Ad Scripts — Round 2

Every e-com brand's email marketing falls into one of three buckets — and if you own a store, you're going to know exactly which one you're in.

About thirty percent of brands have basically no email program. A welcome email from two years ago, a sale blast when someone remembers — with a discount code, so your customers have been trained to never pay full price. Email does five percent of revenue, and you assume that's just what email does. No shame in that — nobody starts a brand because they're passionate about email flows. That bucket isn't a failure. It's untapped.

Then the majority — call it sixty-five percent — and this one's complicated, because on the surface it looks fine. You did the responsible thing: you hired an agency. Four, five grand a month. And they delivered — at first. But every agency treats you like gold while the ink is drying. Then their next client signs, and their next, and you quietly become just another account. The work slows down. The attention disappears. The invoice doesn't. So now you're paying five grand a month for two grand of attention — and somewhere in the back of your mind, you know it.

And then there's maybe five percent who get good email at what it should actually cost. That's our clients. Week one we rebuild your entire Klaviyo — minimum ten flows, built for your store. Three segmented campaigns a week. Testing every single week. And the number we point to isn't a report — it's the same revenue number you look at every day.

[Results stack — James's real clients, first reference + numbers: "A supplement brand doing $2.3M a month pays us $1,850. An apparel store went from X% to Y% in Z days…"] 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 in ninety days, you stop paying until it is. Honestly? Twenty percent is the floor. Most of our brands end up well above it. The guarantee is there because everyone in this industry makes big promises, and you deserve protection while we prove it.

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

Here's the reality for most e-com brand owners paying for email marketing. You're paying four, five grand a month. The invoice comes, and you genuinely can't name what changed in your account since the last one. The report looks great — the report always looks great. But your email revenue has been the same number for six straight months, and every time you think about leaving, you remember: they did get you results… once. So you stay.

I know all of this because these are the accounts we inherit. Almost every brand that comes to us comes from one of these agencies. And it's the same story every time: flows untouched since onboarding, every campaign blasted to the full list, and a monthly report doing the job the work was supposed to do.

And look — it's not even that those agencies can't do email. It's that nothing about their model requires them to. They have your contract. You can't see the work. Why would they keep sprinting?

So we built the opposite model. Nobody pays us more than two grand a month — at any size. No contract, month to month. Minimum ten flows rebuilt in week one, three segmented campaigns a week, testing every week. And if Klaviyo isn't driving at least twenty percent of your revenue in ninety days, you stop paying until it is. If your revenue doesn't move, I don't get paid. That's the whole model — we have to stay good, because you can leave whenever you want. And our clients don't. [One-line proof: "Our longest clients have been with us X years — including a brand doing $2.3M a month paying $1,850."]

If any of the first thirty seconds of this felt familiar — link below. Book a call, bring last month's report, and I'll show you in ten minutes what it's not telling you.

E-com brand owners: you deserve an email list that drives twenty percent of your revenue. And if email is already your best channel but you're paying five grand a month for it — you deserve to keep the results and lose the retainer. Listen, because this is for you.

Here's why most brands never get there: you're buying email marketing the wrong way. It's not about more flows, or prettier designs, or a bigger agency. If the foundation isn't right, none of it matters. The foundation is three things. Segmentation — your VIPs and your window-shoppers should never get the same email. Consistency — three campaigns a week, every week, without burning your list with discounts. And iteration — somebody testing and improving your flows every single week, not building them once and billing you forever. That's it. That's the whole game. And almost no agency delivers the third one, because their contract means they don't have to.

I know because we run this exact system for [X] e-commerce brands right now. [Results stack: "A supplement brand doing $2.3M a month — pays us $1,850. An apparel store went from X% to Y% of revenue from email in Z days. A skincare brand that…"]

And because there are a lot of big promises in this industry, here's your protection: if Klaviyo isn't driving at least twenty percent of your revenue within ninety days, you stop paying until it is. Twenty percent is the floor, not the goal — honestly, if a brand of ours only hit twenty, I'd consider that underperforming. Maximum two grand a month. No contract. You own everything we build.

If you run an e-com brand and you want the system — click below and book a call. You deserve an email channel that actually prints. Let me show you what that looks like for your store.

Bad email agency: three, four, five grand a month.
Good email agency: two grand max — at any size.

Bad email agency: locks you into six-month contracts.
Good email agency: no contracts. You stay because it's working.

Bad email agency: you hear from them when the invoice is due.
Good email agency: you'll hear from us so often you'll ask if we sleep.

