Hey it’s Chase and Jimmy here!

Most apparel emails try to sell you a product. Sierra Madre lets their customers do it for them.

This monthly send turns real outfits into social proof, shows how their pieces work on and off the course, and quietly doubles as an outfit builder. It’s even more proof that community can be one of your strongest conversion levers.

Also inside:

✔️ Your retention strategy shouldn't feel like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
✔️ When growth expectations don’t match the budget
✔️ Hiring vault: 8 New retention marketing job ops

Let’s get into it.

Your retention strategy shouldn't feel like throwing spaghetti at the wall.

If your retention strategy is a mix of “send more,” “hope it works,” and “we’ll fix it later,” you’re not alone.

Most brands are running on disconnected flows, shallow segmentation, and campaigns that spike revenue but quietly damage long-term LTV.

Retention Redefined is a free guide that helps you clean that up. It gives you a simple, modern system for lifecycle messaging, email + SMS pairing, and segmentation that actually changes what customers receive, not just what list they’re on.

👉 Download the free guide and rebuild retention the right way.

Sierra Madre’s Community Spotlight Email: Social Proof That Sells

This email is a great reminder that some of the strongest selling doesn’t come from the brand at all. It comes from customers.

Sierra Madre’s “Y’all Look Cute in Sierra Madre” concept turns real people into the hero and shows the product doing its job in the wild, not just on a model or a rack.

It’s social proof first, outfit inspiration second, and subtle selling all the way through.

Header Block

Let’s start at the top. Sierra Madre sets the tone and reminds you that the brand looks just as good on real people as it does on the rack.

What We Love

• Leading with customers instantly builds trust. This feels like a community moment, not a campaign.

• The message reinforces versatility early. You see these outfits on the course, at home, out at night, and running errands. That expands how shoppers think about the product.

• The headline feels friendly and on brand. It matches the Texas roots and makes the email feel human.

What We’d Do Differently

• Bringing the primary CTA higher up would help capture high-intent readers before they start scrolling. This is a strong visual email, but a quicker path to action would lift clicks.

• Even though the headline is clear, adding a small supporting line that reinforces how these looks can be worn on and off the course would strengthen the value story right away.

Body Block

Now let's dig into the body. This section shows how Sierra Madre lets real customers do the storytelling and the selling at the same time.

What We Love

• Real customers wearing real outfits is the strongest form of validation. You don’t have to convince anyone that it works. The photos already did that.

• Each section quietly doubles as an outfit builder. Top, bottom, accessory. It’s subtle but effective.

• Highlighting different settings shows range. This isn’t just golf apparel. It’s lifestyle apparel that happens to work on the course.

What We’d Do Differently

• The text overlays need a little more structure. When captions are hard to read, the story gets lost. Improving contrast would immediately improve engagement.

• There’s an opportunity to lightly guide shoppers. Small labels like “Off-course favorite” or “Course to cocktails” would add clarity without over-directing.

Footer Block

As the email winds down, Sierra Madre keeps it simple and on-brand, which mostly works, with a little room to push momentum further.

What We Love

• “Build Your Perfect Fit” is a natural extension of what the reader just saw.

• Navigation stays clean and focused. No unnecessary distractions.

• The brand voice stays consistent from top to bottom.

What We’d Do Differently

• A final community-driven CTA could reinforce the loop. Something like Tag us to be featured or Join the Sierra Madre community would encourage future UGC.

• One reassurance line about fit or returns could help convert inspired but hesitant shoppers.

• The text overlays could use a bit more contrast toward the bottom of the email. Adding a soft background or subtle gradient would make the copy easier to scan without taking away from the photography.

Where This Email Works

Zooming out, this email earns its place in a few key moments.

Social Proof and Trust Building: Perfect for showing that real people actually wear and love the product.

Outfit Inspiration and AOV: Even without calling it out, this naturally encourages multi-item purchases by showing full looks.

Evergreen Community Content: This format works monthly, seasonally, and across channels. Swap in new photos, keep the structure, repeat.

Why this kind of email builds real brand equity

This email works because it doesn’t try too hard. It lets customers do the selling and uses real life as proof. That’s hard to beat.

Clean up text readability, add light guidance, and tighten the path from inspiration to action, and this becomes a powerful recurring revenue and brand-building send.

3 Quick wins to steal next time

✓ Use real customers to show versatility beyond the core use case.
✓ Let social proof double as outfit inspiration.
✓ Improve text contrast so the story is easy to scan at a glance.

When growth expectations don’t match the budget

Acquisition keeps getting more expensive, but clients still want results. That’s why more teams are shifting focus to retention... and using SMS and push to support email instead of replacing it.

This Omnisend breakdown walks through how agencies layer faster, better-timed touchpoints into existing flows to drive repeat purchases without increasing spend. What they cover:

• Where email starts to lose attention (and how SMS and push step in)

• Which moments benefit from speed over long-form messaging

• How multi-channel retention makes impact easier for clients to see

→ Read the full breakdown

The Hiring Vault

• Lifecycle Marketing Manager, United States: Birdy Grey

• CRM Manager, New York, NY: L'OCCITANE Group (B Corp)

• Senior Email Marketing Manager, Seattle, WA: Tommy Bahama

• CRM Manager, Boulder, CO: PopSockets

• CRM Manager, Detroit, MI: Shinola

• Digital Producer, CRM, San Francisco, CA: Rothy's

• Director, Membership Growth & Retention, Boston, NY: ŌURA

• Vice President, CRM & Lifecycle Marketing, Irving, TX: Signet Jewelers

That's a wrap for today!

Appreciate you hanging with Chase and me. We hope you found something you can put to work ASAP.

If you did, don’t keep it to yourself! Send ecomemailmarketer.com to your favorite DTC marketer and get them in on the action.

Catch you next time!

🤘 Jimmy Kim

PS - Your next best customer might be reading this right now. Want in? Email Jimmy to sponsor this newsletter and more.

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