Nabeel Azeez, co-owner of Dubai-based email marketing agency Dropkick Copy, is challenging conventional wisdom in the digital marketing space, particularly concerning email engagement metrics and subscriber management. Azeez, whose agency primarily serves U.S.-based clients across e-commerce, SaaS, and private equity sectors, advocates for an aggressive, segmentation-driven approach to email marketing, emphasizing revenue generation over traditional vanity metrics like open rates. In a recent interview, Azeez detailed his agency’s methodologies, which include exceptionally high email frequencies and a reluctance to purge unengaged subscribers, a stance that has even drawn attention from major email marketing platforms.
The Dropkick Copy Philosophy: Revenue Over Engagement Metrics
Dropkick Copy’s operational philosophy is rooted in a singular focus: maximizing client revenue through strategic email communication. Azeez views metrics like open rates with skepticism, labeling them as "vanity metrics." He asserts that the true measure of email marketing success lies solely in the revenue it generates. This perspective directly contrasts with many industry best practices that prioritize subscriber engagement as a proxy for campaign effectiveness.
"The open rate is a vanity metric," Azeez stated emphatically during a recent discussion. "The only thing that matters is revenue." This bold declaration underscores his agency’s commitment to driving tangible financial results for their clients, even if it means employing strategies that might initially appear counterintuitive to some in the industry.
The agency’s approach is characterized by a high-frequency sending model, particularly for their e-commerce clients. While many brands typically send around three emails per week, Dropkick Copy often escalates this to daily dispatches, and in some cases, multiple emails per day, meticulously tailored to distinct audience segments. For one prominent e-commerce client, the agency orchestrates a sophisticated campaign involving eight distinct emails daily, each directed at a unique, finely-tuned segment of the subscriber list.
This aggressive strategy has not gone unnoticed. Azeez revealed that their email marketing platform, Klaviyo, recently issued a warning regarding the volume of emails sent to unengaged subscribers. This caution highlights the tension between Azeez’s revenue-centric approach and the platform’s adherence to more traditional engagement-based deliverability guidelines.
Onboarding and Segmentation: A Data-Driven Blueprint
The onboarding process at Dropkick Copy is designed to quickly identify and capitalize on revenue opportunities. For B2B clients, a crucial first step involves reaching out to subscribers who have not made a purchase with a concise, nine-word email. This direct question, "Are you still interested in what we’re selling?", aims to gauge interest and elicit a response, often resulting in hundreds of replies, depending on the size of the subscriber list.
For e-commerce clients, the agency begins by auditing existing email automation flows, identifying any missing components, and implementing them. This is followed by the strategic increase in sending frequency.
Azeez elaborated on the intricate segmentation strategies employed by Dropkick Copy, explaining how they move beyond basic demographic or purchase history segmentation. "The easiest way is by engagement – the last seven days, 30 days, or 60 to 90 days," he noted. However, the agency delves much deeper, creating segments for:
- Recently Engaged: Subscribers who have interacted with emails in the last 7, 30, or 60-90 days.
- Long-Term Dormant: Individuals who subscribed a significant time ago but have not engaged recently.
- "Whales": High-value customers who purchase frequently and spend substantial amounts.
- "Potential Whales": Subscribers who buy often but with lower average order values.
- Loyal Customers: Those who make frequent purchases of smaller amounts.
- "Churned Whales" / "Lapsed Whales": High-value customers who are either showing signs of churn or haven’t purchased in an extended period.
This granular segmentation ensures that each subscriber receives a personalized message tailored to their specific behavior and value to the business. "There’s no overlap. It’s one email per person," Azeez emphasized, highlighting the precision of their system.
The messaging and promotional strategies are then adapted for each segment. For instance, "potential whales" might receive incentives designed to increase their average order value, such as a gift with a minimum purchase. Alternatively, the agency leverages dynamic content features within platforms like Klaviyo to insert segment-specific messages within a single email template, ensuring personalization at scale.
Growing Revenue: From $10,000 to $20,000 and Beyond
For smaller e-commerce brands generating around $10,000 in monthly email revenue and employing basic segmentation with standard flows like post-purchase and abandoned carts, Azeez outlines a clear path to doubling their income.
