In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Casimir Rob, Founder and Managing Director of every®, a plant-based frozen meal subscription service. Launched at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, every® has evolved from an emergency meal solution to a transformative subscription service helping busy professionals maintain healthy eating habits. Through their journey, Casimir shares how they’ve doubled customer retention, dramatically expanded lifetime value, and successfully shifted to a subscription-only model despite initial conversion challenges. Their focus on high-quality flash-frozen plant-based meals bridges the gap between convenience and nutrition, targeting time-strapped professionals who want to prioritize their health without sacrificing quality or time.

Topics Discussed:

• Transitioning from a hybrid purchase model to subscription-only business

• Developing brand messaging that resonates with long-term subscribers

• Optimizing customer acquisition for subscription models

• Building and leveraging word-of-mouth marketing (30%+ of new customers)

• Balancing quality, convenience, and nutrition in product development

• Managing the educational challenge of marketing frozen food as premium

• Testing and optimizing subscription offers and funnels

• Implementing AI tools to enhance marketing efficiency

Lessons For Consumer Marketers:

Evolve Messaging Based on Customer Segmentation Research

After initially positioning themselves around convenience during the pandemic, every® identified their most loyal subscribers and discovered a common thread: the product was transformative in their daily lives. This insight shifted their marketing from generic convenience messaging to transformation-focused storytelling, helping customers achieve their personal health goals through consistent healthy eating habits.

Balance Conversion and Retention Quality When Testing Discounts

every® discovered a direct correlation between AOV and CAC, leading them to test deeper first-order discounts (up to 40%). While this significantly reduced acquisition costs and increased new customer numbers, retention quality suffered. Their extensive testing revealed an optimal balance of initial discount combined with smaller incentives on subsequent orders to establish purchasing habits without sacrificing long-term value.

Simplify Purchase Decisions for Time-Strapped Customers

Rather than offering a complex meal builder requiring 20+ decisions, every® tested curated bundles targeted at specific customer types. These pre-selected meal packages reduced decision fatigue and streamlined the path to purchase, helping recoup conversion rate losses when transitioning to subscription-only and better serving their inherently busy target audience.

Leverage Natural Word-of-Mouth Through Problem-Solution Positioning

Despite extensive testing of referral programs and rewards, every® found their consistently high referral rate (30%+) came primarily from unprompted word-of-mouth rather than formal referral systems. This reinforced that when a product genuinely solves a meaningful problem, customers naturally share it with others facing similar challenges—more effectively than incentivized referrals.

In-House Core Marketing Functions for Faster Testing and Iteration

After initially relying on agencies, every® brought critical marketing functions in-house, maintaining only external development execution. This enabled them to rapidly test “a million small things” when optimizing for subscription conversion, from trust-building elements to offer structures. The cross-team collaboration and efficiency gains proved essential when navigating major business model changes.

Maintain Brand Consistency When Pivoting Marketing Approaches

One of every®’s early strategies was influencer co-created products, similar to successful models in fashion and cosmetics. When this underperformed, they pivoted away completely rather than iterating. In retrospect, Casimir notes this made subsequent brand-building more difficult, as maintaining consistency while evolving would have provided stronger brand foundations for future growth.