Jimmy KimCEO & Founder, Commerce Roundtable · Marketer of 17+ Years, 4x Founder. Former DTC/Retailer & SaaS Founder. Newsletter. Host of ASOM & Send it! Podcast. DTC Event: Commerce Roundtable

Why Leading Your Welcome Email With a Discount Kills LTV

9 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief conversation, Jimmy Kim critiques the common practice of opening welcome email series with a discount offer. He argues that leading with a discount conditions new subscribers to expect price reductions, signaling that the product isn’t worth full price. This mindset attracts bargain‑only shoppers who are unlikely to purchase at regular price, ultimately lowering the lifetime value (LTV) of the welcome series compared to a strategy that builds brand value first.

Another mistake I see, and this one kind of bothers me because I talk about this quite often on social, but it's leading with a discount.
Most of the emails have like, welcome, here's X% off.
The question of the day here, and you already know the answer here, but what does this train people to do? Just to wait for the discount, right? Exactly. You're teaching them that the product is not worth the full price.
That means you're attracting discount shoppers who frankly are never going to buy at full price.
Right. So your LTV on your welcome series converts way lower than it should ultimately.
Exactly. Plus you're just devaluing your brand from day want.