"First, it depends on your products. Are they repeat, consumable items or one-offs?" Azeez posed, emphasizing that product lifecycle is a critical factor in email strategy. "Second, how many subscribers are you adding every week? The more new subscribers you have, the more aggressively you can email them."
He also points out that the client’s long-term strategy influences their approach. Brands focused on immediate sales might adopt a more aggressive emailing strategy than those prioritizing sustained customer relationships.
The immediate recommendation for such a brand would be to increase sending frequency from three times a week to daily emails, provided the subscriber list is growing. A thorough review of existing automations to identify missed revenue opportunities is also crucial.
Azeez also stressed the importance of understanding the broader impact of email marketing on other channels. "A solid email program can drive ROAS and MER on Meta Ads, for example," he noted. He advocates for shifting email attribution from a last-click model to a first-click model to accurately reflect email’s influence on other marketing efforts.
Addressing Common E-commerce Email Marketing Pitfalls
Azeez identified several common mistakes that e-commerce companies make in their email marketing efforts. One of the most significant is the insufficient testing of opt-in pop-up offers. "Merchants don’t test their opt-in pop-up offers enough," he stated. This includes not only the discount percentage but also experimenting with alternative incentives like free products or free shipping, or even bundles of related items.
He warned against the overuse of blanket discounts, suggesting that offering a 10% discount too frequently can condition shoppers to expect such promotions, diminishing their impact and potentially eroding profit margins over time. "Offering a 10% discount trains shoppers to expect it in other promotions," he advised.
The Controversial Stance on Unengaged Subscribers
Perhaps Azeez’s most unconventional view pertains to the handling of unengaged subscribers. While many marketers advocate for a strict "sunset policy" to remove inactive subscribers and improve deliverability, Azeez takes a different approach.
"Set up a sunset unengaged automation. I typically set it to 90 days," he explained. "If they haven’t opened, clicked, or purchased within the past 90 days, they will receive that automated message. If they still show no signs of life, we’ll pause them for a while."
His core principle is to avoid outright unsubscribing these individuals. "I try not to unsubscribe them," Azeez asserted. "I’ll keep them and send a reactivation email every month or quarter. In my experience, around 10% of unengaged folks will come back eventually."
This strategy is based on empirical evidence suggesting that a significant portion of seemingly unengaged subscribers can be reactivated. The reactivation emails are designed to be engaging and often take the form of plain-text messages, which are more likely to land in a user’s primary inbox rather than a promotions tab. "Our reactivation emails look like other emails, though we’ll occasionally send a plain-text version to spur a response. Sometimes we send long, educational, text-only messages that are much more likely to land in the main inbox than a promotion." This approach aims to re-establish a connection and demonstrate ongoing value, potentially reigniting dormant interest.
Integrating SMS Marketing for Enhanced Revenue
Azeez also discussed the strategic integration of SMS marketing into their client’s communication mix. The agency aims to maintain a similar sending volume for SMS as for email, with the caveat of not sending daily SMS messages. Instead, they typically aim for two to three SMS dispatches per week.
"SMS usually makes a lot more money than email," Azeez revealed. This higher revenue potential often leads the agency to increase SMS frequency when additional revenue is a primary objective. However, the nature of SMS necessitates brevity and impact. Promotional SMS messages are designed to be as concise as possible, acknowledging the typically higher cost associated with SMS compared to email.
Connecting with Nabeel Azeez and Dropkick Copy
For businesses seeking to implement these advanced email and SMS marketing strategies, Nabeel Azeez and his agency, Dropkick Copy, offer their expertise. The agency’s official website, DropkickCopy.com, provides detailed information about their services. Azeez also maintains a personal website at Nabeelazeez.com and is active on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @NabeelAzeez. This presence allows potential clients and industry peers to engage with his insights and explore collaboration opportunities. The agency’s work with clients across diverse sectors, from burgeoning e-commerce startups to established SaaS providers, demonstrates the adaptability and effectiveness of their revenue-focused, segmentation-driven email marketing approach.
