Here’s how a prominent Irish menswear fashion retailer broke through their email subscriber wall and grew their online marketing segment through smart, compliant consent collection and easy integration.
McKenna Man experienced +76.48% increase in email subscriber growth & 37.7% increase in revenue within the first 6 months of using Dataships.
McKenna Man
McKenna Man, a popular Irish menswear retailer, is known for its stylish, high-quality, trend-driven collections and commitment to providing great customer service.
The Goal: Fuelling Growth with Email
For McKenna Man, email marketing isn't just another channel, it's one of the core foundational drivers for engagement with his audience. As a successful menswear fashion omnichannel retailer, their email list is one of their most valuable marketing tools. It directly drives a significant percentage of their revenue through new product announcements, limited-time sales, promotions, and exclusive subscriber content and promo codes.
Their online success focuses on having a large, engaged audience they can directly communicate with.
The Challenge: Hitting a Subscriber Wall
Despite their strong brand presence and high-quality email content, McKenna Man faced a common challenge many growing ecommerce businesses encounter: subscriber list saturation and slow growth.
While their website sign-up forms and paid media marketing were steady, they weren't delivering the volume of new, qualified leads and compliant opt-ins needed to sustain their goals. They felt they were reaching the limit of their current methods.
They needed a reliable, high-volume source of new, marketable customers that would purchase from their online store. Specifically, they were looking for a solution that was:
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Capable of delivering thousands of new, opt-in subscribers
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Compliant with all privacy laws and GDPR requirements
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Easy to integrate into their existing website and marketing tech stack
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Focused on reaching individuals genuinely interested in menswear fashion
They were ready for a partnership that could truly accelerate their most important metric, growing their email subscriber list.
The Solution: Introducing Dataships
After thoroughly researching various third-party growth platforms, McKenna Man chose to implement Dataships.
Dataships provided McKenna Man with a compliant solution to dramatically increase high-quality, verified email and SMS opt-ins from their existing customer base and website visitors. The tool's primary strength is using dynamic consent technology to maximise list growth at checkout while maintaining enterprise-grade compliance with GDPR and privacy laws.
The Implementation Process:
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Seamless setup: StudioForty9 found the setup with Dataships to be remarkably fast. It required minimal technical lift and integrated smoothly with their existing ecommerce and email platform.
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Outstanding support: The Dataships team worked with StudioForty9 to clearly define their ideal subscriber profile (e.g., demographics, interests in fashion and online shopping behaviour). They provided ongoing support and advice throughout the process. This ensured that every new sign-up was a potential, high-value customer.
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Launch and monitoring: Once the campaign was launched, the StudioForty9 + McKenna Man teams continuously monitored the quality and volume of incoming subscribers, ensuring they were immediately nurtured with a strong welcome sequence.
The ease of use and the minimal requirement on the agency’s time allowed them to focus on what they do best, creating exceptional email marketing campaigns that add value for the new, rapidly expanding McKenna Man audience.
The Results: Unprecedented Growth
The impact of implementing Dataships was immediate and transformative.
McKenna Man not only overcame their subscriber wall but completely shattered their previous growth records. The partnership provided the consistent, high-volume flow of new, qualified leads they wanted.
Since the implementation of Dataships McKenna Man has successfully acquired:
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YoY increase in revenue of 37.7%
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54% YoY increase in conversion value through campaign performance
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17.5% YoY increase in conversion value through flow performance
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31.2% increase in total email recipients YoY
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2% decrease in bounce rate YoY
This incredible influx of new contacts has fundamentally changed the trajectory of their business and the results speak for themselves:
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Record list growth: The addition of thousands of subscribers in a few months represents a significant boost to their overall list size, exponentially increasing their addressable market.
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Sustained revenue potential: Every new subscriber represents a potential future customer, massively increasing the total revenue McKenna Man can generate through their already successful email marketing campaigns.
"The setup was seamless and remarkably fast. The minimal technical lift meant our marketing team could focus on our email strategy instead of worrying about integration. It just works, and that’s a massive win for us.”
— Conor McKenna, Owner, McKenna Man
At StudioForty9, we found that Dataships fundamentally changes the conversation around compliance. Consent management is often viewed as a necessary hurdle, but for McKenna Man, Dataships turned it into a foundational strategy for growth. Since implementing it, the results have been excellent. We've achieved a 31.2% year-over-year increase in total email recipients, directly translating into a 54% YoY rise in conversion value through campaign performance and a massive 37.7% increase in overall revenue. Dataships provides the easiest path we've found for our clients to grow their lists organically and compliantly while driving tangible, top-line revenue growth.
— Zara O’Dowd, Senior Marketing Executive
“StudioForty9 has been an exceptional partner to Dataships, particularly on the McKenna Man account. As true experts in email marketing, lifecycle strategy, and ecommerce performance, they consistently maximise the value of the incremental contacts Dataships unlocks. Their ability to turn enriched data into high-impact campaigns is second to none, and the results speak for themselves.
StudioForty9’s strategic approach and deep expertise make them an invaluable extension of the Dataships ecosystem. They not only leverage every new compliant contact we generate - they turn those contacts into measurable, sustainable revenue growth.
— Sue Crowley, Head of Customer, Dataships
Key Takeaway
McKenna Man’s experience highlights a crucial lesson for any business relying on email revenue. Don’t limit your growth to your existing customers.
If you are a digital marketing professional or a business owner struggling to scale your most valuable marketing asset, your email list, McKenna Man’s success with Dataships provides powerful social proof. It demonstrates that integrating a compliant, high-volume third-party solution can be the fastest, most effective way to break through a growth plateau and unlock the next level of ecommerce success.
