Stefan Stefanov

Making magic happen through Email 🦅👁️

You know retention should be a growth engine.
But instead, it’s mostly a source of stress.

👉 If you’re an agency, you’re juggling more accounts - but the systems behind them are patched together and breaking.
👉 If you’re a brand, in-house retention sounds smart… until you’re buried in clunky ESPs, missing data, and slow handoffs.
👉 Or maybe you're running retention - but something feels off. Results are flat. Ops are messy. Team’s flying blind.

You’re not alone. And the pain is real.

Fragmented flows.
Campaigns delayed.
No clear ownership.
And every “quick fix” breaks something else.

You know it could run smoother. Perform better. Without the constant drag.

Now imagine this:

✅ Your lifecycle automations just work - logic is tight, handoffs are seamless
✅ Campaigns go out on time, on brand, without bugs or bottlenecks
✅ Your team knows what to do, and when - without Slack chaos or last-minute scrambles
✅ Strategy, tech, and execution are finally aligned

That’s what I help agencies and brands build:

→ Retention systems that grow without fires
→ Flawless backend ops across email, SMS, and CRM
→ Consulting that turns scattered teams into calm executors

Whether you need a deep audit, help structuring your in-house retention ops, or a partner who knows what “done right” really looks like:

Send me a DM.
Let’s make retention flow again.

Email Production Manager

Looking for a rockstar email designer.

Would love and highly appreciate your recs or if you are one, just drop me a comment below with your portfolio.

I'm pretty sure you'll love the environment and culture in the place that's recruiting.

Retention systems that run without you | Precision-built ops for growing teams | C.E.G. (Certified Email Geek)

Most people join an agency and wait to be told what to do.

Smart people do the opposite:
They build 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 inside the agency.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁.

Here’s how that actually looks:

𝟭. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼-𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.
Don’t wait for a brief to be perfect. Ask the right questions. Chase down the missing context. Own the clarity.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲.
See a gap in process? Fix it. Notice a pattern in client feedback? Flag it. If no one’s going to hand you permission to lead - take it.

𝟯. 𝗡𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁.
Clients can be vague. Timelines shift. But your job? Deliver great work anyway. Find a way. Be the steady one on the team.

This isn’t about being a hero.
It’s about being a professional.

Especially in Q4 - when speed is high, stakes are higher, and no one has time to babysit.

Want to stand out this season?
Act like the owner before you are one.

Most BFCM inboxes look like a shouting contest.

Everyone pushes louder discounts.
Bigger numbers.
Harder urgency.

But clarity still wins.

What does clarity look like?
- One offer, explained simply
- Clean hierarchy in emails
- Product feed that actually matches the sale
- Disclaimers aligned everywhere
- Codes that work
- Consistent messaging between banner, email, LP, popup

Clarity cuts through noise.
Confusion kills conversions.

If your customer has to think for 3 seconds to understand the offer…
you’ve already lost them.

During BFCM, clarity is a competitive advantage.

#BFCM #ecommerce #marketing #retention

Now is not the time to test.

BFCM is game time. You don’t run experiments during the playoffs.

So stop trying to “learn” right now.
Start applying what you already know works.

✅ Review your test archive.
✅ Double down on top performers.
✅ Tighten execution and QA.

Your edge this week isn’t from discovery.
It’s from discipline.

Play the hits.
Monitor tight.
Stay calm.

Then test again after Q4.

What would you not test this week - even if you wanted to?

The moment BFCM ends, your retention begins.

Customers who bought during BFCM are different from regular buyers:
- They’re offer-driven
- They’re time-sensitive
- They’re browsing multiple brands
- And they often bought without deep product familiarity

If you wait weeks to re-engage them… you lose them to whatever brand nurtures them first.

Your retention strategy must start immediately:
- Post-purchase flows updated with non-discount messaging
- Education content to reduce returns
- How-to-use guidance
- Cross-sell logic
- Delivery updates
- Satisfaction checkpoints

You don’t retain BFCM customers by sending them another offer.
You retain them by onboarding them better than your competitors.

Retention isn’t a department.
It’s a continuation of BFCM.

