email.
- How do you plan the calendar around trips? Summer, school breaks and gift dates should drive the sale timing.
- What did your best single email earn, and why did it work? A specific send is a better answer than an average.
- How fast is the first flow live? Ours is live within 72 hours of access.
Related guides
- Retention for products customers buy once
- The Klaviyo flows every Shopify brand needs
- BFCM 2026 email and SMS playbook for Shopify brands
- Klaviyo SMS for Shopify brands
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