ZHS field guide · 66 practical lessons
The operating system for email & SMS
Search the exact playbooks, benchmarks, flow maps, and lessons we use to build retention programs for DTC brands.
Three ways into the system
Retention Marketing 101: Start Here
The operating map for a modern email and SMS program: consented list growth, flows, campaigns, segmentation, deliverability, design, and reporting.
The Complete Welcome Flow Guide for DTC Brands
Build a consent-aware welcome email and SMS journey with a clear starting configuration, exits, measurement plan, and a visual Klaviyo flow map.
How to Design an Email in Figma (Step by Step)
The ZHS Figma workflow for designing emails that look premium and build fast. From modular sections to handoff, the exact process behind our client creative.
Start here: how email and SMS fit together
KPIs, forecasting, and what good looks like
How Much Revenue Should Email and SMS Drive?
Use retention revenue share without fooling yourself: define the denominator, separate attributed from incremental revenue, compare like periods, and diagnose the system behind the number.
The Email & SMS KPIs That Actually Matter
A source-aware KPI system for retention: stable denominators, practical guardrails, attribution context, and the decisions each metric should drive.
How to Audit Your Email & SMS Program
A framework for auditing your retention marketing. Identify gaps, benchmark performance, and prioritize improvements for maximum ROI.
How to Forecast Email and SMS Revenue Without Making Up the Upside
Build low, base, and high retention scenarios from a stable denominator, eligible audience, conversion economics, and explicit attribution assumptions.
Email Lessons From Brands Doing It Right
How to study strong DTC email programs without copying surface-level tactics: extract the operating decision, test it in your context, and preserve your brand.
Alex Hormozi's Email Marketing Strategy, Applied to DTC Brands
A DTC-ready reading of Alex Hormozi's give-give-give-ask approach: use the operating ideas without treating creator-reported results as a universal benchmark or revenue promise.
Attribution and Reporting Without Fooling Yourself
A source-aware way to read email and SMS attribution: record the model, compare stable cohorts, separate reporting layers, and validate material decisions with stronger evidence.
Subscription Retention Marketing: The Lifecycle System for Recharge and Klaviyo
Build a subscription lifecycle that reduces preventable churn: activation, upcoming-order management, failed-payment recovery, skip and swap paths, cancellation feedback, and winback.
Subscription Cancellation Prevention: A Recharge Save System
Build reason-specific Recharge cancellation paths that use skips, delays, swaps, support, and disciplined incentives without hiding the cancel option or training discount abuse.
Subscription Failed-Payment Recovery: Recharge Dunning and Klaviyo Messaging
Coordinate Recharge retry logic with Klaviyo email and SMS so payment failures recover cleanly, successful charges exit immediately, and support can see the real account state.
Settings, integrations, and the data layer
10 Klaviyo Settings You Need to Get Right
A source-aware ZHS launch checklist for Klaviyo settings: audience determination, sender identity, consent, tracking, attribution, Shopify events, and reporting.
The Klaviyo Roadmap: From Empty Account to Operating System
The phased path ZHS uses to establish measurement, sending readiness, capture, lifecycle flows, campaigns, and SMS without promising a fixed revenue result.
The Data Layer: Integrations That Make Klaviyo Smart
Build a trustworthy Klaviyo data layer: connect Shopify first, add each system for a named use case, and QA the events and consent that flows depend on.
How to Use Klaviyo's New AI (Composer) to Build Flows
A practical, human-reviewed workflow for using Klaviyo Composer to draft flows and campaigns without handing strategy or QA to AI.
How to Migrate From Mailchimp to Klaviyo Without Losing Consent or Revenue
A staged Mailchimp-to-Klaviyo migration plan for DTC brands: preserve consent and suppressions, rebuild flows, authenticate the domain, warm sending, and cut over without double-sending.
Migrating to Klaviyo: The ESP Cutover Hub
Choose the right migration path from Omnisend, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, HubSpot, Sendlane, or another ESP without losing consent, suppressions, forms, automations, or sender reputation.
Land in the inbox, not spam
SPF, 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.
Email Deliverability & Domain Warmup: The Complete Guide
How to warm up a new sending domain, maintain sender reputation, and ensure your emails land in the inbox. Includes SPF, DKIM, DMARC setup.
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.
How to Monitor Your Deliverability Before It Tanks
Deliverability problems can be quiet until revenue drops. Learn the tools and repeatable review habits that surface inbox-placement questions early, while there is still time to investigate.
Why 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.
Turn anonymous traffic into subscribers you own
Popups That Grow Your List Without Killing Conversion
Build and measure a clear, consent-aware popup that captures useful data and improves the quality of your email list, not just the raw signup count.
List Growth: The Offers That Actually Get Signups
Choose an offer that earns the signup, measure it with the right denominator, and grow a list of people you can actually serve.
Quiz 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.
Automated revenue that runs 24/7
The Complete Welcome Flow Guide for DTC Brands
Build a consent-aware welcome email and SMS journey with a clear starting configuration, exits, measurement plan, and a visual Klaviyo flow map.