The 3 Vital Signs of BFCM Health

🫀 Heartbeat: Approval speed
🫁 Breathing: Stable segmentation
🧠 Nervous system: Deliverability

If any one of these goes unstable, the whole body breaks.

Which vital sign does your team struggle with?

There are three myths that break more BFCM plans than anything else:

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟭: “𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 - 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗕𝗙𝗖𝗠.”
No.
Send strategically.
Use segmentation and exclusions.
Use resends, not spam.

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟮: “𝗪𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.”
Later is where deliverability dies.
Every last-minute change creates a ripple effect through segmentation, flows, codes, disclaimers, popups.

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟯: “𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 - 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗽 𝗤𝗔.”
One email destroys trust faster than 30 great ones.
QA is non-negotiable during BFCM.

The biggest performance boost you’ll get this year?
Killing these myths.

What’s the worst BFCM myth you've seen brands fall for?

BIG Disclaimer: 𝘙𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

Every BFCM, there’s always one moment where someone tries to save the day with a last-minute idea.

A heroic resend.
A “small copy tweak.”
A discount change because “our competitor just launched 30%.”
A popup update 10 minutes before launch.

Heroics feel productive.
But they break systems.

The best BFCM teams don’t rely on last-minute brilliance.
They rely on preparation, ownership, QA, and calm execution.

Our internal rule is simple:
No heroics.
Just systems.

If something feels urgent enough to require heroics, the process already failed upstream:
- The brief wasn’t clear
- The timeline wasn’t respected
- The escalation path wasn’t used
- The offer wasn’t finalized on time

Heroics fix symptoms.
Systems eliminate them.

And the calm operator always chooses systems.

A half-used process is a burden.

Not a system.

That little section in the task no one fills out?
That tag no one checks?
That SOP step everyone skips?

Dead weight.

If it’s not being used, it’s not helping.
It’s slowing you down.

Every part of your workflow should serve a purpose - and if it doesn’t, cut it or fix it.

Revisit. Revise. Optimize.
Processes aren’t set-and-forget.
They’re a work in progress. Always.

Do you have a system to make sure you're system is up-do-date?

“The 4 Signals of a Healthy Inbox”

1. Consistency → One offer = same messaging everywhere
2. Relevance → Segments filtered, not blasted
3. Restraint → Controlled resends, no panic sends
4. QA → Discounts, LPs, feeds, timestamps aligned

If these 4 are clean, deliverability follows.

Which signal does your team struggle with most?

Freelancing can be quite fun actually.

Check the first comment for the Freelance Navigator I created - it can help you brainstorm your way through it :)

🔄 Преминот помеѓу фриленсинг и претприемништво ретко е праволиниски. Често носи пресврти, повторни почетоци и нови предизвици – но токму тие промени создаваат простор за раст. Во разговорот со Stefan Stefanov и Milan Savov се истакна токму тоа: и двата патишта бараат храброст, дисциплина и јасна лична структура.

Стефан зборуваше за редовни самопроверки, градење системи и „value first“ пристапот, но и за улогата на фриленс навигаторот – пристап што му помага на фриленсерот да ја разбере сопствената вредност, подобро да ги уреди процесите и посмело да се позиционира на пазарот. Од друга страна, приказната на Милан покажува колку мрежата, учењето и конзистентноста се клучни кога се преминува од индивидуални проекти кон сопствен бизнис.

Патиштата се различни, но пораката е иста: вложувањето во себе, градењето бренд и храброста да се направи следниот чекор ја отвораат вратата кон нови можности. 🚀

👉 Доколку сакате да го испробате фриленс навигаторот, линкот ќе го најдете во коментар.

No Limit Email

Email marketing can be confusing...

You have to write the email, create a killer subject line and then hope that your customer will open it up. And even if they do, you don't know if they'll click on any of the links inside or buy anything from there. 

Our clients love us because we help DTC brands grow their business with smarter emails that are relevant, targeted and deliver higher conversion rates. 

All while building a healthy long-term relationship with their customers so they can turn fence-sitters into buyers and buyers into fanatics who keep coming back for more!

