Email design and copywriting services, engineered for the click.
Most email design is judged in a design review. Ours is judged in Klaviyo, by revenue per recipient. We write and design campaign and flow emails for ecommerce brands: one message, one action, built to render on a phone in dark mode and still get the click. No award submissions. No hero banners built to impress a design review. You buy it as a template system project or inside a retainer.
Includes
- Campaign and flow copywriting: subject line, preview text, body, CTA
- Klaviyo template system: master templates and reusable blocks
- Custom-coded HTML templates where the editor runs out
- Mobile-first layouts, checked in Gmail, Apple Mail and Outlook
- Dark-mode safe logos, colours and buttons
- Accessibility: live text, alt text, contrast, tap targets
- Plain-text and designed variants, tested on clicks and revenue
- Dynamic product blocks and segment-based show/hide logic
/ Free Audit
Get your free email creative audit
Drop your store URL and email. We'll review your templates, copy and click data and send a written 90-day roadmap within 24 hours. No obligation.
Trusted by
800+ brands
People say they want pretty. They click plain.
In 2014 HubSpot surveyed more than 1,000 professionals, and nearly two-thirds said they preferred HTML, image-based emails. Then it ran the A/B tests. The more HTML-rich the email, the lower the open rate. In one test the designed version had a 21% lower clickthrough rate and, combined with fewer opens, 51% fewer clicks than plain text. (HubSpot's write-up, first published 2014, last updated June 2025.)
HubSpot's audience is marketers, not your shoppers, and the test is more than a decade old, so we do not treat it as law. We treat it as a hypothesis and test it on your list. It matches what we see across 800+ ecommerce brands: every decorative element is drag, and you remove drag until the click goes up. That is the whole design philosophy. The manifesto has the long version, and our plain text vs HTML email guide covers when each format wins.
Match the format to the job.
Plain text is not a religion. It is the default we move away from only when a test says so. For cart and product emails, see what that looks like in our abandoned cart email examples. For other formats, browse 15 ecommerce email marketing examples and 10 email newsletter template layouts.
Plain or near-plain wins
Founder notes, the first welcome email, win-back, post-purchase check-ins. Anything that should read like a person wrote it, because a person did.
Light design wins
Abandoned cart, browse abandonment, back in stock, launches. When the product is the message, one clean product image earns its weight.
Heavy design rarely wins
Multi-section, image-stacked, custom-font layouts. When one does beat the plain version on your list, we will show you the test. Until then, it is drag.
Built for the inbox that actually exists.
The mockup is not the email. The email is whatever renders on your customer's phone, in their client, in their colour mode. Every template we ship passes these five checks. The specs live in our guides to email dimensions and banner sizes, email-safe fonts and fallbacks, and adding a GIF in email.
Mobile first
Single column, readable body text without zooming, and buttons sized for thumbs. Apple recommends tap targets of at least 44 by 44 points. We build to that.
Dark mode
Apple Mail, Outlook and the Gmail apps can invert or partially invert colours. Transparent logos with a safe outline, no text baked into images, previewed in both modes before anything ships.
Accessibility
Live HTML text instead of text in images, meaningful alt text, and body copy at WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1). Accessible emails and inbox-friendly emails point in the same direction: more real text.
Code weight
Gmail clips messages over 102KB and hides the rest behind a link, often taking the open-tracking pixel with it. Lean code keeps the whole email, and your reporting, intact.
Font fallbacks
Custom web fonts fail in many clients. We design around the fallback your customer will actually see, not the mockup.
Klaviyo drag-and-drop or custom HTML?
For most brands, Klaviyo's drag-and-drop editor is the right default. Your team can edit it without a developer, universal content blocks keep headers and footers consistent across every send, product blocks pull straight from your catalog, and show/hide logic lets one template speak differently to different segments.
Custom-coded HTML earns its place when you need a layout the editor cannot produce, or a locked master template your team cannot accidentally break. The trade-off is maintenance: every custom template is code someone has to keep working as email clients change. So we build the smallest template system that does the job, a few master templates and a library of reusable blocks, and nothing more. Our guide to building a Klaviyo email template set walks through it. Looking for a Klaviyo developer or email template design help specifically? Meet our Klaviyo experts.
Email copywriting that earns the click.
Good email copy is short, specific and written for one reader. The frameworks on the right are tools, not templates. Which one fits depends on the product, the flow and what the customer already knows. Worked examples are in our guide to email copywriting for ecommerce.
