Email & SMS Marketing Resources
Everything we know about retention marketing for DTC brands. Strategies, playbooks, and tactical guides.
Tools & Swipe Files
Interactive research tools and reference libraries.
41 DTC brands. Every popup flow from teaser to thank you. Screenshots, metadata, and copy for each brand's Alia popup.
Browse Swipe File →Foundations
Start here: how email and SMS fit together
Popups & List Growth
Turn anonymous traffic into subscribers you own
List Growth: The Offers That Actually Get Signups
Your popup only converts if the offer is worth an email address. Here are the lead magnets and offers that grow a list fast, beyond a plain 10% off.
Popups & List GrowthPopups That Grow Your List Without Killing Conversion
Your popup is the front door to every email you will ever send. Learn the multi-step, zero-party-data popup strategy that grows lists 6-12% without hurting sales.
Popups & List GrowthQuiz Funnels: Capture Data Your Competitors Never Ask For
A good quiz turns a cold visitor into a subscriber who told you exactly what they want. Then every email you send can speak to that.
Email Flows
Automated revenue that runs 24/7
The Sunset Flow: Protect Your Deliverability on Purpose
Emailing people who stopped caring is what drags your whole list to spam. The sunset flow gives dead subscribers one last shot, then stops mailing them.
Email FlowsThe Complete Welcome Flow Guide for DTC Brands
Learn how to build a high-converting welcome email series that turns new subscribers into customers. Includes timing, templates, and benchmarks.
Email FlowsThe Browse Abandonment Flow: Recover Silent Shoppers
Browse abandonment emails catch shoppers who viewed products but never added to cart. Learn the triggers, timing, and messaging that turn browsers into buyers.
Campaigns
A planned, segmented sending calendar
The BFCM & Holiday Email Playbook
Black Friday is won in October. Learn the ZHS pre-BFCM prep, send cadence, and deliverability moves that turn the biggest week of the year into your biggest.
CampaignsHow Often Should You Send? The Campaign Cadence Playbook
Most DTC brands send 2-3 campaigns a month and wonder why email is stuck at 15% of revenue. Here is the cadence, calendar, and content mix that fixes it.
CampaignsHow to Drive Sales Without Discounting
Discounts train your list to wait and crush your margins. Learn the campaign angles ZHS uses to sell at full price: education, story, social proof, and urgency that is real.
Copywriting
Writing emails people actually read and act on
How to Write Emails People Actually Read
Most brand emails get skimmed and deleted. Learn the ZHS approach to email copy: one idea per send, a hook that earns the open, and a CTA that gets the click.
CopywritingOffers and CTAs That Convert
The offer is the reason people click. Learn how to structure offers beyond blanket discounts, and how to write CTAs that make the next step obvious.
CopywritingThe Plain-Text Email Playbook
Plain-style emails feel personal, take five minutes to build, and often out-convert designed sends. Learn when and how to use them in your mix.
Segmentation
The right message to the right person
The Klaviyo Segmentation Playbook
The exact segments ZHS builds behind $10M+ Shopify brands. Engagement tiers, buyer segments, and the dynamic segments that decide who gets each send.
SegmentationEngagement Tiers: The Segmentation That Protects Deliverability
Most brands think they segment. They do not. Learn the engagement-tier system that lets you send more to buyers, less to the quiet, and keeps you out of spam.
SegmentationEmail Segmentation Strategy for DTC Brands
Stop sending the same email to everyone. Learn how to segment your list for higher engagement, better deliverability, and more revenue per send.
Deliverability
Land in the inbox, not spam
Why Your Emails Land in Spam (and How to Fix It)
Great emails are worthless in the spam folder. Learn the real reasons DTC emails get filtered and the fixes that get you back to the inbox.
DeliverabilitySPF, DKIM, DMARC, and BIMI Made Simple
Email authentication sounds scary and is actually a one-time setup. Get these four records right and inbox providers start trusting your mail.
DeliverabilityWhy a Big List Can Wreck Your Deliverability
The deliverability problem nobody talks about: emailing people who stopped caring. Learn how Google scores engagement and how to fix placement by sending to fewer people.
Email Design
Emails that look premium and convert
Using AI to Design Emails Faster (Without the Slop)
AI can cut email creative from a week to a couple of hours, or fill your sends with generic junk. Learn the ZHS way to use AI in design while keeping the brand intact.
Email DesignHow to Optimize Your Emails for Dark Mode
One in three subscribers reads in dark mode, and it can turn your logo invisible. Learn the design fixes that keep emails looking clean in every inbox theme.
Email DesignHow to Design Emails That Look Premium (and Convert)
Good email design is not about looking pretty. Learn the ZHS approach to emails that read clean on mobile, move fast to build, and actually drive clicks.
SMS
Text marketing that respects the channel
SMS Marketing: The Complete Guide for DTC Brands
SMS is the highest-intent channel you own. Learn how to build a compliant, revenue-driving SMS program that complements email instead of annoying your list.
SMSThe SMS Flows Every DTC Brand Should Run
SMS is not just for campaigns. The right automated SMS flows recover carts, welcome buyers, and drive reorders, all in a channel people actually read.
SMSSMS Compliance Without the Headache
SMS has rules email does not. Get consent, opt-outs, and timing right so you can text your list confidently instead of nervously.
Klaviyo & Setup
Settings, integrations, and the data layer
The Data Layer: Integrations That Make Klaviyo Smart
Klaviyo is only as good as the data flowing into it. Connect the right tools and every flow, segment, and send gets more personal and more profitable.
Klaviyo & Setup10 Klaviyo Settings You Need to Get Right
The account settings most brands never touch, and the ones quietly hurting your deliverability and revenue. A ZHS checklist for a clean Klaviyo setup.
Klaviyo & SetupFrom Zero to 33% of Revenue: The Klaviyo Roadmap
The exact path ZHS runs to take a brand from no email program to a third of revenue from email and SMS. The phases, the order, and the timeline.
Strategy & Benchmarks
KPIs, forecasting, and what good looks like
Email Lessons From Brands Doing It Right
What Olipop, high-AOV brands, and the best operators actually do in email, broken down into principles you can copy. Real strategy, not theory.
Strategy & BenchmarksHow Much of Your Revenue Should Email Drive?
Most DTC brands sit at 10-15% of revenue from email. Healthy programs hit 25-35%. Learn the benchmark, the math on your store, and what the gap is costing you.
Strategy & BenchmarksHow to Forecast Your Email & SMS Revenue
Stop guessing what retention can add. Learn a simple model to estimate the revenue a strong email and SMS program can drive for your store.
Working With Us
Process, pricing, and what to expect
Should You Learn Email Marketing Yourself?
An honest take for founders: when to DIY your email, when to hire, and the common myths that keep brands stuck. No pitch, just the tradeoffs.
Working With UsAgency vs In-House: How to Run Your Email Program
Should you hire an agency, build an in-house team, or go hybrid for email and SMS? A straight look at the costs, tradeoffs, and what fits your stage.
Working With UsWorking With ZHS Ecom: What to Expect
Everything you need to know about partnering with us. Our process, timeline, deliverables, and what we need from you.
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