Founded by an aeronautical engineer.
Built like one.
Pete Devkota left aerodynamics for ecommerce email in 2013. The principles transferred 1:1, measure the forces, strip what doesn't fly, instrument what does. $250M+ in attributed email revenue across 800+ ecommerce brands later, the engineering approach is the entire competitive advantage.
/ The Story
Why an aeronautical engineer ended up running an email agency.
Pete holds a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He spent the early 2010s designing flight-control systems before pivoting to copywriting and digital marketing in 2013, and into ecommerce specifically in 2014. In 2017 he founded Email Optimize.
The reason isn't romantic. Email and aeronautics are the same job: small adjustments compound into massive outcomes. A 0.3-degree shift in a wing's angle of attack determines whether the aircraft flies. A 1-percentage-point shift in click-through rate is the difference between a $20K and a $50K monthly email channel.
An aircraft in level flight is governed by four forces: lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Email is governed by the same four. We measure all of them on every send. Read the full manifesto →
The agency exists to apply that engineering discipline to ecommerce email. No generalist work. No web design. No Facebook ads. Two platforms, Klaviyo and Omnisend, and one job: maximise email's contribution to revenue, send by send, brand by brand. We're an ecommerce email marketing agency, and nothing else.
We're headquartered in Adelaide, with team members on the US West Coast, and we work with brands in the US, the UK and Australia. If you're an Australian brand, start with our Klaviyo agency for Australian brands.
800+ brands. $250M+ in attributed revenue. INC 5000 brands like Relaxium, Y-Combinator alumni like Popl, and Better Body Co., which ended 2021 at $100M SGD in revenue. The portfolio reads like brands who care more about engineered outcomes than designer-approved aesthetics. That's the filter.
Revenue, not vanity
We measure in one currency: revenue per recipient, attributed orders, flow contribution percentage. Open rates are a leading indicator, not the scoreboard.
Strip, don't add
Every "creative" decision a designer adds is drag. We win by removing things, long copy, multiple CTAs, image-heavy templates, not by piling them on.
Two platforms, by choice
Klaviyo for most brands, Omnisend where it fits better, including categories like peptides that sit close to Klaviyo’s acceptable use policy. Knowing two platforms deeply beats knowing ten shallowly. We do not run Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or "any ESP."
/ Sheet 01: Specs
SPEC.01
2013
Year Pete left aeronautics
SPEC.02
2017
Email Optimize founded
SPEC.03
800+
Ecommerce brands served
SPEC.04
$250M+
Email revenue attributed
The DORTA method.
The four forces (lift, thrust, drag, weight) are the diagnostic. DORTA is the rebuild sequence. Every decaying email program fails at one of five layers, and they have to be fixed in order. Skip a layer and the fix doesn't hold.
LAYER 01
Delivered
Every email must reach the inbox, not promotions, not spam. Deliverability is the foundation. DNS setup, list hygiene, and engagement-based suppression all feed into this layer.
/ Signs it's broken
Open rates declining despite strong creative. Sudden revenue drop from email.
LAYER 02
Opened
Inbox trust is behavioural memory. If the last six emails from your brand were irrelevant, subscribers have conditioned themselves not to open. Rebuilding requires strategy, not wordplay.
/ Signs it's broken
Open rates vary wildly by campaign type. Engaged segments heavily outperform active ones.
LAYER 03
Read
The first sentence determines whether the email gets read. One message. One action. No scrolling required to understand the point. Most email content is too long and too early to the ask.
/ Signs it's broken
High open rate but low click rate. High unsubscribe rate after opens.
LAYER 04
Trusted
Trust converts a subscriber from someone who occasionally opens into someone who anticipates your emails. This layer separates email as a footnote in your revenue from email as a major channel.
/ Signs it's broken
Strong engagement from new subscribers that drops off at 60–90 days.
LAYER 05
Acted
Action, purchase, click, reply, is the compounded output of every upstream layer working. Brands often try to fix conversion when the real problem is five layers back.
/ Signs it's broken
Revenue stuck despite growing list. Discounting required to drive purchases.
Engineer your email.
Free audit. We measure your lift, thrust, drag, and weight, then send you a written 90-day rebuild plan within 24 hours. No commitment.