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FROM $9K TO $800K/MONTH: BUILDING SINTRA AI’S RETENTION ENGINE FROM SCRATCH

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FROM $9K TO $800K/MONTH: BUILDING SINTRA AI’S RETENTION ENGINE FROM SCRATCH

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CHRIS S., ALEX U.

​Founder, Chief Strategist
Sintra AI

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With Thrivelia, I realized that email is not even a question that I need to think about because Trayan is handling it all perfectly. You guys make awesome designs, you write good copy, and the communication is top-notch!

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Sintra AI equips busy professionals with 12 dedicated GPTs. These AI helpers handle specific tasks like outreach, writing, or operations so their users can automate more, stress less, and scale their output. What began as a Shopify store selling prompt packs became a fast-scaling SaaS with over $2M in ARR and a community-led brand identity.


Thrivelia was brought in at ground zero. Sintra had no retention stack, flows, pop-ups, or real owned channel presence. In just four months, we built their lifecycle from scratch, growing their email and SMS performance from under $10K/month to over $800k/month.

THE CHALLENGE

When Sintra came to us in October 2023, email was driving just $9K/month. They had no flows, no structured lead capture, and no messaging across the user lifecycle. Meta ads were the only growth lever, and their campaign frequency was nonexistent.

But the real challenge lay in the product transition. Sintra was evolving from a one-time prompt store into a complex AI SaaS product with 12 GPTs and a recurring model. That meant we had to:

  • Map out every possible user action and in-product behaviour.

  • Design lifecycle flows for acquisition, onboarding, usage, upsell, and retention.

  • Support a rapidly evolving roadmap while improving activation and churn.

    Build email and SMS into a reliable, scalable revenue channel under tight timelines.


We weren’t just working with a retention stack. We were designing one in real time, alongside product and brand evolution.

THE SOLUTION

Phase 1: Foundation and Warmup

 

  • Built welcome flows for prompt buyers and Zapier/Make automators
Created a zero-party data (ZPD) pop-up that converted at 15% with a 20 free prompt giveaway

  • Delivered segmentation, warming campaigns, and abandonment flows pre-SaaS transition

  • Created logic: 

    • Prompt seekers → Sintra Plus 

    • Automation seekers → Sintra Max

    • Sintra Plus → Sintra Max

  • Improved Trustpilot Reviews from 2.7 to 4.6, boosting their social credibility 

  • Implemented site, browse, cart, and checkout abandonment flows (Shopify and Stripe)

  • This gave Sintra a stable channel to build anticipation for the Sintra 2.0 software relaunch.

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Phase 2: SaaS Launch and Lifecycle Engine


When Sintra launched its new product in June 2024—with 12 GPTs as AI assistants—we transformed their lifecycle into a SaaS revenue machine.

Key Components of the Launch and Lifecycle:

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A 25-Email Campaign Launch Sequence

  • Included social proof, feature education, founder storytelling, and urgency campaign

  • Highlighted individual GPTs like “Soshie” and “Cassie

  • Used side-by-side comparison frameworks, productivity timelines, and transformation hook

  • Top performer: “Your Helpers Are Waiting,” driving over $3.5K from 23K recipients

 

​Flow Infrastructure

  • Sintra 2.0 Welcome (Email and SMS)

  • Product-specific post-purchase onboarding for each GPT

  • Cart, browse, and checkout abandonment (Shopify and Stripe)

  • Waitlist nurture, hype, and launch-day flows

  • Cancellation and churn recovery (monthly and annual)

  • Winback flows for lapsed GPT users

  • Activation journeys triggered by behavior or GPT inactivity

Review capture, profile completion, and community engagement flows

Upsell and Retention Logic

  • From one-time prompt buyers to monthly SaaS users

  • From one GPT to multiple, with upgrade prompts and annual plan offers

  • Re-engagement for inactive users and partial activators

  • Behavioral segmentation across flows and campaigns


Messaging Strategy

  • Weekly campaigns including “Day in the Life” use cases, founder insights, and productivity framework

  • Split campaigns for power users vs first-time testers

  • Long-tail nurture campaigns for inactive trial users


Campaign Strategy Post Launch:

  • "Sintra X" series with 6–10% click-through rates

  • “Ease of Use” educational series

  • Side-by-side use case comparisons

  • Founder-led storytelling and POV

  • Launches, early bird offers, and upgrade CTAs

  • “What this GPT does for you” explainers

  • Holiday promos (BFCM, Christmas, Cyber Monday) driving 5–7 figures in revenue


     

We weren’t just writing emails. We were designing how users would think, feel, and act inside a new product category.

 THE RESULTS 

Email and SMS revenue scaled to over $800,000/month, up from $9,000/month

Email + SMS responsible for 30%+ of ARR

$500,000 SaaS relaunch in June 2024, with lifecycle-led warmup and conversion

$3M+ Black Friday sales, with 50%+ attributed to email/SMS

Pop-up conversion: 15.2% submission rate

Top campaign CTRs up to 7.4%, some as high as 28.7%

Lifecycle built across 30+ targeted flows, with self-profiling logic

THE RELATIONSHIP

Although we were external contractors, Thrivelia treated this project like a strategic partner from day one. We helped shape Sintra’s positioning, advised on founder communications, co-developed lifecycle experiments, and played a central role in how their new SaaS platform was marketed and retained.

From October 2023 to February 2025, we were there through every growth phase and played a key role in making retention one of Sintra’s strongest revenue levers.

READY TO TAKE THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

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