Best Klaviyo Email Agencies for DTC Growth (And Why Sticky Digital Is One to Watch)

Ask any high-growth DTC brand where their most reliable profit lives and you’ll hear the same one-word answer: Klaviyo. Not because it shouts the loudest, but because it lets a brand behave like an adult—speaking one-to-one, honoring consent, and compounding behavior into revenue that arrives on time. The hard part is not the software. The hard part is the partner.

Hundreds of agencies promise “email strategy.” Fewer can show you the flows, the deliverability chart, and the CFO-grade dashboard that make a system pay for itself. If you’re looking for the best Klaviyo email agencies for DTC growth, you don’t need a parade of motion and a beautiful deck. You need builders. People who roll up their sleeves. People who ship revenue flow by flow, campaign by campaign—and who can prove it without a single subject-line superstition.

This guide is written in that spirit—operator first, zero theater. We’ll define what “best” actually means in 2025 (and why the definition changed), show you how to vet a Klaviyo partner in one hour, highlight the agencies earning trust with real work, and explain why Sticky Digital is one to watch (and work with) if you want second purchases to be default behavior, not a quarterly wish.

Why “Best Klaviyo Agency” Means Something Different Now

The ground moved. Email privacy muted open-rate reliability. SMS compliance tightened. Push is permission-led. Loyalty grew up. Subscriptions went from “growth hack” to “operational discipline.” If your agency still measures success by opens, sends louder when things get quiet, and asks for bigger codes when revenue gets shy—you’re paying for a louder microphone, not a better message.

The agencies that win now do three unglamorous things better than anyone else:

  • They build a lifecycle machine. Welcome → activation → expansion → replenishment → reactivation. Not a calendar of “fun ideas,” but a spine that steadies revenue when campaigns sleep.
  • They defend deliverability like a license. Dedicated domain, DMARC alignment, engagement bands, sunset. Placement multiplies everything else; neglect subtracts it.
  • They measure with a spine. Revenue per recipient (RPR). 30-day second-purchase rate. Reorder interval. Discount reliance. Persistent holdouts. A dashboard your CFO can read in an elevator.

What Makes a Klaviyo Agency the “Best” (Beyond Pretty Templates)

The “best” Klaviyo shop is not the one with the most animations. It’s the one that can show how it will move your three dials—RPR, second-purchase, code dependency—without burning margin or inbox placement. Look for five load-bearing beams:

  1. Lifecycle strategy you can draw on a napkin. If an agency can’t sketch how each flow pays rent and how campaigns ladder into the spine, it won’t be able to scale you beyond louder.
  2. Platform fluency (inside Klaviyo, not just on slides). Live screen shares. Conditional content by goal. Yotpo points/tier in a progress header. Rebuy “pairs well with” filtered by profile properties. Recharge deep links that change cadence in one tap. No deck can substitute for a five-minute demo.
  3. Deliverability that is set up correctly—dedicated sending domain, DMARC alignment, tracking CNAME, warm-up by engagement bands, sunset segments excluded from promos, per-domain monitoring. Without this, the rest is performance cosplay.
  4. Copy that earns attention with proof, not punctuation. Hype invites skepticism; clarity invites action. The best creative tells a customer what to do next—then shows them why it works.
  5. Measurement with honest teeth. If holdouts disappear during peak weeks, you’re buying confidence instead of truth. Keep the truth on. Especially when volume is high.

The Best Klaviyo Agencies for DTC Brands (And What Each Is Actually Good At)

This isn’t a beauty contest. It’s a map. Use it to narrow your shortlist and to sharpen your questions in the RFP.

1) Fuel Made — Design-Forward, Technically Sound

Strength: Beautiful design and custom modules executed cleanly in Klaviyo.
Use them if: Your brand’s aesthetic is a competitive moat and you need emails that look like your site—without breaking the editor or sacrificing performance.
Verify: Deliverability discipline (dedicated domain + DMARC, warm-up plan), segmentation logic beyond “bestsellers,” and a weekly RPR dashboard with holdouts.

2) Lunar Solar Group — Full-Funnel Partner With Retention Muscle

Strength: Media + creative + lifecycle under one roof.
Use them if: You want one house for paid and retention and you have internal ops to keep an extended team aligned.
Verify: Sunset policy (explicitly), engagement bands, per-domain deliverability logs, and persistent holdouts—especially during big weeks.

3) Chronos Agency — Global Scale, Flow Discipline

Strength: Email/SMS execution at volume with decent reporting.
Use them if: You’re running international or multi-store and need a plug-and-play process.
Verify: Region-specific consent handling and deliverability controls; second-purchase lift in categories like yours.