Bad email agency: builds your flows once and bills you forever.
Good email agency: rebuilds, tests, and improves them every single week.

Bad email agency: blasts your whole list with discounts.
Good email agency: VIPs, new subscribers, lapsed buyers — different emails, and most convert at full price.

Bad email agency: shows you a pretty report every month.
Good email agency: shows you the revenue number you already look at every day.

Bad email agency: email sits under 20% of your revenue, and they call that fine.
Good email agency: guarantees 20% minimum in ninety days — or you stop paying.

Bad email agency: charges five grand because they can.
Good email agency: charges two, because that's what the work actually costs.

If the left side sounded like your agency — link below. Ten minutes, last month's report, and you'll know for sure.

JAMES (mid-conversation, half-laughing): Dude, we get called scammers all the time. Constantly. In the comments, in the DMs — "this is a scam," "prove it." And you know who it's coming from? Either competitors who charge five grand a month for what we do for two… or business owners who've been burned so badly by those competitors that anything fair looks fake to them.

HOST: Hold on — why would a lower price read as a scam?

JAMES: Because the industry trained them that way. If you've been paying five grand for a monthly PDF, and some guy shows up saying "two grand max, no contract, twenty percent of your revenue guaranteed or you don't pay" — your brain says too good to be true. And honestly? That instinct is right most of the time. It's just aimed at the wrong guy.

HOST: Okay, so — prove it. That's the comment, right? Prove it.

JAMES: Two ways. First, the model itself: no contract — leave any month you want. You own everything we build — if we're frauds, you keep the work. And if Klaviyo isn't driving twenty percent of your revenue in ninety days, you stop paying until it is. A scam needs the six-month contract. A scam needs you locked in. We're the opposite on every line.

JAMES: And second — actual receipts. A [supplement] brand doing $2.3 million a month — pays us $1,850. An [apparel] store we took from [X]% to [Y]% of revenue from email in [Z] days. A [skincare] brand that [result]. And if numbers coming out of my mouth don't count for you — fair — then I'll connect you directly with our clients. Get on a call with them. Without me on it. Ask them anything you want. People running scams don't hand you their clients' phone numbers.

HOST: What's the pushback you actually hear on calls?

JAMES: "Why are you so cheap." Every call. And the answer is boring: two grand is what the work costs. Ten-plus flows maintained and tested weekly, three segmented campaigns a week — that's real labor, and two grand covers it done properly. The five-grand agencies aren't doing more work. They're charging what they can convince you to pay. So flip the question. Don't ask me why I charge two. Ask them why they charge five.

JAMES: And honestly — if you think this is a scam, good. Stay skeptical. Book the call, bring last month's report, and ask me the hardest questions you've got. Worst case, you leave with a free audit and I never hear from you again. Link's below.

HOST: Serious question. What should a brand actually pay for email marketing? Because the range out there is insane — I've seen fifteen hundred a month, I've seen eight grand.

JAMES: And the range is the tell. When the same service costs fifteen hundred in one place and eight grand in another, the price isn't about the work. It's about what each agency thinks it can get away with.

HOST: So price it for me. What is the work?

JAMES: Let's actually do it. Flows — you build ten, fifteen of them up front, real work, and then they need testing and improving every week. Campaigns — three a week: written, designed, segmented, scheduled. Then list health and segmentation, ongoing. That's the job. That is the entire job. Done properly, by people who know what they're doing — that's a two-grand-a-month job. It is not a five-grand-a-month job.

HOST: Then what's the other three grand people are paying?

JAMES: The story. The "strategy calls." The ninety-slide report. The account manager whose actual job is making you feel okay about the invoice. And the contract — a chunk of that retainer is paying for how long they get to keep you, not what they do for you. Here's the test anyone can run: ask your agency what you're paying for. If the answer sounds like "email is a critical channel for your business" — that's pricing the category. If the answer is "here's what we did last week and here's what it cost" — that's pricing the work. Only one of those deserves your money.

HOST: And if someone listening is already paying five?

JAMES: Then best case — best case — you're overpaying by three grand a month. Thirty-six grand a year. And that's if the results are actually there. If email's sitting under twenty percent of your revenue, you're losing a lot more than the retainer. That's exactly why our model looks the way it does: maximum two grand a month, month to month, and if Klaviyo isn't at twenty percent of your revenue in ninety days, you stop paying until it is. Twenty's the floor, not the goal.

JAMES: So tonight — pull up your last invoice, and next to it, what actually changed in your account last month. If those two don't feel like they match, link's below. Ten minutes, and I'll show you what two grand is supposed to buy.