Shoot Plan + Scripts

If you're dumb enough to pay $3, $4, $5,000 a month for email marketing — well, just take that money and donate it to a good cause, because you are not seeing any observable ROI on that premium price. And I'll explain to you exactly why. And when I say you're dumb, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm sure you're a great person, and I love you very much. You're just a little bit dumb.

In all honesty — my competitors try to convince you that you need 25 automated flows set up, and all of your emails need to be like the Mona Lisa in order to convert, and a bunch of other little things that don't actually make you money — to convince you to pay a premium price, only for you to not see any real growth and have a lackluster experience. And not only that, you overcommit to a 90-day or six-month contract. Why? Because they only convince so many people to pay that rate in the first place — now they need to make sure they profit off of you in the long run.

Case in point: we get better results than these agencies at a much lower cost and commitment from you. No brand pays us more than $2K a month for the following scope and deliverables. We even have brands doing up to a million dollars a month, and they still aren't paying us more than $2K a month.

We'll set up a minimum of 10 flows for your e-commerce store, and we send out three campaigns a week. We track performance. We build on what's working. We split test. We handle segmentation, deliverability, and everything within the scope of email marketing. And there's nothing ambiguous about what we do or how we do it.

We guarantee Klaviyo will account for a minimum of 20% of your overall revenue within 90 days. If we don't achieve that, we will pause billing until we do. And if you're already above 20%, I'll take a look at your Klaviyo and identify a tailored metric for us to achieve for you specifically.

It's month to month. You own all the work that we do for you. And we have plenty of smart and respectful clients that you can talk to directly, if it helps you have more confidence that we are who we say we are.

If you'd like to have a Google Meet with me, Scout, and Pickle, we'll verify exactly what we can do for you — and you can really see if this is going to make sense for you. So click the link below, go to the website, give your information, and book a call. I look forward to meeting you.

If you have a Shopify brand and you're still dumb enough to pay $3,000 or $5,000 a month for an email marketing service — please stop. And when I say you're dumb, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm sure you're a great person. But that's dumb. I'm sorry. In all honesty here — let me get you out of here real quick.

My competitors try to convince you that you need 25 automated flows set up, and your campaign designs need to be like the Mona Lisa in order to convert, and a bunch of other things that don't actually make you money — to convince you to pay a premium price for the service, only to see no real growth and a lackluster experience in the end. Not only that, but you commit to a 90-day or six-month contract. Why? Well, because they only convince so many people in the first place to buy at that rate, that now they need to ensure they profit off of you even more in the long run.

Listen — case in point: we are better than these agencies. We get better results at a much lower cost and commitment. We charge no more than $2K a month for a full-scope email and SMS retention marketing service. And if you're thinking "oh, my brand does a million a month — opportunity cost" — respectfully: we have a client that did $2.3 million in the last 30 days, and they pay us $1,850 a month. That's a fact. Sorry.

We'll set up a minimum of 10 flows for your e-commerce store — there are dozens that we can and will set up for you if it's warranted. We do three campaigns a week. We can do more, we can do less — all good. We handle deliverability optimization, segmentation, Klaviyo management — everything within the scope of email and SMS retention marketing for a DTC e-commerce brand. And there is nothing ambiguous about what we do or how we do it. We've worked with brands of all shapes and sizes — big, small, we do it all. If you're doing $5 million a month, great. If you're doing $5 a month, fantastic. We're here to help.

We guarantee 20% Klaviyo attribution on a 30-day chart within 90 days. If that is not achieved within 90 days, we will stop billing — and we will not resume billing until it is achieved. And if you're already above 20% Klaviyo attribution — fantastic. I'll take a look at your Klaviyo and verify a tailored metric that we can achieve for you.

It's month to month, short cancellation notice. You own all the work that we make for you. It's no more than $2,000 a month — have I mentioned that already? Also, we have lots of amazing current clients that I will happily connect you with, if you want to verify from another source that we are who we say we are. Because we are.

If you'd like to have a one-on-one Google Meet with me, please go ahead: click this link, go to the website, provide the information, and book a one-on-one Google Meet with me at your convenience. Thank you.

HOST: What's the difference between a good email marketing agency and a bad one?

JAMES: Honestly — every e-com brand's email situation falls into one of three buckets, and anyone listening is going to know exactly which one they're in.

JAMES: About thirty percent of brands have basically no email program. There's a welcome email somebody set up two years ago. A campaign goes out when someone remembers — usually a sale announcement blasted to the entire list with a discount code, so their customers have been trained to never pay full price. Email does five percent of revenue, and the owner assumes that's just what email does.

JAMES: And honestly — no shame in that. Nobody starts a brand because they're passionate about email flows. Those owners just haven't seen what happens to their revenue when someone who lives in this stuff is actually looking after it. That bucket isn't a failure. It's just untapped.

JAMES: Then the majority — call it sixty-five percent — and this one's more complicated, because on the surface it looks great. This owner did the responsible thing: they hired a real agency. Four, five grand a month. And the agency delivered — flows got built, the designs are beautiful, Klaviyo's showing 20% of revenue, the report is gorgeous. That's genuinely a good spot to be in, and in those first months, that owner is pumped.