Co-Founder

AMZ Listing Masters

Co-founder of AMZ Listing Masters based in San Diego. We help e-commerce brands who need high converting sales copy that is SEO optimized for Amazon.

Bilzar

WHAT I DO: Help entrepreneurs, e-commerce owners, and brand owners build and launch their products online through their online stores and Amazon.com. Educating business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs with the keys to successful launches, smarter marketing, and direct-response & results-based advertising.

WHAT OTHERS SAY: "I know I thanked you on the phone, but THANKS! All this stuff you are sending through is so good and exactly what we need to be doing. I can't thank you enough. It gives me great confidence knowing I have you on my side" - Joel Smith

"Michael and his team have been invaluable to our brand success and I continue to put my trust and faith in his work" - Andrew Bryden 

WHO WE SERVE: 
- Startups
- Kickstarter Projects
- Established Brands
- Small Business Owners

👉  My work with one skincare client increased sales by 926% and conversion rates well above 20%+ within 6 months! By month 6 we hit $187k/mo in revenue.

👉 With another client, we launched 2 brands with 8 products all at one time hitting $63k in revenue by month 2 with a 345% increase in traffic to their products.

Amazon Consultant

What do Unilever, Carnivore Snax, Dēpology & 120+ other 7-8 figure ecommerce brands have in common?

They all use No Limit Email to increase profit and improve cashflow.

Why?

Unlike other agencies and internal teams, we deliver more than Email and SMS marketing, we focus on your profit, and what matters most, your cashflow:

-  Access a team of eCom strategists, copywriters and designers to ensure your project is successful.

- Include Email, SMS, Direct Mail & Push Notifications Into Your Strategy Wholistically to drive repeat revenue.

- Track your retention metrics like LTV:CAC, cohort sales, cohort churn, new customer repurchase rate and time between purchases.

Want to see how much better the NoLimit approach performs?

See Our Case Studies: https://www.nolimitemail.com/.

Your 2 options after reading this:

1- Continue with your current email team that only cares about their own metrics & ‘30% of revenue’ - that’s a myth.

2- Try 1 free audit with us, and see how much profit you’re missing out on.

The best way to reach me is via email (mike@nolimitemail.com).

Or

DMing me ‘ROADMAP’ via Linkedin messages.

Michael Galvin

The smartest $20M+ e-com founders use these tactics to reduce subscription churn. 
 
I've spent 6 months putting our churn strategy into one doc.
 
Inside you'll find:
 
- How to track subscription revenue and customer behaviors
- Why subscribers leave (the real reasons)
- Creating an email strategy to keep subscribers engaged
- Must-have email flows to reduce churn
- Tracking and improving your churn-reduction campaigns
 
Want it?

Connect with me and comment "CHURN" down below and I'll send it to you.

Email Marketing for 8-Figure eCom Brands | Clients include: Unilever, Carnivore Snax, Dēpology & 120+ more brands.

When you’ve designed 1500+ pop-ups for 120+ brands over the last 5 years.

It’s easy to spot which ones generate the most leads & which ones underperform.

So I spent 2+ weeks creating a “Profit Boosting Pop-up Playbook” (worth $2,000+).

It covers EVERYTHING there is to know about creating high performing pop-ups from scratch.

Every detail. Every nuance. Every secret strategy that most gurus try to hide.

Want access?

1. Connect with me
2. Like this post
3. Comment “SEND”

I’ll then send this over to you.

P.S - Reposts get priority sending

JSESSIONID

(10) David Combrinck | LinkedIn

li_at

Profile Not Found | LinkedIn

Talks about #klaviyo, #ecommerce, #retention, and #emailmarketingstrategy

Email bros told us we'd get marked as spam.

"You'll destroy your deliverability!"
 "People will unsubscribe!"
 "You need to space them out!"

We tested it anyway across 40+ brands.

Sent 2 emails within the first 24 hours of someone signing up.

Here's what actually happened:
✅ Placed orders: UP 15-20%
✅ Click rates: UP 2-5%
✅ Revenue per recipient: UP 30-50%

❌ Unsubscribe rate: No change
❌ Spam complaints: No change
❌ Deliverability: No change

Why does this work?

