When we started managing CRM for PNG Jewelers, their website had no automated customer journeys. Using WebEngage customer journeys, we built six automated workflows that eventually accounted for 77% of the brand’s CRM revenue.

But getting there required more than setting up campaigns.

It meant understanding where customers dropped off, identifying opportunities to bring them back, and building journeys that could run consistently without manual intervention.

As the retention agency managing PNG Jewelers’ CRM, we used WebEngage to build that system.

Here’s what the experience taught me about building retention journeys, measuring revenue, and managing a D2C engagement platform day to day.

1. Start with the customer journey, not the campaign calendar

Jewelry is a considered purchase.

Customers don’t always buy on their first visit. They browse collections, compare products, revisit items, and often take time before making a decision.

For PNG Jewelers, that meant we needed to account for different stages of the buying journey.

When we started, the website had no CRM automations in place. We saw an opportunity to create journeys that responded to customer behavior.

We built six automated journeys, covering stages from capturing first-time visitors through on-site pop-ups to engaging customers after their first purchase.

The idea was simple: create a relevant communication experience for each stage, rather than rely entirely on manually scheduled campaigns.

WebEngage’s Journey Designer helped us build these workflows visually, using triggers, conditions, and actions.

Of the full engagement platforms I’ve worked with, WebEngage was the easiest to operate day-to-day. Building journeys was straightforward, which helped us spend more time on the customer experience and less time configuring the platform.

2. Make revenue visibility part of your daily routine

One of the things I appreciated most about WebEngage was how easy it made revenue reporting.

My daily routine usually started with three checks.

First, I’d look at our website pop-ups. Were conversion rates holding steady, or had they dropped since the previous day?

Next came WhatsApp performance. I’d compare results with the previous day to understand how our messaging was performing.

Finally, I’d open the revenue tracker.

This gave me a view of revenue for the month, daily contributions from WhatsApp and email, and revenue across our tracked sources.

As an agency, we didn’t have access to PNG Jewelers’ Shopify backend. WebEngage therefore became our primary reporting interface for CRM-attributed revenue.

It made reviewing performance and reporting results much easier.

There’s an important consideration here, though. Every engagement platform calculates attributed revenue according to its attribution rules and conversion windows.

Understanding those settings is essential before drawing conclusions from campaign revenue.

For us, having that visibility in one place was particularly useful.

3. Remove manual work wherever possible

One operational feature that stood out was WebEngage’s automatic WhatsApp retries.

WhatsApp delivery can be affected by factors outside a marketer’s control, including Meta’s marketing-message limits.

When messages fail to deliver, manually identifying and resending them adds operational work.

WebEngage’s retry functionality helped reduce that effort.

It’s the kind of feature that may seem small when evaluating a platform. But when you’re managing ongoing campaigns and automated journeys, these details matter.

The less time your team spends handling repetitive execution tasks, the more time it has to analyze performance and improve campaigns.

4. A visual journey builder makes execution easier

Another aspect that worked well for us was the Journey Designer.

When managing retention, there’s often a gap between planning a journey and actually getting it live.

You might know exactly what you want to build, but setting up triggers, conditions, branches, and personalized messages can become complicated.

With WebEngage, I found that process relatively simple.

The visual designer made it easier to translate our ideas into executable workflows.

We also worked with WebEngage’s support team on technical requirements, including Liquid tags for personalizing messages.

Their product knowledge was strong. When we knew what we wanted to achieve and needed help configuring it, they could guide us through the execution.

That combination of usability and product support made a difference to our day-to-day work.

5. Know what you need from your technology partner

There were a few things I would have liked to work differently.

Our consultant managed multiple accounts, so urgent requests didn’t always receive same-day attention. We typically received help the next day, and the team followed through.

The strategic guidance also didn’t always go as deep as we wanted.

For our setup, the most effective arrangement was to own the retention strategy ourselves and use WebEngage’s capabilities and product expertise to execute it.

The other challenge was on-site pop-up design.

When we used the platform in 2025, creating pop-ups that closely matched the brand’s visual identity required more effort than I would have liked.

WebEngage has since introduced a rebuilt no-code editor, although I haven’t evaluated that newer experience firsthand.

These are worth considering when evaluating an engagement platform, especially if you’re expecting extensive strategic support or managing a large number of on-site experiences.

6. The outcome: 77% of CRM revenue from automations

Over time, the six automated journeys we built for PNG Jewelers accounted for 77% of its CRM revenue.

That result reinforced something I’ve learned from managing retention for D2C brands: automated journeys deserve serious attention.

Campaigns still have an important role. But customer behavior doesn’t follow a marketing calendar.

A visitor might abandon a product today, return three days later, or make a purchase after multiple visits.

Having journeys that respond to those behaviors gives brands a more consistent way to engage customers throughout the buying process.

For PNG Jewelers, building those journeys from scratch created a foundation for its CRM program.

WebEngage gave us the tools to execute the journeys and track their contribution to revenue.

7. What I’d recommend to D2C brands building retention

If you’re setting up or improving your retention program, there are a few things I’d prioritize.

Map the customer journey before building automations. Understand where customers hesitate, drop off, or need more information.

Measure revenue alongside engagement. Opens and clicks are useful indicators, but you need to understand how your journeys contribute to business outcomes.

Choose tools your team can operate consistently. Powerful features have limited value if every change requires significant effort.

Pay attention to execution details. Personalization, delivery retries, reporting, and support can make a meaningful difference when you’re managing campaigns every day.

Give automation enough attention. A well-designed journey can keep working long after you’ve launched it.

Final thoughts

Looking back at our experience with PNG Jewelers, WebEngage worked well for the job we needed it to do.

The journeys were easy to build, reporting was clear, and the product support team understood the platform.

There were areas where I wanted more flexibility or faster support, but the overall experience was positive.

Most importantly, we were able to build an automated retention program that contributed meaningfully to CRM revenue.

For growing D2C brands, that’s the outcome worth focusing on.

About the author

Raviraj Ramavarapu is the Founder of Compound Lab, a retention and CRM agency working with D2C brands and consumer apps. He previously led ecommerce and CRM at Healthify and has hands-on experience with customer engagement platforms across ecommerce and app-led businesses.

This guest article is based on Raviraj’s firsthand experience managing CRM for PNG Jewelers. Read his original independent WebEngage review and PNG Jewelers case study.