The problemYour emails land in spam and you still pay for subscribers who never open.
Email Marketing Agency Alternative: Out of Spam First, Then Flows That Sell
In shortEmail marketing from Pixel & Oak is done-for-you email work for online stores and service businesses whose emails land in spam or rarely get sent. We fix deliverability first, build welcome, abandoned-cart and win-back flows in your platform, then write monthly campaigns. Setup starts at $1,500 and takes 2–4 weeks; campaigns start at $800 a month.
An email marketing agency usually starts with a content calendar. We start with the question most owners are really asking: is anyone receiving these emails? If your messages land in spam, your signup form stopped loading, or your abandoned-cart flow quietly broke, better copy changes nothing. So we check your domain settings, complaint rate and flows before we write a single campaign.
Then we build the automated emails that earn money every day, such as welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase and win-back, inside the platform you already pay for. Our writing agent drafts from your products and customer questions, our automation agent wires the triggers and data, and Haider Ali edits and approves every email before it sends. You see a fixed price before we start.
Fig. — Before: campaigns in spam and a bill for dead contacts. After: sending authenticated, bots kept off the list, and the list cleaned.
Sound familiar?
These are the problems store owners and service businesses describe most often when email stops working.
Our emails land in spam or Promotions and we don't know why
Flows and campaigns you paid to write go unseen. Gmail expects bulk senders to use DMARC and one-click unsubscribe and to keep spam complaints under 0.30%, so a sender who drifts over gets filtered at the biggest inbox provider.
What we doWe audit deliverability before any copy: SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your own sending domain, Google Postmaster Tools, a complaint-rate watch, a sunset flow for people who never open, and a slow ramp on new domains.
Paying every month for subscribers who will never buy again
Platforms that bill by profile charge you for dead contacts. Those same contacts drag down inbox placement for the customers who do read, so you pay twice.
What we doWe suppress rather than delete, tag each profile with the reason, run one win-back first, protect anyone who bought or clicked recently, and check that your plan drops to the new billable count.
Our abandoned cart flow stopped sending and nobody noticed
Signup forms stop loading, order events stop syncing after a plan change, or a flow starts bouncing. The emails that earn money every day go quiet for weeks before anyone looks.
What we doWe test every flow end to end with real or test orders at launch, then run a monthly flow-health check on form views, event syncing, flow sends, bounces and complaints.
Email marketing agencies want $2,000+ a month and won't say why
Agencies on page one list starting budgets of $2,000 to $5,000 or more a month, and many publish no price at all. Small stores either go without or sign a retainer without knowing what is in it.
What we doWe publish our prices: $1,500 to set up the core flows and fix deliverability, then campaigns from $800 a month for up to four emails. Your platform bills you directly.
The platform is too complicated and simple tasks eat our evenings
Campaigns get skipped, new leads wait days for a reply, and problems sit until someone has time to dig through help articles or a paid support plan.
What we doWe do the work inside the platform you already pay for. Our agents draft and wire up the emails, and Haider Ali reviews every one, so you approve instead of build.
Our email platform suspended our account without warning
A suspension can mean days with no sending at all, sometimes in the middle of a sale. Regulated product categories are hit hardest.
What we doOpt-in lists with consent recorded at signup, a check of the platform's acceptable-use rules before we build, scoped API keys, and a regular list export. This lowers the risk; no one can promise a platform will never act.
This is for you if
✓Your emails land in spam or Promotions and you do not know why
✓You pay for a big list, but most of it has not opened anything in months
✓You run a store with no abandoned-cart or welcome emails, or ones set up years ago that nobody checks
✓Leads come in and nobody follows up for days
✓You only email the list when someone remembers to
This is probably not for you if
✕You want to email people who never signed up. We do not send cold email or use bought lists.
✕You want a guaranteed inbox rate or revenue number. Nobody can honestly promise either.
✕You need a certified Klaviyo partner. We are not one.
We would rather tell you now than take the project and disappoint you.