Because when someone signs up, they're saying:

"I'm interested. I want to hear from you."

They're HOT.

Sending them 1 email and then waiting a day is like:
A customer walks into your store
You say "hello"
Then you ignore them for 24 hours

Makes zero sense.

Your competitor who sends 2 emails gets more impressions.

Stays more top of mind.

Has more opportunities to make their case.

And wins the sale.

The lesson?

Stop listening to "best practices" from people who don't look at data.

A single welcome flow optimization generated $82k in just 72 hours for a client.

During a client audit, we discovered their welcome sequence was treating all subscribers identically.
Regardless of their their intent, they were all receiving the exact same email journey.

This was leaving serious money on the table.

So our team implemented zero-party data capture at the point of signup.

Then we built distinct email paths - each tailored to specific customer behaviors and purchase intent.

Every segment received messaging that actually matched where they were in their buying journey.

We also refined the timing to hit inboxes when engagement peaks.

The results after 72 hours:
Original flow: $44k
Optimized flow: $82k

That's an 86% lift in revenue.

The lesson?

Generic email sequences leave money on the table.

When you personalize the experience based on actual customer data, people respond.

They engage more. 
They trust faster. 
They actually buy.

Treat different customers differently.

The data tells you what they need - use it.

graphical user interface, application, Word

Your email campaigns are targeting the wrong people.
 
Most brands send campaigns to everyone.
 
Big mistake.
 
Here's who actually buys from campaigns:
 
- 80% existing customers
- 20% new subscribers
 
Yet most campaigns are written for new prospects not repeat customers.
 
So remember:
 
Segment your campaigns effectively. 
 
Repeat customer campaigns: New products, restocks, up-selling.
Prospect campaigns: Educational, show social proof, first-purchase incentives
 
Different audiences need different messages.
 
Stop treating them the same.

Everyone thinks retention marketing is:

"Send more emails and SMS."

That's not retention marketing.

That's like throwing paint at the wall and hoping it makes a Banksy.

Real retention marketing is:
1. Zero party data → Understand your customers
2. Qualitative research → Know their pain points
3. Personalized journeys → Speak to their needs
4. Product adoption → Help them succeed
5. Community building → Create belonging
6. UGC → Amplify social proof
7. Proactive support → Eliminate friction
8. Feedback loops → Improve continuously

Email and SMS are just the delivery mechanism.

The strategy is everything else.

We work with brands doing $5M-$50M/year.

The ones who grow?

They don't just send more emails.

They build retention frameworks that touch every part of the business:
- Acquisition (better targeting)
- CRO (better product pages)
- Support (fewer tickets)
- Product (better development)
- Community (more advocacy)

Email drives 30% of revenue.

But retention thinking drives 100% of growth.

Stop thinking in channels.
Start thinking in systems.

Avoiding spam is EASY. This is literally all you NEED to:

1. Segmenting by inbox provider - Separate your lists by Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other providers. Each has different filtering algorithms, so tailoring your approach improves deliverability across the board.

2. Dedicated sending domain - Use a separate domain or subdomain specifically for email campaigns. This protects your main domain's reputation and gives you better control over your sender score.

3. Email authentication - Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records properly. These protocols verify you're a legitimate sender and significantly reduce the chance of your emails being flagged as spam.

4. Exclusion segments - Create lists of unengaged subscribers, hard bounces, and spam complainers. Regularly exclude these contacts to maintain a healthy sender reputation.

5. Inbox placement - Monitor where your emails actually land using seed testing tools. Track whether you're hitting the inbox, promotions tab, or spam folder, and adjust accordingly.

6. Segmentation - Divide your audience based on behavior, preferences, and engagement levels. Sending relevant content to specific groups dramatically improves open rates and reduces spam complaints.

7. List growth - Focus on quality over quantity. Use double opt-in, avoid purchased lists, and ensure subscribers genuinely want to hear from you. Clean growth = better deliverability.

8. Campaigns - Test subject lines, preview text, and content before sending. Avoid spam trigger words, maintain a healthy text-to-image ratio, and always include an easy unsubscribe option.

9. Blacklists - Regularly check if your domain or IP is on any email blacklists using tools like MXToolbox. If you're listed, take immediate action to get removed and fix the underlying issue.

