Insight-informed email strategy & Design that delivered
Brilli Wellness Circadian Lighting
Creative Director, Email Strategist, Designer & Copywriter
When Brilli entered the market, the challenge wasn't just selling lightbulbs—it was introducing an entirely new category: circadian wellness through home lighting. As a brand-new player in the health-technology space, Brilli needed more than just an email newsletter; it needed a scalable, high-performance email engine that could translate the complex science behind the lights into an accessible necessity.
I led the strategic creative development of Brilli’s email channel from the ground up, focusing on gaps in the email lifecycle, creating an annual content calendar, and ensuring that triggered sends communicated more than just purchase confirmation. This work, and strong collaboration with the Marketing team, moved the brand from its initial launch phase into a sophisticated, data-driven marketing machine.
Approach
The First Promotional Sales Engine: I conceptualized and executed Brilli’s first major promotional campaign (Black Friday/Cyber Monday), handling everything from copy to creative production. This initiative directly contributed to the brand's highest single day of sales since the startup’s launch.
Education-First Narrative: To overcome the technical barrier of "lighting science," I established monthly content themes (e.g., Sleep Awareness Month) that synchronized email, site, and social efforts, ensuring a consistent and authoritative brand voice.
Creative Performance: I art-directed a NYC-based photoshoot to generate a fresh library of assets. These visuals didn't just look good—they were strategically designed for prospecting and retargeting, significantly boosting conversion rates across all digital touchpoints.
Operational Excellence: I introduced the team’s first Creative Review process and Priority Matrix, fostering a culture of data-sharing and agile execution that allowed us to scale content without losing quality.
Results
Scalable Content Engine: Successfully bridged the gap between "science" and "lifestyle," creating a library of high-performing assets that reduced customer acquisition costs (CAC) by improving retargeting engagement.
Strategic Consistency: Transformed the email channel from a secondary thought into a primary driver of brand authority and customer retention.
Campaign Engagement: Maintained a 20%+ average open rate by shifting from generic blasts to monthly themed educational content.
Top Sales Performance: Secured the highest single day of revenue since brand launch via the BFCM (Black Friday/Cyber Monday) campaign.
customer onboarding: welcome email
Seeing an opportunity for increased engagement in email, I led a redesign of the Welcome send, one of the most critical customer touchpoints for a CPG business.
This email was sent to customers who signed up to receive Brilli’s emails via the website and made a first purchase.
My Approach
The audience for this email was top-of-funnel customers just beginning to learn about circadian lighting and/or Brilli Wellness’ products. Therefore, brand awareness and product education were the most critical elements to convey
The design of the “Welcome” email matched the brand’s updated bright, wellness-focused aesthetic, using new vibrant imagery (view the approach and results of the Lifestyle photoshoot, and the Studio photoshoot), and an angled layout that connected to product packaging design, and referenced the angles that sunlight and shadows create.
An updated footer highlighted free shipping, lifetime warranty, and satisfaction guarantee to reduce friction.
The content informed readers about the health, mood, and productivity benefits of circadian lighting, backed by expert quotes for credibility, and included a 20% promotional discount to boost conversions.
I also synchronized the website’s sign-up messaging and offers for a smooth customer journey, optimized Mailchimp deployment for instant delivery, and analyzed the email and promotional performance to measure engagement, ROI, and attributed sales.
the results
higher click-through-rates when a/b tested against previous version
2.5x
increase in product sales yoy (2019 vs. 2020)
1000%+
Product-based send: Charge Up collection
My Approach
After doubling Brilli’s email subscriber base through effective website content and design strategy, I partnered with Brilli’s Marketing Manager to develop audience segments based on purchase history, and together we launched triggered campaigns to educate customers about other product lines (cross-selling) like this Charge Up collection email that also features lifestyle imagery I art-directed, and reflects the bright, energizing qualities of the product itself.
These “Collection”-based emails were intentionally designed to feel “shoppable” while also effectively educating Brilli customers.
the results
average open rates
10%
+21%
higher click-through-rates when a/b tested against previous versions
Calendar-based send: Mother’s Day
As a new brand, Brilli’s email program was limited to a Welcome and order-related emails. Before I joined, there were no relevant holiday- or calendar-based emails, such as Mother’s Day, Earth Day, New Year’s, and more.
My Approach
To drive customer engagement, retention, and repeat purchases, I led the creation of Brilli’s promotional and seasonal emails, developing campaign concepts that leveraged timely and relevant holidays, like Earth Day and the Mother’s Day send shown below, weaving in recent press mentions about Brilli from People, Goop, and Better Homes & Gardens to communicate trust and efficacy of the products through social proof.