Our email marketing agency alternative at a glance
Starts from
$1,500 to set up the core flows and fix deliverability
Typical timeline
2–4 weeks for setup
Monthly campaigns
From $800 a month for up to four emails
Best for
Online stores and service businesses with an opted-in list
Not for
Cold email, bought lists or scraped addresses
Platforms
Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Brevo, Kit, HubSpot or the one you already pay for
What you own
Your list, flows, templates and sending domain; the platform bills you directly
Who approves
Haider Ali reviews every email before it sends
Worth knowing: Open rates stopped meaning much in 2021, when Apple Mail began loading images automatically for most of its users, which counts as an open whether or not anyone read the email. We judge emails on clicks, orders and replies instead, and on whether people unsubscribe or mark you as spam.
What you get
Deliverability audit and fixes
SPF, DKIM and DMARC on a branded sending domain, one-click unsubscribe, Postmaster Tools and the sender rules Gmail and Yahoo enforce for bulk senders.
Core automated flows
Welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase and win-back, or a lead nurture sequence for service and B2B businesses.
List cleaning that cuts the bill
Unengaged profiles suppressed with a reason, recent buyers protected, and profiles restored automatically if they start a checkout.
Segments that mean something
Customers grouped by what they bought, when, and how engaged they are, so not everyone gets every email.
Signup forms with bot protection
Forms that ask at a sensible moment, with consent recorded and double opt-in or validation to keep junk sign-ups out.
A monthly campaign calendar
Newsletters, launches and offers planned around your year, drafted ahead and sent after your approval.
Monthly flow-health check
Form views, event syncing, flow sends, bounces and spam complaints checked, with revenue, clicks and replies for every email.
Film · 22 seconds
From emails in spam to authenticated sending and a clean list
A 22-second look at the work: a deliverability audit and fixes, signup forms with bot protection, list cleaning, then the core automated flows. From $1,500, 2–4 weeks.
What the film says
Emails land in spam. Dead subscribers still cost money. Flows you paid for go unseen. The cart flow stopped. Nobody noticed. Agencies want $2,000+ a month. There’s a better way. Email marketing: out of spam, then flows that sell. Deliverability audit and fixes. Core automated flows. List cleaning that cuts the bill. From $1,500 · 2–4 weeks · fixed quote. Get a fixed quote. pixelandoak.com/services/email-marketing
Why are my emails going to spam? What email deliverability services check
Most spam problems come from three things: missing or misaligned SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, mailing people who never engage, and sudden jumps in volume. Sending from your platform's shared domain instead of your own makes all three harder to fix. Gmail and Yahoo tightened their bulk-sender rules in 2024, and they now filter senders who ignore them.
→Authentication — SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up and aligned on your own sending domain, not the platform default.
→Spam complaint rate — Gmail asks bulk senders to stay under 0.30% and aim for under 0.10%. We watch it in Postmaster Tools.
→One-click unsubscribe — A working unsubscribe header and link in every marketing email, plus your postal address, as US CAN-SPAM requires.
→List hygiene — A sunset flow for people who never open, and validation to keep bot sign-ups off the list.
→Volume ramp — New domains and long-quiet lists warmed up slowly instead of mailed all at once.
Gmail's Promotions tab is not spam, and nobody can fully control which tab you land in. Plain, personal emails that people reply to tend to do better there.
What email marketing agencies charge, and what you get for it
Most ranking pages either skip pricing or list monthly starting budgets. Here is how the usual options compare for a small store or service business.
Option
Typical cost
What you get
Trade-off
Email marketing agency
Starting budgets of $2,000 to $5,000+ a month listed by agencies on page one
A team, strategy and campaigns
Retainers and contract terms; price often hidden until a call
Freelancer or consultant
Varies widely, often per email or per hour
One person, often a strong writer or a platform specialist
Deliverability and data work may not be included
Do it yourself
Your platform fee plus your time
Full control
Evenings lost to the tool; flows break without anyone checking
Pixel & Oak
$1,500 setup, then from $800 a month for up to four emails
Deliverability fixed, core flows built, monthly campaigns and a flow-health check
Remote only; no partner badges; opt-in lists only
Whoever you hire, ask who writes the emails, who approves them, what deliverability work is included and how long the contract runs.
The flows worth building first, and keeping healthy
→Welcome series — Three to five emails after someone signs up, while they are paying the most attention.
