You know that moment when you realize your product is amazing but not particularly sexy, and you're expected to generate excitement about it twelve times per month through email campaigns? That's exactly the reality AeroPress faced when they wanted to scale their Klaviyo revenue. Unlike fragrance brands that can tap into desire or fashion brands that can leverage aspiration, AeroPress had to find ways to make a coffee brewing device feel dynamic and emotionally engaging month after month.

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Here's what every marketing executive with functional products learns eventually: customers don't buy your product to feel a certain way—they buy it to do something better. But email marketing traditionally relies on emotional triggers and aspirational messaging that doesn't naturally fit utility-focused products. AeroPress had a diverse audience ranging from hardcore coffee enthusiasts to casual home brewers, requiring completely different approaches to messaging and engagement. At Glued, we've seen this challenge repeatedly: brands with excellent, functional products struggling to create email content that feels relevant and engaging rather than pushy or repetitive. The solution isn't trying to make functional products feel aspirational—it's building community and creativity around what those products enable.

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This is where most functional product brands completely miss the email opportunity. They focus on product specifications, feature updates, and promotional offers instead of recognizing that their customers are really buying outcomes and experiences. At Glued, we approach utility-focused email differently: we sell the lifestyle and community that the product makes possible, not the product itself.

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Every growth professional with practical products faces this content challenge: how do you create ongoing engagement around something customers bought once and don't need to think about regularly? For AeroPress, our Email Marketing strategy centered on community-driven content that showcased recipes, user-generated brewing guides, and barista-style techniques that made customers feel part of a coffee culture rather than just owners of a coffee maker. We reworked their automated flows to highlight AeroPress versatility—iced coffee methods, espresso-style brewing, travel hacks—giving customers new reasons to engage with their device and the brand. At Glued, we believe that functional products become lifestyle products when you focus on the experiences they create rather than the features they offer. The key was turning a straightforward brewing device into a canvas for creativity and community connection.

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Here's the truth that transforms how functional brands think about email marketing: people don't just buy your product—they buy into the community and expertise that comes with it. AeroPress generated $478K in email-attributed revenue over twelve months, with 60% coming from automated flows and 40% from campaigns. But the real breakthrough was how community-focused content drove both immediate sales and long-term customer value.

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You know that pressure you feel to justify email marketing for products that customers don't naturally think about daily? This approach eliminates that challenge entirely. By creating targeted segmentation based on customer knowledge level—first-time buyers versus coffee enthusiasts—we delivered relevant content that felt valuable rather than promotional. The campaigns balanced functional offers like bundles and limited promotions with inspirational content like holiday brewing guides, community highlights, and recipe cards. At Glued, we've learned that when you build email programs around what customers can do with your product rather than what your product does, engagement and revenue follow naturally. The $478K in attributed revenue proved that functional products can drive substantial email revenue when you optimize for customer experience rather than product features.

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If you're struggling to create compelling email content for practical products that customers buy once and love quietly, these insights will change your approach to utility-focused email marketing. The opportunity is massive because most functional brands are still trying to make their products seem exciting instead of making the customer experience exciting.

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1. Spotlight community over product specifications: Customers buying coffee makers care more about brewing better coffee than understanding technical features. We spotlighted user-generated recipes, barista techniques, and community brewing guides because customers wanted to feel part of a coffee culture, not just informed about product specs. At Glued, we've learned that community content drives more engagement than product content for functional brands because it focuses on outcomes rather than inputs. If you want to book a call with us, we can show you exactly how this community-first approach works for your product category.

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2. Segment by expertise level, not just demographics: Coffee enthusiasts and casual home brewers buy the same product for completely different reasons and need different types of content to stay engaged. We created cohorts based on brewing sophistication rather than traditional demographic segments, delivering advanced techniques to enthusiasts while providing simple guides to beginners. This targeted approach improved both engagement and conversion rates.

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3. Education drives retention and revenue: The 60% of revenue from automated flows came largely from educational content that showcased AeroPress versatility—iced coffee methods, travel brewing, espresso-style techniques. At Glued, our Email Marketing approach proves that when you teach customers new ways to use what they already own, they become more engaged with your brand and more likely to purchase accessories or recommend to others.

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4. Balance utility with inspiration consistently: Successful functional product email programs can't be all education or all promotion—they need strategic variety. AeroPress campaigns mixed practical offers like bundles with inspirational content like holiday guides and community features, keeping subscribers engaged without feeling sold to constantly. The key is providing value in every email, whether through offers, education, or entertainment.

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5. Turn one-time buyers into ongoing community members: Here's the insight that every marketing leader with functional products should take to their next retention strategy meeting: your biggest opportunity isn't selling more products—it's building deeper relationships with existing customers who can become advocates and repeat accessory buyers. At Glued, we proved with AeroPress that utility-focused brands can build substantial email revenue by focusing on customer success and community rather than product promotion. Start with our Free Website Audit & Redesign to see exactly how your current email approach performs compared to community-driven benchmarks, and discover why making customers successful is always more profitable than trying to make products seem exciting.

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