Brand Overview

Bala was born when co-founders Natalie Holloway and Max Kislevitz sketched wrist weights on a napkin during a yoga class while traveling the world. What started as redesigning eighties-era ankle weights has evolved into a mission to redesign the entire fitness industry for women. Today they're in Target and TJ Maxx with a growing line of premium fitness equipment that treats working out like a fashion brand: colorful, functional, and designed to be left out. Their core innovation wasn't just aesthetic—they identified that no one could name who made their dumbbells, and they've built a brand customers actually recognize.

Customer Demo

Women 25-35, concentrated in NYC and LA, who care about aesthetics as much as function. They might go to Pilates, take walks with their kids, or work out from home. They shop at Lululemon and Alo. Some are fitness enthusiasts; others struggle to maintain routines. All want equipment that doesn't look like it belongs in a basement.

How Bala Currently Looks at the Role Email & SMS Marketing Play to Fuel the Brand's Growth

Natalie sees retention channels playing a "huge, huge role" in business growth and maintaining community with their core fans. "We know our emails need work," she admitted upfront, acknowledging that retention has been their biggest challenge, especially during their first three years when Bala Bangles were their only product.

The On-Site Shopping Experience

The site redesign is beautiful: organized by workout type, shoppable by color, and with premium photography throughout. But both our team members struggled to understand use cases for products beyond the Bangles. Saf, our Operations Manager, specifically called out wanting to see how she could use bands to make her current gym workouts more challenging. Kayla, a Senior Strategist, echoed the same sentiment: "I have such a hard time seeing how the other products would work in my everyday life."

The information exists—Bala has exceptional content—but it's not surfacing where customers need it during consideration.

Email & SMS Marketing

Here's what we experienced as real customers: Both Kayla and Saf were genuinely excited about their Bala products when they arrived. The quality exceeded expectations. Saf described her bands as "luxurious exercise bands" and showed her mom, who was equally impressed. Kayla loved her Bangles so much she wore them to the park, where other moms stopped her to ask about them.

Then they both forgot to use them.

"I used my Bangles a lot the first week," Kayla explained. "Every time I went on a walk I was like, I'm gonna bring the Bangles with me. Then I got sick and didn't feel very well, and I didn't do anything for like a week or so, and I haven't used them since to be completely honest. Out of sight, out of mind."

Saf had the identical experience: "You get them and you're like, oh my God, this is exciting. I'm gonna use them all the time. And you do the first couple times and then they kind of fall to the bottom of your gym bag."

The gap between excitement and abandonment? Post-purchase communication.

Here's what didn't happen:

• No check-in at the critical moment when habit formation breaks (days 7-14)

• No education on Balacize, their $19.99/month membership with thousands of on-demand workouts designed specifically for Bala products

• No direct messaging about building workout habits

• No dynamic content based on how they actually work out

• No reminders that made the product visible again

"Having a check-in point that doesn't feel overly markety," Kayla said, "plain text or something like that to say, hey, how's your workout going? Here's a couple tips to keep it going—I think that would be super valuable to help continue to build that habit."

When Kayla learned about Balacize during our call, her response was immediate: "I pay more than that for a YouTube workout fitness influencer thing that I do, and I don't even do it all the time. This is one of those things that you're like, yeah, I'm gonna sign off on it, it goes every month and you forget about it. But then it's also there that I could learn your products. I'd probably use the products more because I have this, and that would make me want to buy more because I'm seeing them in the workouts."

The membership solves both product education and habit formation. It's integrated into Bala's post-purchase flow with exactly one mention: at the bottom of a pre-shipment email that Kayla forgot about by the time her package arrived.

"I think this is just something that should be in almost every single one of your touch points," Kayla said. "Let's Balacize, let's go."

Natalie's response captured it perfectly: "Working out is so hard. I'm a fitness founder and I cannot get to a studio every day. It's such a mental game. That's why we exist." She knows the solution. The customers just never received it.

Unboxing & Product Experience

Both customers had identical reactions: concern when they saw the mangled brown shipping box, then delight when they opened it. The actual Bala packaging is beautiful, the product quality is exceptional, and the attention to detail—like color-coding resistance bands from pink (lightest) to black (strongest)—creates moments of surprise and delight.

