Ad Scripts — Round 3

HostWhen a brand owner gets on a call with you, what are you actually trying to figure out first?

JamesHonestly, just which bucket they're in. Every e-commerce brand I've ever talked to, their email situation is one of three things. And if you're watching this you're going to know which one is you before I'm done describing it.

HostOkay. Go.

JamesSo bucket one, maybe 30% of brands, there's basically no email program. There's a welcome email someone set up two years ago. A campaign goes out when somebody remembers to. It's usually a sale, blasted to the whole list with a discount code, so the customers have kind of been trained to never pay full price. Email's doing like 5% of revenue and the owner just assumes that's what email does.

HostIs that on the owner though?

JamesNo. Genuinely no. Nobody starts a brand because they're passionate about email flows. You started it because of the product. Email is the thing you were going to get to eventually. So that bucket's not a failure, it's just money sitting there that nobody's picked up. Those owners just haven't seen what happens to the revenue number when someone who actually lives in this stuff is looking after it. And when they do see it, usually they're a bit annoyed they waited.

HostSecond bucket.

JamesThis is the big one. Like 65%. And it's the one I actually want to talk about, because on the surface it looks great. This owner did the responsible thing. They went and hired a real agency. Four, five grand a month. And the agency delivered. Flows got built. The designs are beautiful. Klaviyo's showing twenty-something percent. The monthly report looks gorgeous. And if that's you, honestly, good. That was the right move and it's a genuinely good spot to be in.

HostSo what's the problem?

JamesThe work's not the problem. The problem is what happened to the price after the work was done. All the heavy lifting, the buildout, the stuff that actually made those results, that happened in the first sixty days. What you're paying for now is maintenance. And you're paying for it at buildout prices.

HostHow would you even know that though? From the outside it all looks the same.

JamesIt does look the same, that's the whole thing. So here's something you can do tonight. Open Klaviyo. Go to flows. Look at the last-edited date on your abandoned cart flow. Then your welcome flow. Then post-purchase. If those dates are the month you onboarded, you're not paying for email marketing anymore. You're paying every month for work that already happened.

HostThat's rough.

JamesAnd to be fair, it's not the agency being evil or anything. It's just how the model works. Every agency treats you like gold while the ink is drying. You're the priority, you get all the attention, everything's fast. Then their next client signs and now they're the priority, and you quietly become just another account. The work slows down, the attention disappears, but the invoice comes every month the same, obviously, and the contract makes sure of that.

HostBut if the results were real, why would anyone leave?

JamesExactly, and that's why they don't. The owner feels it happening. But this agency did get them results once, so walking away feels ungrateful, or risky, or whatever. So they keep paying five grand a month for two grand of attention. And most of them have just decided that's the price of good email. And it's not. It's really not.

HostOkay. Third bucket.

JamesThird bucket is the 5% who get good email at what it should actually cost. I'll just describe what it looks like with us, because that's the version I can vouch for. Week one, we go through your entire Klaviyo account and rebuild it. Minimum ten flows, built for your store, not copied off a template. From there, three campaigns a week, and they're segmented, so your VIPs get one message, people who haven't bought yet get a different one, you're not burning the list with discounts every week. Every week we're testing something. And the number we point to isn't a report. It's the same revenue number you look at every morning.

HostWhat do your clients actually say about it though? Not the pitch. What do they say?

JamesHonestly the thing they talk about most isn't the revenue. Okay, that's a lie, it's partly the revenue, because we keep beating the numbers their old five-grand agency was getting them. But the thing they really love is that we're always there. We've had clients genuinely ask if we ever sleep. 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 guy.

HostGive me real numbers.

JamesSo across everything we've done over 117 million dollars in attributed email revenue, more than 200 brands, and you can go look at the individual ones on our site. We've got a watch brand where email is now 57% of their total revenue. A luxury shoe brand that did 277 thousand in email revenue in a 30-day window, up 316% from where they were. A furniture brand, 208 thousand in 30 days, and 80% of that came from flows that just run on their own. Those are the results owners were told cost five grand a month. Nobody pays us more than two.

HostAnd no contract.

JamesNo contract. Month to month. And if Klaviyo isn't driving at least 20% of your revenue within 90 days, you stop paying us until it is. So 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 that. Bad ones need the contract.

HostSo what do you want someone to do with this?