→Abandoned cart and checkout — Reminders to people who started buying and stopped, often one of the highest-earning flows for a store.
→Post-purchase — Delivery details, how to get the most from the product, then a review request and a reason to come back.
→Lead nurture — For service and B2B businesses: useful emails after an inquiry, so you are remembered when they are ready to buy.
→Win-back and sunset — A last attempt to re-engage lapsed customers, then suppressing the ones who never respond, which protects your deliverability and your bill.
Every price, date and promise in an AI draft is checked by a person before it sends, and only people who opted in get marketing email.
Platforms we work in
We work in the platform you already pay for, unless it is the problem.
Store email
Klaviyo, Shopify Email, Omnisend
Newsletters
Mailchimp, Brevo, Kit, ActiveCampaign
CRM email
HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive
Connections
Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe and your CRM, linked natively or through n8n
Not sure whether email marketing is what you actually need? Send over what you are trying to fix and we will tell you straight — including if a smaller job would do it.
Your list, platform, domain settings, forms and current flows reviewed, with deliverability problems fixed first.
2
Build the flows
The core automated emails written, designed, connected and tested with real orders or test leads.
3
Plan the campaigns
A monthly calendar you approve, with emails drafted two weeks ahead.
4
Check and adjust
A monthly flow-health check and results by flow and campaign, with the weakest emails rewritten.
Who works on it
AI agents from our Engineering, Design & Film and Growth & Marketing divisions do the work, in parallel. Haider Ali, founder and CEO, agrees the plan with you and signs off everything before it reaches you.
Agencies on page one list starting budgets of $2,000 to $5,000 or more a month, and many publish no price. Our setup of the core flows, including deliverability fixes, starts at $1,500. Monthly campaigns start at $800 a month for up to four emails. Your email platform's subscription is billed to you directly, so you keep the account if we part ways.
Why are my Klaviyo emails going to spam?
Usually because of missing or misaligned SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, sending from Klaviyo's shared domain instead of your own, mailing profiles that never engage, or a sudden jump in volume. We check all of these first, set up a branded sending domain, add a sunset flow and watch your complaint rate. The same causes apply to Mailchimp and most other platforms.
What spam complaint rate is too high for Gmail?
Gmail asks bulk senders to keep spam complaints under 0.30% and to aim for under 0.10%. Above that, more of your mail gets filtered or rejected. You can see your rate in Google Postmaster Tools once your domain is verified. We set that up and check it every month as part of the flow-health check.
Should I delete or suppress subscribers who never open?
Suppress them. Suppressing stops the emails and, on most profile-billed plans, the charges, while keeping the record so a profile can come back. We run one win-back email first, protect anyone who bought or clicked recently, tag each suppressed profile with the reason, and restore it automatically if that person starts a checkout.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Klaviyo or Mailchimp, and is switching worth it?
Sometimes. If you pay for a large list you rarely use, cleaning the list often saves more than switching. When a switch makes sense, we export your contacts with their consent records, authenticate your domain on the new platform and warm up sending gradually, so your inbox placement does not reset to zero.
Should I hire an email marketing agency, a consultant or a freelancer?
It depends on how much you need. A freelancer suits a few emails a month. A consultant suits a one-off audit. An agency suits a big program with a big budget. We sit between them: a fixed setup price, deliverability and flows done for you, then monthly campaigns, with one named person approving every email.
Are you a Klaviyo partner?
No. We are not a Klaviyo partner and hold no platform badges. We work inside Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Brevo, Kit, HubSpot and similar tools every week, and we will tell you plainly if your platform is the problem rather than sell you a new one.
Do you write the emails with AI?
Our writing agent drafts them from your products, reviews and customer questions. A person edits every email and checks each price, date and claim before you approve it. Nothing sends without that review, and nothing is sent to people who did not opt in.
Why am I getting strange sign-ups on my email forms?
Usually bots filling in your forms, sometimes called list bombing. Those fake addresses bounce or complain, which hurts deliverability for your real customers. We add double opt-in or bot protection to your forms, validate addresses when they sign up, and suppress junk before it is ever mailed.