What Bala is Doing Well

• Product quality that exceeds price expectations despite premium positioning

• Aesthetic differentiation that makes customers want to display equipment, not hide it

• Strategic kit bundling that serves different workout styles (Pilates, yoga, walking)

• Balacize concept offering on-demand 10-minute workouts designed for specific products

• Community building through studio partnerships that signal brand values to customers

Opportunities to Drive Higher LTV

Collect zero-party data at point of entry to enable meaningful personalization. Natalie said if she could only know one thing about new customers, it would be how they work out—at home, at a studio, or just walking with kids. This single data point unlocks everything: which products to recommend first, what education to provide, which Balacize workouts to feature. For Kayla (works out at home with kids), Bangles were perfect, but she needed at-home workout content. For Saf (goes to gym with equipment), bands solved a specific problem, but she needed to see gym-specific use cases. Neither received personalized communication because Bala never asked.

Build habit formation into post-purchase flows for products that require behavior change. Both customers stopped using products they loved after one week. This isn't a product problem—it's a communication problem. Natalie even admitted: "I feel like people, even when I see them, they're like, oh my gosh, I've been forgetting about my Bangles." If the founder knows customers forget, the post-purchase flow should prevent it. Plain-text check-ins at day 7, 14, and 21 asking "How's your workout going?" would maintain visibility during the critical habit formation window.

Treat your membership program as core to retention, not adjacent to it. Balacize solves product education, habit formation, and cross-selling simultaneously. Kayla would "probably use the products more" if she had it, "and that would make me want to buy more because I'm seeing them in the workouts." One mention in a pre-shipment email buried at the bottom isn't integration. Feature it in welcome flows, post-purchase flows, win-back flows, and every campaign. When workouts are 10 minutes and cost $20/month, the friction is minimal and the retention impact is massive.

Use founder credibility to build trust in plain-text moments. Natalie has genuine insights about habit formation because she lives it: "I'm a fitness founder and I cannot get to a studio every day." A plain-text email from her sharing how she keeps Bangles visible at her desk or by her son's school cubby would resonate more than any designed campaign. Founder vulnerability builds community, and community drives retention.

Surface use cases on PDPs, not just in educational content elsewhere. Both customers wanted to see themselves using products before buying. "Seeing examples of how I can use them to make my current workout more challenging would've pushed me to buy them sooner," Saf explained. Bala has this content—they have an entire app of it—but customers shopping the beam or power ring don't see people actually using them. Put workout snippets on every PDP so consideration doesn't require imagination.

Leverage the asset you already have: make Balacize workouts your primary cross-sell vehicle. Elliot suggested featuring 10-minute workouts in post-purchase flows, then showing two minutes at the end using a different product. "I'm like, oh, I don't have that, but that looks like a really easy or fun workout," he said. When Natalie confirmed they're filming more content, she validated the strategy. Customers will buy your next product if you show them having fun with it, not if you send them a generic cross-sell email.

Recognize when customers know your brand but don't know your catalog. Natalie's theory about bundles performing well is that "these are people that already know about Bala" from Goop or Instagram. But knowing the brand doesn't mean knowing you make yoga mats. "Most people don't even realize we have yoga mats," Natalie admitted. "We have so much work to do." Email and SMS are where you bridge that gap—not by sending product catalogs, but by showing products in context through Balacize workouts, founder recommendations, and use case content.

Price transparency with quality validation prevents buyer's remorse. Both customers noticed premium pricing and both worried about committing to bundles as first purchases. But after receiving products, both forgot about the price because quality exceeded expectations. Saf's mom even commented on how nice the bands felt. Close-up shots of materials on PDPs would have validated quality before purchase. When customers can see luxury in product photography, premium pricing becomes expected rather than questioned.

Frequency matters more than polish in post-purchase engagement. Neither customer needed beautifully designed emails reminding them to work out. They needed someone to text them "Put your Bangles on for drop-off today" or "Here's a 10-minute workout for this week." Natalie immediately recognized this: "A plain text email from me saying here's my best tips on how to remember to use your products." Polish doesn't build habits. Presence does. Show up consistently in their inbox with low-friction, high-value touches, and they'll stay engaged with your products.

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