JamesBe honest with yourself about which bucket you're in. If it's the first one, you're leaving money on the table and I'd love to show you how much. If it's the second one, you already felt it while I was describing it, so go check those flow dates. Then go to tentionmarketing.com, that's T-E-N-T-I-O-N marketing dot com, fill in the form, and book a one-on-one Google Meet with me. I'm a nice guy, I don't bite. We'll look at your account together and I'll tell you straight whether this makes sense for you. And if it doesn't, I'll tell you that too.

HostYou've said before that most owners already know they're overpaying for email. How do you know that?

JamesBecause I can get pretty much anyone there in about seven questions without telling them anything. Like, I'm not going to pitch. I'll just ask, whoever's watching answers in their head, and by the end you'll know if you should be on a call with me or not.

HostAlright. Go.

JamesOne. Are you paying an agency three, four, five grand a month for email? If not, honestly, this isn't for you, go do something else. If yes, stick around.

JamesTwo. When you started with them, did you sign a six month or a twelve month contract? Most people did. That's just how the bigger agencies do it.

JamesThree. When did the monthly report last actually change something you did in the business? Not read it. Changed something. Because if the answer's never, that report isn't for you. That report is there so the invoice makes sense.

HostOkay, that one got me.

JamesFour. Who's actually working on your account right now? Not the person who sold you. The person doing the work this month. If you had to think about it, yeah.

HostWhat if it's a whole team though? Like a bigger agency, there's a strategist, a designer, a copywriter.

JamesThen ask yourself who you'd message if a flow broke on a Saturday. If the answer is "the account manager" and the account manager's job is to forward it to someone, nobody owns your account. That's not a team, that's a queue. And you're usually near the back of it, because the newer clients are at the front.

JamesFive. In the last thirty days, how many campaigns went out that weren't a discount? If it's zero, they're training your customers to wait for sales, and you're paying them to do it.

HostI mean, sales do work though.

JamesThey do, once. And then your list just stops buying at full price. It's not a strategy, it's the easiest email there is to write, and it gets sent every week because nobody's really thinking about your account anymore.

JamesSix. Go into Klaviyo, go to flows, look at the last-edited date on your abandoned cart flow. If it's the month you onboarded, that's the day the work stopped. And the invoice kept going.

JamesAnd seven, this is the real one. If your agency called you tomorrow and said, hey, we're cutting your fee in half, nothing else changes, would your results change?

HostNo.

JamesLike, no. And if you just thought no as well, that's the whole thing right there. The price was never for the work. The work happened in month one. You're paying that number because that's what email agencies charge. That's it. That's the only reason.

HostSo what does all that add up to?

JamesIf you're paying that much, you're on a contract, and your flows haven't been touched since onboarding, you're paying buildout prices for maintenance. And the way it usually goes is month one everything's great, they're building, you're excited. Month three it's flat, but the report says it's fine. Month six you've stopped opening the report, but you haven't stopped paying the invoice, because that's on autopay and it's just a line item now. And honestly, no shame in that. You hired people who were supposed to be the experts and you trusted them. That's what you're supposed to do.

HostOkay. So what do you do differently?

JamesSame questions, just our answers. Nobody pays us more than two grand a month, full scope. No contract, month to month, you stay because it's working or you leave. The person doing the work is me and my team, and we're basically always around, we've had clients ask if we ever sleep. Three campaigns a week, segmented, so your VIPs get one thing, people who haven't bought get something else, and they're not all discounts. Week one we rebuild the whole account, minimum ten flows built for your store, and then every week after that we're in there testing and changing stuff, so that last-edited date actually moves. And we don't send you a report and point at it. We point at your revenue number, the one you already look at every morning.

HostNumbers.

JamesOver 117 million in attributed email revenue, over 200 brands, it's all on the site. A luxury shoe brand, 277 thousand in email revenue in 30 days, up 316%. A watch brand where email went from a side thing to 57% of everything they make. A footwear brand doing close to a million a month, 283 thousand of that from email, and two-thirds of it from flows. Every one of those owners was told that kind of result costs five grand a month. It costs two. Max.

JamesAnd if Klaviyo isn't driving at least 20% of your revenue within 90 days, you stop paying us until it is. No contract to hide behind, no report to hide behind. If your revenue doesn't move, I don't get paid.

HostSo what do you want people to do?

JamesYou've answered the seven. Now what are you going to do with it? Most people are going to close this and keep paying, honestly, and that's fine. If you're not most people, go to tentionmarketing.com, T-E-N-T-I-O-N marketing dot com, fill in the form, book a one-on-one Google Meet with me. I'm a nice guy, I don't bite. And in twenty minutes I'll tell you exactly what you've been paying for.

