- Haircare products run out at different speeds. A shampoo, a conditioner and a weekly mask need different reorder timing.
- Most haircare customers use more than one product, so the post-purchase flow should teach the routine and fill in the gaps.
- A haircare brand's new product launch email made $31,059 from 395 orders, and email went from 23% to 47% of revenue that month.
- People who haven't bought need help picking for their hair type. Customers need refills, routine add-ons and first look at what's new.
What makes haircare different from other consumables?
Two things stand out to me.
First, it's a routine, not a single product. Shampoo, conditioner, a treatment, maybe a styler. Each one runs out on its own schedule.
Second, hair type matters a lot. Curly, fine, thick, color-treated, oily. A buyer who doesn't know which product fits their hair often doesn't buy anything.
If you also sell skincare, a lot of this overlaps with my guide to skincare email flows. This page sticks to what's specific to hair.
How should you time haircare reorder emails by bottle size?
Do the math for each product and each size. One reorder delay for your whole store will be wrong for most of it.
Here's a rough example. Say you sell a 250 ml shampoo, and most people use about 10 ml a wash, three washes a week. That's about 25 washes, so the bottle lasts around 8 weeks. A 500 ml size of the same shampoo lasts about twice as long. A hair mask used once a week might last three or four months.
Here's how I'd set it up:
- Start from the math. Bottle size divided by how much people use per week. Send the first reminder a week or two before it runs out.
- Split by size. A travel size and a full size need separate timing.
- Time sets to the fastest product. If someone bought shampoo and conditioner together, remind them when the first one runs low, and show them both.
- Switch to real data once you have it. Use the median days between first and second order for each product.
The reorder reminder isn't one of the 8 core flows I install for every brand. It's one I add on top for brands whose products run out. For haircare, I'd build it early. Across 4 consumable brands in my data, reorder reminder flows earned about $2.23 per person, about 28x the best campaign, and only 2 of the 4 had one built. My guide to replenishment email timing goes deeper on the timing math.
How do you teach the haircare routine after the first order?
Most haircare customers start with one or two products. The post-purchase flow is where you help them use those well, then show them what fills out the routine.
In the Flow System I install, Post Purchase Thank You is one of the 8 core flows. It starts again on every order and splits by how many orders someone has placed. A first-order customer gets 6 emails over days 0 to 24: a welcome, the brand story, the mission and benefits, how to use the product, support and community, and a soft nudge toward the next purchase. Second-order customers get 5 emails built around the routine, third-order customers get 4, and customers on their fourth order or later get 3.
For haircare, the product usage email does the heavy lifting. Here's what I'd put in it:
- How much to use, how often and what order it goes in.
- Tips for their hair type, if you know it.
- What it should feel like after a few washes. Don't promise results you can't back up.
- What pairs with it. If they bought shampoo, show them the conditioner. If they bought both, show them the treatment.
The second-order path is about building the routine, so that's where the rest of the set fits naturally.
Then hand off to the reorder reminder. More on the full sequence in my guide to the post purchase email flow.
Every educational email should still have one clear thing to buy. Content warms people up, but somebody has to ask for the sale.
Customer vs non-customer: who gets which email?
Every flow I build has separate paths for customers and for people who haven't bought yet. In haircare, the two groups need very different things.
People who haven't bought yet need help choosing:
- Point them to the right product for their hair type or concern.
- Show reviews from people with hair like theirs.
- Make the first order easy with a starter set or a smaller size.
- My welcome series runs 6 emails over 7 days, with the offer in email #1 and expiring on day 7. Email #1 carries most of the money: across 4 consumable brands, it earned about $4.50 per person, about 30x each of emails #2 to #5.
Customers already know you:
- Remind them to reorder at the right time, product by product.
- Fill in the rest of their routine.
- Give them first look at new products and restocks.
- Skip the beginner education. A customer on their third bottle doesn't need it.
If a customer and a first-time visitor both browse your shampoo page and get the same email, one of them is getting the wrong one.
How should a haircare brand use launches?
This is where a haircare list really shows what it's worth.
When a haircare brand launched a new product, the launch email made $31,059 from 395 orders. That works out to about $79 per order. Email went from 23% to 47% of the brand's total revenue that month.
I won't pretend one email explains everything about that month. But it shows what a list is for. When you have news, you can tell thousands of people who already use your products, today, without paying for the click. Ads are rented, your list is owned.
Here's how I'd set up a haircare launch:
- Tell customers first. Especially people who bought the products the new one pairs with.
- Explain who it's for. Which hair type, which problem, where it fits in the routine.
- Keep the ask simple. One product, one button.
- Follow up with people who clicked and didn't buy.
My guide to the product launch email covers the full sequence.
What should a haircare brand measure?
Judge emails by clicks and revenue, not opens. Apple Mail inflates opens.
- Days to second order, for each product and size.
- Products per customer. Are people filling out the routine, or stuck on one product?
- Reorder flow revenue by month, so you can see when groups of customers hit their reorder window.
- Email share of revenue, read next to total revenue. A launch month will spike it. That's fine, as long as you know why.
For the full picture on second and third orders, read my repeat purchase email strategy.
Where these numbers come from
The launch numbers are from one haircare brand. The per-person figures are pooled across 4 consumable brands, 2,897 campaigns and $17.7M in email revenue, a small sample, so treat them as directional. The bottle math is a made-up example to show the method.
FAQ
When should a haircare brand send reorder emails?
A week or two before each product runs out, based on bottle size and how often people use it. Once you have order data, use the median days between first and second order for each product.
Should shampoo and conditioner have separate reorder emails?
If they're bought separately, yes. If they're bought together, time the reminder to whichever runs out first and show both.
What's the most important haircare email flow?
If you have repeat buyers, the reorder reminder. Right behind it is a post-purchase flow that teaches the routine and fills in missing products.
How do I get first-time buyers to pick the right product?
Help them choose by hair type or concern, in the welcome flow and in browse abandonment. Reviews from people with similar hair help too.
Should haircare emails be educational or promotional?
Both, in the same email. Teach one thing, then give one reason to buy.
Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.