Hulken pays Structured $8,500 a month. In Q4 last year, the email and SMS channel Structured runs for them drove more than $3.3 million. Even in a dead summer month with barely any inventory, it still brought in over $540,000.
Belynda Murray is the retention strategist at Structured who has run Hulken's email and SMS for the past two years. She sits down with Alex and Lee to open up the playbook: how Hulken went from 4 to 6 emails a month to 10, the two numbers that tell you you're sending too much, why VIPs got a steeper discount than anyone else, and how unengaged subscribers get saved for Black Friday instead of deleted.
In this episode:
- The ROI math behind $8,500 a month and $3.3M in Q4
- Why Hulken sends 10 emails a month, and the two metrics that tell you it's too many
- The spam complaint rate she keeps under 0.01%, and why she'd rather see unsubscribes
- How early access for VIPs became the top campaign of Black Friday
- 11 days, 17 sends, and a quarter that finished up 36% year over year
- The plain-text email from Alex that turned into a new series
- Why a $10 welcome offer beat 10% off
- Red flags when hiring an email agency, including how they use AI
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This episode is brought to you by:
Structured Agency: Where strategic guidance meets strong execution. Structured is a growth agency for DTC e-commerce brands, bringing paid media, lifecycle marketing, creative strategy, and CRO together into one integrated system built for profitable growth. Learn more and request a free audit at structured.agency/unfinishedbusiness
Horatio: Horatio builds dedicated, AI-enabled customer support and back-office teams for fast-growing e-commerce, fintech, and healthtech brands. Every team is trained on your brand's voice and workflows, so you can scale support without sacrificing quality. Unfinished Business listeners get $2,000 in launch credits at hirehoratio.com/unfinishedbusiness
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:36 Meet Belynda from Structured
02:09 The play that changed Hulken's email and SMS
04:21 Rethinking VIPs for a bag brand
05:33 How Hulken landed on 10 emails a month
07:41 The two metrics that say you're sending too much
09:33 When customers are ready for a second purchase
11:07 Building SMS from scratch
14:12 Why $10 off beat 10% off
16:15 Black Friday end to end
18:21 11 days, 17 sends, up 36%
20:35 $8,500 a month, $3.3M back
26:27 The plain-text email from Alex
29:18 Agency red flags, including AI
33:16 Klaviyo and deliverability
37:38 Winning back unengaged subscribers
42:22 Why month-to-month works
46:32 Rapid fire: best and worst emails
50:14 Does send time matter?