Subject lines get the most testing attention and the least revenue scrutiny. We test them on clicks and orders. Our guide to A/B testing subject lines shows how.
One message, one action
The reader knows what the email is about in the first ten words, and there is one thing to click.
Subject and preview as one unit
Written together, tested together, judged on clicks. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, so open rate alone cannot pick a winner.
Problem, agitate, solve
For education-led categories like supplements and skincare, where the customer has to understand the problem before the product makes sense.
Before, after, bridge
For transformation products: where the customer is, where they want to be, and why this gets them there.
Receipts over adjectives
Replace "amazing results" with the number, the review, the ingredient or the guarantee. Specifics sell. Adjectives scroll past.
What email design and copywriting costs.
We do not sell design or copy by the hour or by the email. You buy it inside a fixed-scope project or a monthly retainer, and the price is agreed before the work starts. The audit that scopes it is free.
Template system build
$3-15K
Our published project range in USD, depending on scope · 1-6 weeks typical
Master templates, reusable blocks and copy guidelines your team can run without a developer. One fee, agreed before work starts.
Campaign copy and design
Monthly
Typically $3-12K USD a month · 30 days notice
Inside full management, every campaign includes copywriting and design, alongside the calendar, flows, testing, deliverability and reporting. Month to month.
The full schedule and contract terms are on our pricing page. If you only need copy for a handful of emails, a freelancer may be the cheaper route. If the emails are not earning, the audit tells you whether the problem is the creative or something upstream, like deliverability or segmentation.
How to buy it: the template system project.
One project, four steps. You end up with a small set of master templates and blocks your team can edit without a developer, and the copy rules that go with them.
Free creative audit
We review your templates, copy and click data, flag what is adding drag, and send a written plan within 24 hours of access, with a fixed scope and price for the build.
The template system
A few master templates and a library of reusable blocks in Klaviyo's editor, custom HTML only where the editor runs out, and copy guidelines for subject line, preview text, body and CTA.
Inbox checks
Every template checked on mobile, in Gmail, Apple Mail and Outlook, in light and dark mode, for accessibility and for code weight under the Gmail clipping limit.
Judged on revenue
Plain and designed variants tested on clicks, placed orders and revenue per recipient. Then your team runs the system, or we keep running it on a retainer.
Want to see the work first? We share client email examples on the audit call rather than posting them here. Request the free audit to get the scope and price for your account.
How we work vs. how creative agencies work
A heavily designed email can take around 30 hours to produce and gets called "elevated content." In our experience, a conversion-engineered email takes about 4 hours and gets the click. The difference shows up in your revenue, not your inbox.
Other agencies
They decorate.
- The goal A beautiful email worth showcasing in their portfolio
- The metric Open rate, "engagement," brand consistency
- The email Image-heavy, scrollable, multi-section, designer-approved typography
- A/B testing Subject lines, occasionally
- The reporting Monthly engagement deck with vanity metrics
- Hours per email Around 30 hours of design work
- What you get A pretty inbox
Email Optimize
We engineer.
- The goal The click and the sale. Pretty isn't a goal.
- The metric Revenue per recipient, attributed orders, flow contribution %
- The email One message, one CTA, mostly text, built for inbox placement
- A/B testing Subject + send time + flow architecture + segment + offer
- The reporting Live revenue dashboard. Klaviyo access. Monthly written read-out.
- Hours per email About 4 hours of engineering, not 30 of decoration
- What you get Email + SMS growing as a share of revenue (Popl: under 20% to 50-60%)
If you've been told email is supposed to look like a landing page, you've been sold a billable hour, not a revenue strategy.
Why pretty emails lose: read the manifestoThree brands. Receipts.
Selected from 800+ engagements. The brief, the intervention, the number that moved.
Better Body Co.
/ Health & Supplements
of revenue from email (from 10%)
/ Brief
Email at 10% of revenue. Inflection point looming.
/ Intervention
Stripped flow architecture. Rebuilt around purchase behaviour. 3-month consulting program with 10+ person in-house team.
Popl
/ NFC Tech
of revenue from email + SMS
/ Brief
Email + SMS stuck under 20%. Y-Combinator scaling pressure.
/ Intervention
Separated B2B and B2C journeys. Fixed deliverability fundamentals. Removed visual noise from every flow over 21 months.
