How Remedy Science doubled subscriber growth after turning one question into a full subscription growth plan

THE CHALLENGE

Marina Zitser, VP of DTC & Retention at Remedy, was staring at a gap she couldn't explain. Her order retention numbers and subscriber retention numbers were telling two different stories, and she had no fast way to find out why.

For a dermatologist-founded skincare brand built on clinical efficacy and long-term skin health, that gap carried real weight. Remedy's products are designed for sustained, compounded results — which means a retained subscriber, someone committed to their routine, is disproportionately valuable. Subscription growth and retention were not just a CRM priority. They were a core business priority.

For a retention-focused team of one, the conventional path would have been painful: export audit logs, pull CSVs from multiple platforms, build pivot tables, and manually stitch together data from Skio, Klaviyo, and Shopify. Days of work, if she could get to it at all.

Without clear answers, the risk was real. Her team might spend time fixing problems that weren't problems, while the actual revenue leaks went undetected.

THE SOLUTION

Skio's team introduced Marina to Flaunt's AI data analyst, the ultimate analytics tool for subscription brands. Flaunt connects subscription apps like Skio with Klaviyo and Shopify data in a single interface and lets operators ask questions in plain English, with no SQL or manual exports required.

Marina installed the free Shopify app and asked her first question. Within minutes, Flaunt delivered a complete breakdown behind a 20-point gap in retention metrics, categorized by root cause. Two distinct culprits emerged. The first was structural: subscribers on longer billing cycles simply weren't due for their second order yet, which was inflating the apparent gap. The second was more alarming: a significant portion of seemingly active subscribers were sitting on indefinite pauses, creating a layer of silent churn that wasn't visible on the surface.

Both root causes required different responses. The first meant adjusting how the team benchmarked retention. The second meant action — disabling indefinite pauses entirely to stop subscribers from quietly slipping away.

That clarity alone saved weeks of misdirected effort. But Marina didn't stop there. Her first answer sparked 10+ chat sessions, new recurring reports, and a full audit of her subscription program.

FLAUNT'S IMPACT

Across 70+ messages, Marina uncovered 15+ insights that translated directly into action across revenue, churn, and lifecycle optimization:

Revenue & LTV Optimization

• Confirmed a ~2x LTV advantage for subscribers over one-time purchasers, with subscriber mix trending in the right direction across products — however, first-order subscriber conversion was tracking below benchmark, validating it as the highest-leverage growth opportunity to invest in.
• Conducted margin and LTV analysis to right-size the acquisition offer structure for new subscribers, directly recovering first-order conversion rates.

Early Churn & Retention Fixes

• Discovered that 48% of subscribers churned before Order 2, prompting a multi-pronged retention strategy: new touchpoints at key intervals, "when to see results" education flows to keep subscribers invested in outcomes, and a surprise-and-delight free gift program — with Flaunt helping isolate which flows were driving the most impact.
• Uncovered that indefinitely paused subscribers — who appeared active on the surface — had a very low reactivation rate, masking real churn. Disabled indefinite pauses and implemented a 60–90 day maximum to surface and address soft churn earlier.
• Learned that “skip” outperformed “pause” by 50% for rebilling, leading to a Skio configuration update and the addition of pre-cancel flows.

Operational & Lifecycle Improvements

• Discovered that repeat customers waited over 5 months on average before converting to a subscription, pointing to a significant gap between intent and action.
• Implemented targeted nudges at 14 days post first purchase and 30 days post repeat purchase to reach buyers closer to their natural moment of intent.
• Layered in subscriber touchpoints tied to expected skincare milestones, keeping customers educated and invested in their results throughout the journey.

The margin and LTV analysis gave Marina the confidence to invest in subscriber acquisition, while the churn analysis helped plug the leaks keeping subscribers from sticking. Together, that solidified the foundation to default to subscriptions on PDP — a major driver of growth.

The results were immediate: the subscription base nearly doubled in a single month following program launch, with subscriptions as a percentage of total business reaching target. Proactive churn flows, winback sequences, and surprise-and-delight programs were already in place to catch any leaks from the sharp rise in growth — laying the groundwork for the next phase of retention work, with cancellation flows and churn intervention opportunities already scoped and in flight.