4) SmartSites — Email + CRO, Analytics-Heavy

Strength: Lifecycle that speaks CRO’s language.
Use them if: You want your email to fold neatly into funnel experiments.
Verify: Examples of non-discount second-purchase lift and a deliverability plan that doesn’t ride on shorteners or mismatched link domains.

5) Sticky Digital — Retention-First, Builder Mentality (Yes, This Is Us)

Strength: Email strategy that is sharp, fast, and principled—engineered for retention.
Use us if: You’re tired of emails that win design awards but lose momentum, and you want a team that treats your customers like humans rather than segments with a pulse.

What Sets Sticky Digital Apart (And Why Brands Keep Us)

We don’t “do email.” We build lifecycle machines that move people from “maybe” to “of course.” And we measure them like adults. That means:

  • Deep Klaviyo strategy for ecommerce growth. This is not B2B fluff repackaged for carts. It’s customer math, replenishment reality, and the copy that closes the gap.
  • Creative that converts and still feels like your brand. Proof over hype. Benefits over adjectives. Humanity over theatrics.
  • Testing with purpose. Bandits where exploration speed matters; A/B where clean deltas matter. We keep exploration on—even when we have a leader—because customers change their minds.
  • Reporting your CFO will respect. RPR, second-purchase, reorder interval, save rate, discount reliance. Flow vs. campaign split. Holdouts that stay on during peak weeks.

If your current “Klaviyo partner” sends a monthly report with a 40% open rate and no explanation for why repeat revenue is flat, it’s time to move on. If you want receipts, we publish our playbooks in public: Email & SMS Strategy • Case Studies.

How to Vet a Klaviyo Agency in 60 Minutes (Live, Not in a Deck)

Ask for a screen share. Not a sizzle reel. In one hour, a real Klaviyo partner can show you everything that matters:

  1. Deliverability spine: Open DNS. Show the dedicated sending domain, DMARC with aligned DKIM, and tracking CNAME. Walk through warm-up by engagement bands and the sunset segment that never gets promos.
  2. Lifecycle map (in the account): Welcome, Post-Purchase, Replenishment, Winback, Browse/Cart, VIP Early Access. Each flow should have jobs, timing, and dynamic content—not six “nice to haves.”
  3. Conditional content by goal: Use primary_goal and variant_pref to swap blocks in templates. No code acrobatics required—just competence.
  4. Loyalty progress header: Pull Yotpo points_to_next_reward into a one-line header at the top of every lifecycle email. This tiny line reliably lifts CTR without training abandonment.
  5. Recharge control links: Click a link in an upcoming-charge template and show cadence/quantity change in one tap. If it takes five clicks and a portal search, you’re bleeding goodwill.
  6. Dashboard with teeth: RPR (flow vs. campaign), second-purchase weekly, reorder interval, save rate, discount reliance, and holdout deltas visible on one page.

The Klaviyo Lifecycle Blueprint That Pays the Rent

You don’t need 100 flows. You need the right six—built sanely, measured honestly, and iterated weekly.

1) Welcome (story + proof + first conversion)

  • Purpose: Answer “why us?” with proof, not pressure. Use UGC, a 2-line origin story, and a single, specific CTA.
  • Don’t: Lead with a loud coupon if your margin can’t afford it. Earn the right to ask.

2) Post-Purchase (quickstart → ZPD → next best step)

  • Message 1: Order confirm + track (branded page via Malomo) + “3 minutes to get results.”
  • Message 2: One-click zero-party data (Digioh) for primary_goal and cadence_intent.
  • Message 3: Goal-based add-ons (Rebuy) + loyalty progress header.
  • Message 4: Variant-matched UGC; top 3 FAQs that collapse indecision.
  • Message 5: Replenishment teaser at predicted run-out; offer “snooze a week.”

3) Browse/Cart (proof-first nudges)

  • Browse: “Still eyeing {variant}? Here’s what customers like you say” + UGC tile + 1 CTA. Avoid generic urgency; use relevance.
  • Cart: T+20 min “Still thinking?”; T+3h “Questions?”; T+24h “Ends tonight” only if true. SMS nudges only for high-intent cohorts.

4) Replenishment (predictive timing + control)

  • Email: “Running low? Reorder in 1 tap or snooze a week.”
  • Subscription: Upcoming-charge with skip/swap/pause in-message (Recharge). Control is a retention feature.