10. Iteration - Continuously analyze your metrics (open rates, click rates, bounces, complaints). A/B test everything and refine your strategy based on real performance data.

11. Flows - Set up automated email sequences that respond to user behavior. Well-timed, relevant automated emails have higher engagement and lower spam complaints than batch-and-blast campaigns.

Just do this and you'll raise your deliverability score and see all important value metrics go up. Don't believe me? 

Then try it...

The most successful brands are breaking a fundamental email marketing rule.
 
They're sending MORE emails in their welcome flows.
 
Not less.
 
While most brands stick to the "wait 1 day between emails" rule, top performers are challenging this best practice by sending 2-3 emails on day zero.
 
Here's why this works:
 
90% of purchases happen in the first 48 hours.
 
When someone signs up for your email list, they're in buying mode.
 
They're actively making a purchase decision.
 
If you wait too long between emails, competitors who send more frequently will stay top of mind.
 
The data doesn't lie:
 
• More emails = more clicks 
• More clicks = more sales
• Zero increase in unsubscribes or spam complaints
 
Most email advice is based on fear, not data.
 
"Don't send too many emails or people will unsubscribe!"
 
But the brands generating millions from email?
 
They're testing everything.
 
And the results speak for themselves.
 
Stop following outdated rules.
Start testing what actually works.
 
Your welcome flow could be your biggest revenue driver if you let it.

Free tools I recommend for anyone wanting to improve email deliverability. 
(And some other paid tools, that really up the game): 

1. Gmass - test if emails go to promotions, updates or spam in Gmail
2. Mail-Tester - tests if you’re blacklisted or hitting spam 
3. MxToolBox - Check your DMARC and SPF for DKIM

Paid tool that also BOOST results: 

GlockApps - 3 powerful tools in one, goes into greater detail than any of the freebies. 
Post Pilot - Direct mail marketing platform that adds flare to your e-commerce messaging.

Got any others you'd recommend?

You’ll regret every day you haven’t used this Email sequence.

I recently used it with a client to double their sales. 

Read, digest and implement this ASAP: 

Gain 
Logic 
Fear Sequence 

It works well in lots of places, but it’ll supercharge your welcome flow. 

📧 Email 1: Tapping into gain 

This is all about the benefits/features your customers get. 

Subject line examples: 

- The quick and easy way to [get a benefit]
- The secret to getting [a benefit/s]
- The truth about [topic or benefit]
- Here’s how to get [a benefit]
- Want [a benefit] read this...

📧 Email 2: Appeal to logic 

This is about showing: it makes sense to get your products and stupid not to.

Subject line examples: 

- It’s not your fault
- Now it all makes sense
- Why you can’t get [a benefit]
- Does this make any sense to you?
- The surprising reason you’re still [getting bad results]

📧 Email 3: Triggering fear 

This is about speaking into the despair of life now compared to what it could be or what they stand to lose.


Subject line examples:

- It’s a scary thought…
- You probably don’t even want to think about this
- Imagine [getting some undesired result]
- Don’t let [bad thing] happen to you…
- Warning: You’re in danger of [bad thing happening]

Want more email templates like this? 

Then follow me for more...

5% monthly churn sounds small.

Until you do the math.

That's $100K lost revenue every month on $2M subscriptions.

But here's what we discovered:

The biggest predictor of churn isn't price.

It's not competition.
It's not even product quality.
It's frequency updates.

When subscribers reduce their delivery frequency, they're not being practical.

They're telling you they have too much product.

Which means they're not using it.
Which means they don't see value.
Which means they're about to cancel.

The solution?

Don't wait for the cancellation.

Build flows triggered by frequency changes.

 Focus on product usage, not discounts.

Save them before they're gone.

Everyone asks: "How many emails should I send per week?"

Wrong question.

The right question: "How many GOOD emails can I create per week?"

We have clients sending:
2 emails per week
5 emails per week
10 emails per week

All profitable.

The difference isn't frequency.

It's quality and relevance.

Bad emails at any frequency = unsubscribes.
Good emails at high frequency = more revenue.

