In today’s crowded digital landscape, astrology platforms compete not only for app downloads but also for sustained, meaningful engagement with their audiences. CHANI, created and run by Sonya Passi and astrologer and author Chani Nicholas (pictured above), has emerged as a standout. CHANI offers more than an app—it’s a carefully crafted brand with a distinct tone of voice, values it wears on its sleeve, a large email newsletter, and a popular e-commerce store, offering its community curated products that deepen their connection to astrology.
As Sabra Mohamed, CHANI’s Director of Marketing, explains, the magic of CHANI isn’t only in the stars—it’s in the intentional and radically authentic way the brand uses marketing to build a loyal audience. Below, Sabra shares insights on crafting resonant marketing messages, how CHANI approaches the holiday shopping season, and how the brand brings its values to life in every email.
What’s the role of content marketing at CHANI?
Content marketing is the backbone of our brand. We’ve only recently started dabbling in paid media, so our content marketing machine, from email marketing and Mailchimp to our social media, has so far been organic, which returns a better ROI.
We have multiple channels: a content-rich app that people subscribe to and pay for, an email newsletter, an e-commerce store, the content on our website, and our podcast. We’re always trying to figure out a fair balance between them. For instance, if someone is an app subscriber, what are we giving them in our newsletter that keeps them opening and feeling enriched? There also needs to be a balance between campaigns that are selling products and campaigns that share rich content.
How do you measure the success of your email marketing in particular?
For us, 50% is a signal that we're doing something right. With anything under a 50% open rate, we know we can do better. Our open rates are well above industry standards because we’re heavily invested in keeping them that way. But we’re a proactive company and we don’t wait for things to get bad. Whenever we see a small drop-off, we’re always thinking: How can we reimagine the content and value we’re providing our audience? What can we do to keep them engaged?
Do you experiment with send times?
Yes, this is something we’ve thought about more as our audience has grown globally. We have subscribers on the east and west coasts of America, in Europe, Australia and beyond. So what is a fair time to send our emails in order to try and keep it above that 50% open rate? We always look at the recommendations of Mailchimp’s Send Time Optimization, which is a tool we’ve used since it launched.
"This year’s campaign earned a 110% increase in revenue compared to last year, so our strategy of nurturing and giving something for free has already resulted in great returns organically."
How do you approach your different audience segments?
We don’t always want to put a hierarchy between subscribers that have and haven’t been able to purchase or invest in us. A subscriber that’s never financially invested in our brand is almost as valuable as those who have, because of word of mouth, the power of recommendations, and how they can help us grow. The people who love our content and advocate for our brand hold just as much value to us.
Someone might not be able to afford what we’re selling today, but if you keep them enticed, we’ll be the first brand they think of when they are able to afford it. There will be a time, such as the holiday season, when we have an audience that has been so nurtured for the other three quarters of the year, that when we do start becoming a bit more heavy handed with promotions, they don't disengage. If anything, they’ll lean in and they purchase.
What other strategies are you using as we head into the holidays?
Right now we’re thinking about all the people who have never shopped with us. One of the campaigns we sent out recently was to give away our digital 2024 Astro Planner—for free. By the time it’s September, the planner starts to lose its value because it’s an annual product. So our strategy was: How can we give abundantly so that our audience can abundantly give back to us? Let’s give people a sample of what they can have with us next year. And let’s capture some emails and data on first-time customers.
The campaign was wildly successful. Sixty percent of them were first-time purchasers. Tens of thousands of people who had never actually purchased with us were now able to taste our products. This set us up for when we subsequently released our 2025 Astro Planner this month. This year’s campaign earned a 110% increase in revenue compared to last year, so our strategy of nurturing and giving something for free has already resulted in great returns organically.
Finally, how do you approach Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
The promotions and deals that we give during the Black Friday period we won’t give outside of that period. Shoppers are as smart as ever. People have become wary of what a Black Friday deal is and if it’s actually good. So one of our strategies is that the deal we reserve for Black Friday won’t be repeated throughout the year. It’s unique to that period and only that period. You have to be true to your word. If you say “This is going to be the biggest deal of the year” then it has to be the biggest deal of the year.
Every time that we plan for this holiday season, we're also setting ourselves up for next year. We’re not just looking at bringing in the maximum this year despite how much it might damage our brand. Longevity is very vital. Keeping an honest relationship with our audience is really important. If you deceive your audience to meet margins this year, you will burn yourself next year.
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- The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent those of Intuit Mailchimp or any of its cornerstone brands or employees.
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