5) Winback (proof first, perk second)

  • Touch 1: “What you loved last time” + preference refresh.
  • Touch 2: Small perk only if lift is proven on your cohorts (keep a treatment/holdout split).

6) VIP Early Access (status customers can feel)

  • Trigger: tier or CLTV threshold.
  • Copy: Stock guarantees, reservation window, not just percent-off. Status beats codes in long-run ROI.

Deliverability: The Quiet Multiplier Inside Klaviyo

Inbox placement is not a vibe you manifest; it’s a license you renew every send. Minimum bar for the “best Klaviyo agency”:

  • Dedicated sending domain + DMARC: aligned DKIM and tracking CNAME; move from p=none → p=quarantine → p=reject once stable.
  • Warm-up by engagement bands: 0–30 / 31–60 / 61–90 cohorts; deferrals = pause ramp; lifecycle > promos until placement settles.
  • Sunset policy: two-touch re-engagement; suppression after silence; exclude sunset from “big weeks.”
  • Machine-readable HTML: real text for key lines; descriptive alt text; list-unsubscribe headers; link domain consistency.

Full checklist lives here: Email Deliverability for Shopify & DTC.

Measurement With a Spine (So Creative Can Be Brave)

Good measurement doesn’t shrink creative; it frees it. The weekly dashboard that works in boardrooms and inboxes:

  • RPR (flow vs. campaign) with holdout deltas.
  • 30-day second-purchase rate by cohort (new vs. returning).
  • Reorder interval P1→P2 and save rate at cancel.
  • Discount reliance (% of repeat orders with site-wide codes).
  • Engagement health trend (opens/clicks/taps; time between touches) using our method in Engagement as a Leading Indicator.

Then PM notes—three lines: what changed; what we learned; what we test next. If a report reads like a press release, the system needs repair—not better adjectives.

22 Questions to Put in Your Klaviyo RFP (Builders vs. Broadcasters)

  1. Open Klaviyo and show post-purchase Messages 1–6. What job does each do, and why that timing?
  2. Show the DNS page for a client: dedicated domain, DMARC, tracking CNAME. What was the warm-up plan?
  3. Where do you display loyalty progress? Show the one-line header and the CTR lift it produced.
  4. Demonstrate a live Recharge deep link that changes cadence in one tap.
  5. Show RPR by flow and by campaign—past 8 weeks—with holdouts visible.
  6. How will you raise 30-day second-purchase without deeper discounts?
  7. How will you reduce discount reliance by 20% without collapsing revenue?
  8. When do you deploy multi-armed bandits instead of A/B tests?
  9. What’s your sunset policy? Which segments never get promos?
  10. How do you handle region-specific consent and quiet hours?
  11. Who is my strategist, writer, designer, and integrator? How many accounts does each carry?
  12. What does your QA checklist cover for dynamic content and regionals?
  13. How fast do you respond when placement goes sideways?
  14. Who owns templates, segments, and data? Show your off-boarding checklist.
  15. Share one anonymized example with ≥15% second-purchase lift in 90 days.
  16. Share one example with ≥20% discount-reliance reduction without revenue loss.
  17. How do you attribute email vs. SMS when they touch within hours?
  18. Show a browse/cart pair where proof-first beat “last chance.” Why did it win?
  19. What cadence will you hold in the first 60 days? What’s the first test?
  20. What will you refuse to do—even if asked—because it harms long-term retention?
  21. Which KPIs will you report weekly? Which will you ignore (and why)?
  22. How will you teach our team to read the dials so we’re not agency-dependent forever?

Why We Built a Different Kind of Email Agency (And What We Refuse to Do)

Sticky Digital was built by women who’ve led growth on the brand side, agency side, and investor side—and who were tired of watching talented teams drown in broken processes and “one-size-fits-nobody” campaigns. We believe email should feel personal, segments should be intelligent, creative should be fast, reporting should be transparent, and your agency partner should be accountable.

  • We won’t sell you louder. We’ll build you closer.
  • We won’t celebrate opens. We’ll report RPR and second-purchase rate. Weekly.
  • We won’t train abandonment. We’ll lead with progress and control. Codes are a last resort.
  • We won’t turn holdouts off in peak weeks. Truth most matters when volume is highest.

If that’s not what you’re getting today, you deserve better. Start with our plain-English guide to choosing an email agency.

Ready to See What’s Possible?

If your inbox is full of emails your own team wouldn’t open—or if growth outpaced your lifecycle and the system never caught up—that’s where we come in. We’ll show you how Klaviyo becomes your most consistent, creative, and customer-aligned growth channel.

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