Burned by an Email Agency Before? Read This Before You Hire Another One.
Most agencies get paid whether their work makes you money or not. One Klaviyo Platinum Partner flipped that model, and it changes the whole decision.
If you've paid a freelancer or agency for email marketing and ended up with a monthly invoice and not much else, you're not alone.
The story usually goes something like this.
You sign up. There's an exciting kickoff call and a slick strategy deck. A few nicely designed templates arrive. Campaigns start going out.
Three months later, you look at your email revenue and it's... about the same. Meanwhile the invoices keep coming, and you're locked into a contract that still has months left on it.
So you walk away thinking email marketing just doesn't work for your brand.
Email almost certainly can work for your brand. The problem is that most agencies get paid the same whether it works or not. When the payment doesn't depend on results, the results often don't come.
Why so many email agencies underdeliver
It's rarely because the people are bad at their jobs. It's because of how the deal is set up. Here are the warning signs most founders only notice in hindsight:
- A monthly retainer, no matter what. They're paid for activity, not for revenue.
- A long-term contract. If it isn't working, you're stuck paying anyway.
- Lots of campaigns, few automated flows. They send newsletters, but never build the system that brings customers back on its own.
- Generic templates. The same emails they send for every other client, with your logo swapped in.
- Reports on opens and clicks, not revenue. Open rates are easy to make look good. The number that matters is how much money email brought in.
If you recognized two or more of those, the problem probably wasn't email marketing. It was the setup.
What happened at Primefish Seafood
The founder of Primefish Seafood was handling nearly all of the marketing himself. To get some help, he hired a freelancer.
What he got back was very little strategy and very little execution. There was no system in place after someone bought, so customers rarely came back. The business leaned heavily on paid ads, and revenue from existing customers and subscribers made up just 10% of the business.
Then they switched to Hashtag Monday, which installed a full retention system with Klaviyo at its core, tested new offers for both new and existing customers, and built out the post-purchase flows that had been missing.
The result: $1.1M in extra revenue. Average order value rose 25% in the first 38 days, and the returning customer rate climbed 40% in the first six months.
Same brand. Same products. The difference was the system, and who built it.
A different way to hire an email agency
Here's how the usual agency setup compares with the way Hashtag Monday works.
| Many agencies | Hashtag Monday | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A monthly retainer, whether it works or not | Only if email revenue grows at least 30% |
| Contract | Often locked in for months | No long-term contract |
| What gets built | Mostly campaigns and templates | 15 proven automated flows |
| Who does the work | You often end up directing it | Strategy, copy, design, and tech all handled |
| Measured by | Opens and clicks | Email revenue |
Enter Hashtag Monday
Hashtag Monday is an email marketing agency that builds retention systems for e-commerce brands.
They're a Klaviyo Platinum Partner, which they describe as the top 5% of email marketing agencies out of 10,000+ agencies and freelancers. More than 200 brands have trusted them with their email marketing.
They install 15 proven email flows in your store and handle everything: the strategy, the copy, the design, and the technical setup. No agency retainer. No long-term contract.
And they back it with a guarantee most agencies would never offer.
They measure your email revenue before the new flows go live, then compare it to the 30 days after. If it hasn't grown by at least 30%, you don't pay a penny.
Why would an agency take that risk?
It's a fair question, especially if you've been burned before.
The answer is data. After working with more than 200 brands, Hashtag Monday knows which flows tend to move revenue, how to set them up, and what to test first. They aren't guessing with your store. They're installing what has already worked for brands like yours.
An agency that's unsure of its results charges a retainer. An agency that's confident in them gets paid on performance.
More brands that made the switch
These are results from specific clients. Your results may be better, worse, or the same.
How much does it cost?
It depends on your store, your list, and which flows you're missing, so there's no one-size-fits-all price.
Here's the part that matters if you've been burned before: if the flows don't lift your email revenue by at least 30%, it costs you nothing. The exact numbers for your store are what the free consultation is for.
What you get on the free call
- A custom revenue forecast showing your store's growth potential over the next 12 weeks
- Which missing flows are costing you the most revenue right now
- A breakdown of the potential monthly revenue from each new flow
- Exact numbers on the revenue potential for your store
It isn't a hard-sell call. Booking takes three quick questions.
Hashtag Monday only works with e-commerce brands generating at least $50K a month in revenue. If that's you, the consultation is free.
No retainer. No long-term contract. You don't pay unless it works.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How is this different from the agency we used before?
Two things. They build automated flows, not just campaigns, and they only get paid if your email revenue grows at least 30%. If it doesn't work, you're not out of pocket.
Q: Do we have to sign a long-term contract?
No. There's no agency retainer and no long-term contract.
Q: Who does the work?
Hashtag Monday handles the strategy, copy, design, and technical setup. You won't have to direct it or do it yourself.
Q: How do you define a 30% increase?
They look at your email revenue before the new flows go live and compare it to the 30 days after. If it hasn't grown by at least 30%, you don't pay.
Bottom line: you've already paid for email marketing that didn't work
You don't need to do that again. This time, you only pay for email marketing that does.
The worst case is a free call where you walk away with a revenue forecast for your store. The best case is the email revenue you were promised the first time around.
Get a free revenue forecast and see which missing flows are costing your store the most right now.
Book your free consultation >>