Relaxium
/ Supplements
incremental email + SMS
/ Brief
INC 5000 brand, 1,040% growth over 3 years. Email lagging.
/ Intervention
Ongoing Head of Retention Marketing role. Plain-aesthetic emails, instrumented architecture, monthly tested cadence.
/ More case studies in the archive
See all mission reportsOther services
What clients radio in.
Verbatim.
Real results from real brands, in their own words. Auto-scrolling because there are too many to fit.
FAQ
Q.01 Are plain-text or HTML emails better for ecommerce? +
Answer
Neither wins everywhere, which is why we test. Plain or near-plain emails tend to win for founder notes, welcome emails, win-back and post-purchase check-ins. A light design with one strong product image tends to win for abandoned cart, browse abandonment and launches. Heavily designed, image-stacked emails rarely beat either, and when they do, the test will show it.
Q.02 Do you design in Klaviyo's drag-and-drop editor or in custom HTML? +
Answer
Both. The drag-and-drop editor is the right default for most brands because your team can edit it, universal content blocks keep headers and footers consistent, and product blocks pull straight from your catalog. Custom HTML earns its place when you need a layout the editor cannot produce or a locked master template. Every custom template is code someone has to maintain, so we build the smallest system that does the job.
Q.03 Do you write the copy as well as design the email? +
Answer
Yes. Copy and design are briefed together because they are one job: getting one message to one click. Subject line, preview text, body, CTA and layout are written and built as a unit, then tested on clicks, placed orders and revenue per recipient.
Q.04 How do you make emails work in dark mode? +
Answer
We use transparent logo files with a safe outline, avoid putting text inside images, pick brand colours that survive inversion, and preview every template in light and dark mode across Apple Mail, Gmail and Outlook before it ships.
Q.05 How do you measure whether an email design is working? +
Answer
By clicks, placed orders and revenue per recipient, not by how it looks in a review or by open rate alone. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, so we judge variants on what happens after the open.
Q.06 Can I hire you just for email design and copywriting? +
Answer
Design and copy are part of how we deliver flow builds and campaign management, where every campaign includes copywriting and design. A template system build can also be scoped as a fixed project. The free audit is the fastest way to see which fits your account.
Q.07 How much do email design and copywriting services cost? +
Answer
We do not price design or copy by the hour or by the email. A template system build is a fixed-scope project within our published $3-15K USD project range, depending on scope. Ongoing copy and design for campaigns is included in a full management retainer, typically $3-12K USD a month, month to month with 30 days notice. Published ranges are in USD. The free audit ends with a specific scope and price for your account.
Q.08 What is the 40-40-20 rule in marketing? +
Answer
It is a direct-mail rule usually credited to Ed Mayer in the 1960s: 40% of a campaign's result comes from the list, 40% from the offer and 20% from the creative. It is a rule of thumb, not a measurement, but it holds up in email. Sending to the right segment with an offer worth clicking matters more than the layout. That is why our design work starts with who gets the email and what it asks them to do, and only then with how it looks.
Q.09 What is the 80/20 rule in copywriting? +
Answer
The usual version: 8 out of 10 people read the headline, and only 2 read the rest. It traces back to David Ogilvy, who wrote in Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963) that five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. In email, the headline is the subject line and preview text, then the first line of the body. Spend your effort there, and make sure the email still works for the reader who never scrolls.
Q.10 Is AI replacing copywriters? +
Answer
Not the part that sells. AI drafts subject lines, variants and product descriptions quickly, and it is useful for that. What it cannot do on its own is decide what to say to which segment, know your customers' objections, or check a claim against what your product can legally promise. Those decisions are most of the job. The test is the same for a person or a model: write two versions and let clicks and orders pick the winner.
Q.11 What is the standard email banner size? +
Answer
Design banners 600px wide, the standard email template width and Klaviyo's default. A header or logo banner is usually 600 by 80 to 200px, and a hero banner 600 by 300 to 600px. Export at double size, 1200px wide, so images stay sharp on high-resolution screens, and keep each file well under 1MB. Put the offer and the call to action in live text, not inside the image, so they survive blocked images and dark mode.
Strip the drag. Keep the click.
Free audit. We review your templates, copy and click data, flag what is adding drag, and send a written 90-day plan within 24 hours.
Or browse all services →/ Free Audit
Get your free email creative audit
Drop your store URL and email. We'll review your templates, copy and click data and send a written 90-day roadmap within 24 hours. No obligation.