The lesson?

Don't ask "how many emails?"
Ask "how good are my emails?"

Then optimize your flows so you can capitalize on the "good" ones and make them great.

A client came to me with 2 questions about a subscription conversion campaign.

Here's what they asked and why my answers might surprise you:

Question 1: "Should we only send this to customers who purchased 60+ days ago?"

My answer: No.

Send it to all one-time buyers engaged in the past 120 days (excluding current subscribers).

Here's why:
The majority of repurchases happen within 15-30 days.

That's your golden window.

For replenishable products like supplements and skincare, customers often repurchase before they need to replenish.

They experience early positive results and want to lock in their supply.

Wait 60 days?

You've already lost most of your conversion opportunity.

By then, customers have either:
Established a one-time buying pattern
Churned entirely
Forgotten about your product

Customers are most likely to subscribe during the honeymoon phase.

When they're excited, engaged, and seeing results.

Not 2 months later when the novelty has worn off.

Waiting 60 days means missing 80% of your retention leverage.

Cast the widest net to engaged one-time buyers.

Let engagement and product experience determine conversion.

Not arbitrary time restrictions.

Question 2: "We offer 16% savings on subscriptions. Should we add an extra 20% off the first order?"

My answer: Skip the extra discount.

Here's why:
Adding a first-order discount attracts deal seekers who churn before their second billing cycle.

You'll see inflated subscription signups but terrible retention metrics.

These aren't real subscribers.

They're one-time buyers gaming the system for a deeper discount.

You're already offering 16% savings.

Stack another 20% on top?

That's 36% margin erosion on the first order.

Unsustainable.

When you lead with aggressive discounting, you train customers that subscriptions equal bigger discounts.

Rather than subscriptions equal convenience, consistency, and value.

If you want to incentivize first orders, use competition-based urgency instead.

"We're refunding 5 people who subscribe this month."

Give them a chance to win something valuable.

Don't devalue the product itself.

The 16% recurring savings is the offer.

It's compelling enough when paired with convenience messaging:
Never run out
Lock in your supply
Automatic delivery on your schedule

Let the product experience and convenience drive retention.

Not artificial discounts.

The bottom line?

Sell the subscription on its actual value.

Discount stacking attracts the wrong customers and undermines long-term subscriber lifetime value.

Your campaign segmentation is costing you 22% in revenue.

Stop treating all segments equally.

Most brands spread their efforts thin.

Sending to every segment they can think of.

VIP customers.
Low-value buyers.
Product-specific lists.
Geographic splits.

But here's what the data shows:

80-90% of campaign purchases come from existing customers who already know your brand.

They're not buying because of your segmentation.
They're buying because you reminded them you exist.

So here's the framework that works:

Core Segments (use for 80% of campaigns):

Engaged Subscribers
Opened or clicked in last 90-180 days
Split only by: Prospects vs Customers

Send 3-4 campaigns per week to this group.

Secondary Segments (use for 20% of campaigns):

Window Shoppers
Active on site but no purchase

Win back Opportunities
Purchased 30-90 days ago, nothing since

Send 1-2 targeted campaigns per month to these.

Why this works:

Your core segment gets maximum impressions.
You maintain consistent frequency.
Your team can focus on quality over variations.

You're not leaving revenue on the table chasing tiny segments.

The main benefit?

Go from strategic over-segmenting to hyper-segmented campaigns.

Same team.
Same effort.
Better results.

Stop over-segmenting.

That's where the money is.

If I could only do 5 things to drive email revenue:
 
1. Collect zero party data in my popups
2. Segment subscribers based on responses
3. Send relevant emails to each segment
4. Drive clicks to optimized product pages
5. Measure sign-up-to-conversion rates
 
That's it. 
 
Then I would test...everything to increase my value driven metrics on all 5 fronts.

When you've been running email marketing flows for over 5 years, it's easy to differentiate the WINNING email strategies from the underperforming ones. Here's a big mistake I see brands making now...

Brands are pumping out AI-generated emails at scale, and their engagement is tanking. 

Opens are down. 
Clicks are down. 
Unsubscribes are up.