Checkout Abandonment Flow: The Highest-Intent Recovery Sequence
Build a Checkout Started flow in Klaviyo with the correct trigger, purchase exit, timing, new-vs-returning split, dynamic cart data, email and SMS sequence, and QA.
Abandoned Cart Recovery: The Definitive Klaviyo Guide
Build an Added to Cart recovery flow with the right eligibility, timing, purchase-history split, email and SMS sequence, exit rules, and recovery benchmarks.
The 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.
The Site Abandonment Flow: Recover Visitors Before They Bounce
Site abandonment emails catch visitors who landed on your store but never viewed a product. Learn the Active on Site trigger, the suppression filters, and the 3-email arc that wins back your lowest-intent traffic.
The Post-Purchase Flow: Turn One Order Into Two
Build a post-purchase program that supports the buyer after checkout, separates operational updates from lifecycle messaging, and measures repeat behavior by cohort.
The Winback Flow: Re-Engage Customers Before They Churn
Build a product-aware winback flow with a defensible lapse definition, consent-aware eligibility, purchase exits, and a clear measurement plan.
The Sunset Flow: Protect Your Deliverability on Purpose
Build a documented reactivation and suppression policy that protects permission, preserves profile history, and avoids treating privacy-inflated opens as proof of interest.
The Replenishment Flow: Win the Reorder Before They Run Out
Build a product-specific reorder program using observed usage and repurchase data, clear exits, and a measured subscription option where it fits.
The Back-in-Stock Flow: Turn Sold-Out Into Sold
Turn a sold-out product page into a variant-specific restock request and a governed path back to the product when inventory returns.
The Review Request Flow: Turn Buyers Into Social Proof
Build a review request flow that asks eligible buyers for honest feedback after a documented product-use window.
The VIP & Loyalty Flow: Reward Your Best Customers
Build a clear, rolling VIP recognition journey around a documented customer definition, meaningful benefits, and an experience worth maintaining.
The Flow Audit: Where Your Automations Leak Revenue
Your flows are live, but are they actually built out? Learn the audit ZHS runs to find the gaps, missing branches, and dead sends quietly costing you revenue.
Text marketing that respects the channel
SMS Marketing: The Complete Guide for DTC Brands
Build a consent-aware, measurable SMS program that complements email with timely, useful messages.
SMS 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.
SMS Welcome Flow: Consent, Timing, and the Two-Message Sequence
Build a compliant SMS welcome flow that delivers the promised offer immediately, coordinates with email, exits purchasers, respects quiet hours, and avoids over-texting.
The 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.
SMS Campaigns: What to Send Without Getting Muted
Plan permissioned SMS campaigns with a clear customer purpose, documented controls, and a cadence you can defend.
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.
Subject Lines That Get Opened (Without Clickbait)
Your subject line decides whether the rest of your email gets read. Learn the formulas, length, and preview-text tactics that lift open rates for DTC brands.
Offers 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.
The Plain-Text Email Playbook
A practical guide to deciding when a plain-style email belongs in your mix, writing one well, and testing it against a comparable designed control.
Emails that look premium and convert
How 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.
How to Design an Email in Figma (Step by Step)
The ZHS Figma workflow for designing emails that look premium and build fast. From modular sections to handoff, the exact process behind our client creative.
Using AI to Design Emails Faster (Without the Slop)
Use AI to explore email creative faster without shipping generic work. Learn the ZHS process for keeping the brand, offer, and QA process intact.
How 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.
The right message to the right person
Email 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.
Engagement 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.
The Klaviyo Segmentation Playbook
A practical Klaviyo segmentation system: engagement tiers, buyer segments, and dynamic audience rules that make each send more deliberate.
A planned, segmented sending calendar
How Often Should You Send? The Campaign Cadence Playbook
Build a measurable email campaign cadence around recipient pressure, engagement tracks, commercial moments, and marginal performance, not a universal send-count rule.
How 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.
How to Use Customer Stories and UGC in Your Emails
Use approved customer reviews, photos, and stories to address specific reader questions in email without overstating what proof can establish.
How to A/B Test Your Email (the Right Way)
Most brands A/B test wrong: too many variables, too small a sample, no real conclusion. Learn the disciplined way ZHS tests so wins actually compound.
How to Run a Product Launch or Drop by Email
The best DTC brands treat every launch like an event. Here is the email and SMS sequence that builds anticipation and sells through a drop.
Cross-Sell and Upsell Without Being Annoying
Use first-party purchase signals to make a more relevant next-product recommendation in email and SMS.
Seasonal and Gifting Campaigns That Actually Convert
Plan seasonal, gifting, and moment-based campaigns that have a real customer and product reason to exist.
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.
Real accounts, real numbers, verified
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.
Agency 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 ZHS Ecom: What to Expect
How ZHS scopes, builds, and operates a retention program, what a good fit looks like, how decisions get made, and what is confirmed in your proposal.
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