Most Klaviyo agencies will pass a sales call. The pitch decks look the same, the case studies have the same shape, and every one of them says “full service.” The way to tell them apart is to ask questions a weak agency cannot answer well, and to know in advance what a good answer sounds like. Here is the list we would use if we were hiring one.
Decide what email is supposed to do before you take a call
You cannot evaluate an agency against nothing. Before the first call, write down three numbers: what email and SMS produce today as a share of revenue, what you think that share should be in twelve months, and how many campaigns a month you can stomach sending. Then list what the program needs: flows rebuilt or built, a campaign calendar, SMS, design, deliverability work, list growth.
That is your spec. Every agency gets measured against it, and every quote gets read against it. A brand with email at 12% of revenue and a half-built flow set needs a different agency than a brand at 35% that needs campaign volume and design. Both agencies will tell you they are the one.
For reference, email at 15% of revenue is underbuilt for most DTC brands. At Toups & Co it is 55%.
The questions that expose a weak agency
Ask all of these on the first or second call. The right column is what a good agency says without being prompted.
| Ask | A good answer | A bad answer |
|---|---|---|
| Who will run my account, and can I meet them before I sign? | A named person, on the next call, who has run accounts your size | “You will be assigned a strategist after onboarding” |
| How many brands does that person carry? | Under eight, and they can tell you the number | They do not know, or it is ten or more |
| What do you need from me before you touch Klaviyo? | Margin, AOV, repeat rate, inventory, promo calendar, 90 days of revenue | Klaviyo admin access and a logo |
| When will the first rebuilt flow be live? | A date inside three weeks of signing | “After the strategy phase,” with no date |
| What exactly is included? | A written list: flows, campaign count, design, copy, SMS, deliverability, reporting | “Full service” |
| Which attribution window do you report on? | Klaviyo’s default, unchanged, visible in my account | Their own window, in their own dashboard |
| Who owns the account, the templates and the data? | You do, from day one | The agency, or “we will transfer it at the end” |
| What are the exit terms? | 30 to 60 days’ notice, no lock-in after the build | Twelve months minimum |
| Who answers when something breaks, and how fast? | A named person and a response time | A support email |
Any two bad answers and you should move on. The questions are not tricks. They describe how a competent agency already works, which is why a competent one answers them easily.
Ask for proof with a name and a mechanism
Every agency has results. The question is whether they are results or math.
A real result has three parts: a brand you can look up, a number with a time frame, and the mechanism, meaning what changed in the account to produce it. “Toups & Co, $2M to more than $15M in under 18 months, with email now 55% of revenue” is a result. “We increased a skincare brand’s email revenue 300%” is a sentence. It has no brand, no base, no time frame, and 300% of a small number is still a small number.
Ask for the mechanism in plain words. Which flows were rebuilt, what the segmentation did differently, what happened to send frequency, what happened to the list. You are not asking for their playbook. You are checking that the person on the call did the work, because people who did the work can explain it and people who read the case study cannot.
Then ask the question most buyers skip: which clients did it not work for, and why. An agency that has never had a bad outcome has either not been around long or is not telling you.
What the Klaviyo partner badge measures, and what it does not
Klaviyo runs a partner program with tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Elite), and the public directory lists agencies by tier. The tier is driven mainly by how much revenue the agency’s clients run through Klaviyo and by staff certifications.
That makes it a measure of volume and familiarity with the platform. It does not measure whether the agency will do a good job for a brand your size. A Platinum partner running 60 accounts and a Silver partner running 12 can both be excellent, and the one with the bigger badge is more likely to put a junior person on a $3M brand because the senior people are on the $30M ones.
Use the directory as a filter: an agency with no badge at all has either not worked in Klaviyo much or not bothered, and either is worth a question. Then ignore the tier and go back to the questions above.
Red flags that end the conversation
Revenue share with no base fee. The agency is paid on a number it controls (the attribution window), so the invoice grows whether or not orders do. Our pricing article covers why this model is the wrong deal.
One strategist on ten or more accounts. Your account gets the hours left over.
A single flow quoted at a day or two. Flows that are built in a day are templates with your logo on them.
Nothing live three weeks after signing. Strategy phases that run for months are usually a staffing problem described as rigor.
Results with no brand name and no method. See above.
Klaviyo access requested before any question about your business. They are about to install the same thing they installed last week.
Reporting that lives in the agency’s deck instead of your Klaviyo account. You cannot check it, and they know that.
A portfolio where every brand’s emails look the same. Pull up three of their clients’ welcome emails. If you cannot tell the brands apart, you will not be able to tell yours apart either.
Discounting as the default strategy. If the first idea on the call is a bigger welcome offer and more promo sends, they are planning to buy revenue with your margin.
What the first call should feel like
A good first call is mostly them asking you questions. Margin, average order value, repeat purchase rate, inventory position, promo calendar, what the last agency did and why it ended. By the end of the call they should be able to tell you two things: what they would do first and whether you are a fit. A good agency says no sometimes, and says it on the first call rather than three months in.
If the call is mostly their deck, you have learned what you needed to know.
How we work, for comparison
Senior people only, no interns or junior staff on client calls, and a cap on how many brands we take so the person on your call is the person in your account. A flat monthly retainer scoped to your program and quoted on the first call, with no share of email revenue. Your Klaviyo account, your templates, your data, from day one. And a first call that is about your margin and your flows, not our deck. If you are under $1M a year we will say so and point you at a freelancer, because the retainer math does not work yet.
Questions people ask
How do I know if a Klaviyo agency is good?
Ask to meet the person who will run your account, ask how many brands they carry, and ask for one result with a brand name, a number and the mechanism behind it. Then ask what they need from you before they touch Klaviyo. A good agency names a person, says a number under eight, gives you a checkable result, and asks about margin and repeat rate before it asks for access.
Should I hire a Klaviyo partner agency?
The partner badge is a reasonable filter and a poor verdict. It measures how much revenue the agency runs through Klaviyo and how many staff are certified, which tells you the agency knows the platform. It does not tell you who will be on your account or how many other accounts they have. Use the directory to build a shortlist, then evaluate the way you would any agency.
How many clients should an email strategist have?
Under eight is workable for a strategist who is actually building and testing flows, writing the calendar and reading the numbers every week. At ten or more, your account is getting the hours left after the bigger accounts are served. Ask for the number directly. An agency that does not know it is not managing it.
What should a Klaviyo agency deliver in the first month?
An audit of the existing account with specific findings, a written scope, and at least one rebuilt flow live inside three weeks of signing. If the first month ends with a strategy document and nothing sending, the agency is understaffed or stalling. Ask for the first-flow date before you sign and hold them to it.
Is a Klaviyo certification worth anything?
It proves the person has completed Klaviyo's training, which rules out people who have never used the platform. It does not prove they have grown a brand. Treat it the way you would treat a driver's license when hiring a driver: necessary, and not the thing you are hiring for.
Klaviyo email marketing for DTC brands
Flows, campaigns, design and deliverability, run as one program by senior people.
See how we run itNext step
Build the spec first, then take the calls with the questions above in front of you. If you want to see how we answer them, our email marketing page lists what we build and who it is for, and the pricing article explains what a retainer should include at each price. If you would rather just ask us the questions, book a call and bring your Klaviyo revenue share and your margin.