People are treating AI like a finished product instead of a starting point. They generate an email, do a quick skim, and hit send. The result is generic content that sounds robotic. 

What's missing:
Real customer problems that your product actually solves
Specific language your audience uses when they talk about their pain points
Personality that makes your brand recognizable in a crowded inbox
Details that prove you understand what your subscribers are going through

AI is a tool. A good one. 

But it can't replace the work of understanding your customer and making your message about their actual problems.

Use AI to draft faster, not replace writing copy entirely.

Most teams are sitting on hours of undocumented meeting insights.

Like a lot of teams we've started using AI transcription for our meetings, and now I can't imagine life without it.

Before:
Scribbling notes while trying to stay present
"Wait, what did they say about Q4?"
Hour-long meetings = 30 mins of follow-up clarification

After:
Full presence in conversations (AI handles the documentation)
Searchable transcripts with timestamps
Instant recall of action items, decisions, and key quotes

The real power is creating a searchable knowledge base of every conversation.

Need to remember what a client said 3 weeks ago? Search it.
Want to onboard a new team member? Share the transcript.
Disputed decision? Pull up the exact quote.

AI transcription has turned our meetings from fleeting conversations into permanent institutional knowledge. 

We're not just recording what happened anymore. We're building a system where nothing gets lost.

This is how AI actually helps teams work better. Not by replacing humans, but by capturing the insights we'd otherwise forget.

What tools have fundamentally changed how your team operates?

AI will change how we do email marketing, but not in the way you think.

Everyone's obsessed with AI writing their emails.

But here's what I learned after working with 200+ eCommerce brands:

AI won't replace email marketers.
It will expose the lazy ones.

What AI WON'T do:
Understand your customer's real pain points
Know why someone actually buys from you
Build genuine relationships with your audience
Create strategy based on your business goals

What AI WILL do:
Make bad marketers faster at being bad
Help great marketers 2x their output
Eliminate the excuse of "I don't have time"
Give you time to focus on what actually matters

AI will improve efficiency.

Your copywriter who could write 10 emails a day can now write 20.
Your designer who took hours on hero images can now do them in seconds.

But here's the catch:

You still need someone who knows:
What to test?
Why it matters?
How to interpret the data?
When to break the rules?

AI is a tool, not a strategy.

And if you're using it to avoid doing the hard work of understanding your customers?

You're behind. 

The brands winning in 2025 aren't the ones using the most AI.
They're the ones using AI to amplify their expertise.

What's your take on AI in email marketing?

Forget open rates. Here's a metric that actually matters:

Time to first purchase.

We analyzed 38 brands over 12 months:
 • 70%+ of conversions happen on Day 0
 • 90%+ happen within 2-3 days
 • After 7 days? Less than 5% conversion rate

Yet most brands treat all subscribers the same.

Here's what winners do differently:

They front-load everything.

More emails in the first 2-3 days.
Better offers upfront.
Stronger messaging early.

Because after Day 7?

You've basically lost them.

The data is clear:

If they don't buy in the first 2-3 days, they probably never will.

Stop spreading your emails out. Stop being conservative.

Hit them when intent is highest.

Email marketing isn't just a revenue channel.

Here are 5 strategic roles it should play:

1. Application Education Platform

 Teach customers how to use your product correctly in the first 48 hours.

 Application success = Revenue success.

2. Confidence-Building Channel

 Show before/afters, customer stories, and real results.

 Visual proof drives conversions.

3. Replenishment Revenue Driver

 Track usage patterns and send timely reminders.

 Precise timing creates subscription opportunities.

4. Cross-Sell Engine

 Use data to guide the product journey.

 Let retention rates show you which products to promote next.

5. Seasonal Momentum Creator

 Create revenue peaks year-round with strategic messaging.

 Even "seasonal" businesses can drive consistent revenue.

Stop thinking of email as just revenue engine.

Because it should also be your retention infrastructure.

Traditional marketing teaches buyers to look for "20% off", "Buy 1 get 1 Free" and other offers.

Strategic marketing teaches consumers: "Here's why it works. Here's how to use it. Here's proof."

One trains discount buyers.
 The other builds brand believers.

Which one are you doing?

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