Seventh & Oak
A bootstrapped home-fragrance brand built around a simple growth question: how do you turn first-time candle buyers into customers who keep coming back?
ROLE: Founder & Marketing Lead
FOCUS: Lifecycle · Ecommerce · Retention
CATEGORY: DTC Home Fragrance
PERIOD: 2020–2023
THE STARTING POINTSeventh & Oak began as a small-batch coconut soy candle brand with no paid media budget, no PR agency and a relatively small audience.
The constraint shaped the strategy. If acquiring an endless stream of new customers wasn't an option, each customer relationship needed to become more valuable over time.
The opportunity wasn't simply to sell more candles. It was to build a system that made the first purchase the beginning of the relationship, not the end of it.
24%
Year-over-year revenue growth
2,000+
customer orders fulfilled
50%
revenue driven by email
“I bought the mini sets to smell which candles I wanted to purchase the full size version... ALL OF THEM.”
— Verified Customer
THE STRATEGYThe first purchase was designed to be the beginning of the relationship.
I built the growth strategy around three connected levers: lower-friction product discovery through mini sizes and sets, lifecycle email that kept customers engaged between purchases, and product launches supported by distinctive creative and storytelling. Together, these turned discovery into purchase, and purchase into repeat behaviour.
Mini sizes + discovery sets
Discovery
Lifecycle email + post-purchase nurture
Retention
Product launches + creative storytelling
Merchandising
WHAT IT BUILTA small audience became a repeatable growth engine.
Without relying on paid acquisition, Seventh & Oak grew through a connected product, brand and retention strategy, generating 24% year-over-year revenue growth, 2,000+ orders and more than half of revenue through email.
Building something worth talking about?
Let’s turn the idea into a clearer strategy and stronger customer experience.