JAMES: But here's what happens next. The rate stays the same… and the work doesn't. All the heavy lifting — the buildout that actually created those results — happened at the start. What they're paying for now is maintenance, at buildout prices. And there's a pattern nobody talks about: every agency treats you like gold while the ink is drying. You're the priority, you get the attention, everything's fast. Then their next client signs. And their next. And you quietly become just another account. The work slows down, the attention disappears — but the invoice never does. The contract makes sure of that. And the owner feels it happening. But it's hard to walk away, because this agency did get them results once. So they keep paying five grand a month for two grand of attention.

JAMES: And most of those owners think that's simply the price of good email. It isn't. There's a better route.

JAMES: That's the third bucket — the maybe five percent who get good email at what it should actually cost. I'll just describe what it looks like with us. Week one, we go through your entire Klaviyo account and rebuild it — minimum ten flows, built for your store, not copied from a template. From there, three campaigns a week, and they're segmented — your VIPs get one message, people who haven't bought yet get a different one — so you're not burning your list with discounts. Every week we're testing and improving something, and you can see it, because the number we point to isn't a report. It's the same revenue number you look at every day.

JAMES: And here's the part our clients actually talk about the most. It's not the revenue — …okay, that's a lie, it's partly the revenue, because oddly enough we keep beating the numbers their old five-grand agencies were getting them. But the thing they really love is the attention. We are essentially always available — we've had clients genuinely ask if we ever sleep. [James: reference the real quote/feedback here]. Six months in, you get the same energy you got in week one, because nothing about our model depends on locking you in and moving on to the next client. We don't do contracts because I want clients who stay because they want to. And they do — the results are there, and they know exactly what they're paying for. Your time commitment? You approve things. We do everything else.

HOST: And the results back that up?

JAMES: I'll give you real ones. A [supplement] brand that did $2.3 million last month — they pay us $1,850. An [apparel] store we took from [X]% to [Y]% of revenue coming from email in [Z] days. A [skincare] brand that [result]. [Add a 4th if you have one — store type + specific result.] Nobody pays us more than two grand a month, at any size. No contract — month to month. And if Klaviyo isn't driving at least twenty percent of your revenue within ninety days, you stop paying us until it is. Think about what that means: I can't hide behind a contract, and I can't hide behind a report. If your revenue doesn't move, I don't get paid. Good agencies can afford to work like this. Bad ones need the contract.

JAMES: So — which bucket are you in? If you're honest with yourself and it's one of the first two, the link's below. Book a call, bring last month's numbers, and I'll show you exactly what the third bucket looks like for your store.

HOST: You've said most Shopify brands are, quote, "dumb" for what they pay for email marketing. Defend that.

JAMES: I stand by it — lovingly. We have a client who did $2.3 million last month. They pay us $1,850. Right now there are brands doing a tenth of that, paying five grand a month to another agency. Same platform. Same channel. Same work. One of those owners is being taken advantage of… and it's not mine.

HOST: Okay, but they must be getting something for five grand.

JAMES: They're getting month one. Month one is amazing — everything gets rebuilt, new flows, new designs, the report is gorgeous. Every agency treats you like gold while the ink is drying. Then month three comes… and the numbers are the same. Month four — same. And it's not always because the agency's bad at email. It's because you're not the new client anymore. Their next client signed, and the one after that — and you became just another account. The work slows down. The attention disappears. The invoice doesn't. By month six, you've stopped opening the report… but you're still opening the invoice, because you signed a six-month contract. And that contract was never about commitment. It exists because the agency knows exactly which month you'd leave.

HOST: Why does the whole industry work like that?

JAMES: Because you can't see the work. You can see your ads running. You can see your website. You cannot see whether anyone touched your flows this month. So agencies price the category — "email is important, so it's $5K" — instead of the labor. And the labor is the only part that makes you money.

HOST: And you're the exception. Every agency says that.

JAMES: Which is exactly why I don't say it — I structure it. Maximum two grand a month, ever. Same price whether you're doing fifty grand a month or two million. No contract — month to month. And if Klaviyo isn't producing at least twenty percent of your revenue within ninety days, billing stops until it is. Sit with that for a second: I don't get to hide behind a contract, and I don't get to hide behind a report. If your revenue doesn't move, I don't get paid. Find me another agency that will say that sentence out loud.

HOST: What does two grand actually get someone?

JAMES: Everything. Minimum ten flows. Three campaigns a week. Testing every single week — segmentation, deliverability, all of it handled. You own every piece of the work, so even if you leave, it keeps making you money. And you get us — actually available, actually responsive. Our clients joke that they don't know when we sleep. That's the model: I win when your list prints, and I'm betting my own invoice on it.

JAMES: So if you're paying more than two grand a month for email right now — or your email revenue has been flat for three months — you're exactly who I want on a call. Link's below. Bring last month's report. I'll show you in ten minutes what it's not telling you.