HostWhat's the biggest mistake you see experienced e-com owners make? And how do they avoid it?

JamesExperienced ones specifically? Honestly, it's that they trust their email agency. Which sounds like a weird thing to call a mistake. But the brands that pay the most for email and get the least for it, it's almost never the beginners. It's the good operators. Store doing three hundred K a month, five hundred, a million. They got there because they're good at product, good at ads, and at some point they learned to hire people and get out of the way. Which is the right move. That's how you grow.

HostSo how does that go wrong?

JamesBecause the agency knows you're not looking. Think about it from their side for a second. The owner who checks in every week, asks why the abandoned cart flow hasn't changed since March, wants to know what got tested, that owner takes time, they're a pain to keep. The owner who approves the campaigns, pays the invoice, skims the report once a quarter, that's the easy account. So the more you leave them alone, the less they do. Nobody says that out loud, but that's how it goes.

HostWhat does that actually look like from the owner's side though?

JamesNothing. That's the thing. Nothing looks wrong. The campaigns still go out. The report still shows up on the first of the month and the numbers look fine. The invoice comes out on autopay. From where you're sitting, everything's running. What you can't see is that the flows haven't been opened since the buildout, the campaigns are the same discount email with a different subject line, and the person who built your account got moved to the new client three months ago.

HostThat's pretty cynical.

JamesMaybe. But I've taken over [X] / a lot of Klaviyo accounts from other agencies now and it's the same thing almost every time. Flows built in the first two months, nothing touched since. Every campaign's a discount. A report that's clearly made to look good rather than tell you anything. And an owner who's been paying four or five grand a month for a year, who's smart, who's built a real business, and feels pretty dumb when we show them. And they shouldn't. They did the right thing. They hired professionals and trusted them. It just got taken advantage of a bit.

HostSo why would leaving you alone go any better?

JamesBecause I set the whole thing up so you can leave us alone and it doesn't cost you anything if we screw up. No contract, month to month. Capped at two grand a month, full scope, so the price doesn't creep on you. And if Klaviyo isn't doing at least 20% of your revenue within 90 days, you stop paying until it is. So you get to do the thing you're good at, hire and get out of the way, and if we drop the ball, the invoice stops. That's the difference. The risk's on me, not you.

HostOkay but "we care more" is what every agency says. What's the actual work?

JamesFair. Week one, we go through your entire Klaviyo account and rebuild it. Minimum ten flows, built for your store, not copied off a template. Then three campaigns a week, segmented, VIPs get one message, people who haven't bought yet get a different one, so you're not burning the list with discounts. Every week we're testing something and changing something, so if you ever do go look at the flow dates, they've moved. And we're always around. We've had clients genuinely ask if we ever sleep. Six months in you get the same energy as week one, because nothing about how we work depends on locking you in and moving on.

HostAnd from the owner's side? What does that first month actually feel like?

JamesQuiet, honestly. Which is the point. You get a message from us when something needs your sign-off, you approve it in thirty seconds, and that's your involvement. You don't get a deck. You don't get a monthly call where we walk you through a report. You open Shopify like you normally do, and the number's different. And if you ever get curious and go look at the flow dates, they're from this week, not from the month you signed. That's the whole test. You can leave us alone and still check on us any time you want.

HostGive me numbers.

JamesTwo hundred plus brands, a hundred and seventeen million in attributed email revenue, and the individual ones are on the site. A furniture brand, 208 thousand of email revenue in 30 days, 80% of it from automated flows, so the owner isn't touching it. A watch brand where email became 57% of the whole business. A luxury shoe brand, 277 thousand in 30 days, up 316%. Those owners handed it to us and got out of the way. And they got more than they were getting from their five-grand agency, for less than half the money.

HostSo who's this for?

JamesThe owner who's built something real, who's paying three, four, five grand a month for email, and has this quiet feeling that they're paying for nobody to bother them, not for the work. And to answer the second half of your question, how do they avoid it, you don't have to start micromanaging. You just have to hire someone who doesn't need you to look away. Go to tentionmarketing.com, T-E-N-T-I-O-N marketing dot com, fill in the form, book a one-on-one Google Meet with me, and bring your Klaviyo login. I'm a nice guy, I don't bite. Twenty minutes and I'll show you exactly what you've been paying for. And if you're actually getting what you pay for, I'll tell you that, and you can go back to running your business.