Potent Hockey · hockey brand
339.3%
YoY increase in email revenue in Q4
over 3 months
Strong ad traffic, but a small list and lagging flows were limiting what email could contribute ahead of Q4.
Free guide for Shopify brands
The Complete Email & SMS Playbook
Everything you need to know to bring customers back and keep them buying.
Find your retention gaps, build better flows and campaigns, and create emails customers have a reason to act on. Learn through practical explanations, real design examples, videos, and useful tools.
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A look inside the guide
See what’s inside
A guide you can work through from the beginning or return to when you need help with a specific part of your strategy.
Practical explanations
Know your numbers before you send more emails
Real email designs
Explore the choices behind real creative
Useful tools
Build your own 30/60/90-day roadmap
Build a strategy you understand and know how to improve
01
Find where customers stop buying
Understand your numbers, identify retention gaps, and investigate what gives customers a reason to return.
02
Build the right flows and campaigns
Grow a useful audience, plan relevant messages, and coordinate email and SMS without unnecessary complexity.
03
Create clearer emails
Work from a focused brief to a readable design, explore real examples, and use AI to support production and review.
04
Know what to improve next
Check deliverability, measure changes, and turn your priorities into a practical 30/60/90-day roadmap.
Built by Nick, founder of Barbs Media
This playbook brings together how I approach email, SMS, and customer retention for ecommerce brands. The goal is to help you understand what matters, make better decisions, and give your customers useful reasons to buy again.
From our client work
GenTeal · apparel brand
317%
increase in email revenue
over 1 year
An email channel that existed but had little structure and no consistent ownership.
Patara Shoes · footwear brand
131%
increase in email revenue
in the first 90 days
A strong core audience and excellent product, but email was immensely under-leveraged and sales leaned on ad spend.
State of Flux · Streetwear brand
90%
increase in flow revenue
over 1 year
Campaigns were already driving the majority of revenue, but the automated flows were lacking.
These are results from Barbs Media’s client work, not outcomes promised by reading this guide.
14 chapters, from understanding your numbers to building your roadmap
01Understand your business(4 chapters)
- What a Great Email Strategy Actually Looks Like
- Know Your Numbers Before You Send More Emails
- Find Your Biggest Retention Gaps
- Understand What Brings Customers Back
02Build your email and SMS strategy(6 chapters)
- Build an Audience Worth Sending To
- Build the Flows Your Customers Actually Need
- Build a Campaign Calendar With a Purpose
- How to Use SMS to Bring Customers Back
- Keep Segmentation Simple
- How to Create Emails That Sell
03Improve your strategy(3 chapters)
- The Deliverability Checklist
- Measure Progress and Find Out What’s Working
- How to Use AI the Right Way in 2027
04Put it into action(1 chapter)
- Build Your 30/60/90-Day Roadmap
Give customers a reason to come back
Get the free playbook and start with the part of your email and SMS strategy that needs attention most.