But first, you must ask yourself  Should we do our email marketing in-house or outsource it to an agency? The answer should be based on these leading factors: 

Is there anyone in the company qualified to do email marketing? 

This would be someone with experience in running email marketing campaigns, automation, and platforms to send emails and drive good results from them. Check if you know what the industry benchmark for healthy email performance is. These are some of the metrics companies usually check their email marketing against. If the answer is yes go in-house, if the answer is no you’ll want to consider hiring an agency with a team of qualified experts that you can use to help you run your strategy.

If not, do I have time to learn the principles of email marketing?

You and your team can always learn about email marketing, however, this takes time until rocking the briefing process, figuring out what time suits your audience best to engage them, and how to analyze effectively the indicators of performance. In the current cutthroat e-commerce world, every minute costs, and the time you spend learning is time you could have spent already driving results if you opted to partner with an email marketing agency.

Do I have enough time and people to run my email marketing strategy?

From creating the copy and design of the templates to tracking email performance, email marketing is a  lot of work and is time-consuming. It may end up being too much to handle unnecessarily. Email marketing agencies tend to have a team of experts with a copywriter, a designer, a platform expert, and the head of the account.  So instead of all the work falling on one person, you can have multiple people handling your campaign for a stress-free experience.

If after thinking about the in-house vs. hiring an email marketing agency you decide to go with the second option then it’s time to determine the factors you need to evaluate an email marketing agency on:

8 Tips To Choose The Best Ecommerce Email Marketing Agency:

1. The agency has a focused email marketing team

Your strategy needs to be in the hands of experts, it’s important to be assigned a team that includes an Account Manager (head of the project), a copywriter, a designer, and also a platform expert. Since this team specializes in handling email marketing alone, they’re clued in with all the industry best practices, have access to the latest email technology, tools, and trends, and gain from their experience of working with other companies. For example, AB test results from a similar brand’s email marketing could derive important signals for your brand without much risk.

2. The agency has experience in building automation

Usually, email flows or automated flows are the backbones of a strong email marketing ecosystem. This is one area that most businesses end up messing up. A robust set of flows is nearly for the lifetime of a business and can be responsible for driving 10-20% of the overall revenue, but the converse is also true. Automations with errors or bugs will not only continue to be a pain point but will cost you huge in revenue. Look for agencies with demonstrated results in building effective email flows that are proven to increase conversions, including the 5 basic flows namely: Welcome, Post-Purchase, Browse Abandonment, Added to Cart, and Checkout Abandonment respectively.

3. Expertise with campaigns your customers will love 

Email marketing is part art, part science and mastering both reflects in the design and execution. Once the flows are built and triggered certain user behavior, there also needs to be regular communication and engagement by way of email and SMS campaigns that drive healthy revenue regularly. The email templates need to marry the best of visual aesthetics as well as tactical best practices for delivery, readability, and conversion. Check if the agency has a strong body of work in email campaigns. Ask for samples of design as well as case studies and actual emails that have been done for their clients.

4. The agency is well-versed in A/B Testing and optimization

Optimizing based on an industry-leading, data-oriented approach is essential. A good data-focused agency relies on frequent testing and data analysis to ensure your results keep improving the longer the agency works with your store.

5. The agency sends you comprehensive and timely reports

It’s crucial to always be in the loop about where your email marketing stands and how our efforts are landing. To that effect, providing timely and regular reports that are comprehensive and present hygiene metrics like email revenue, campaign, and flow revenue, as well as insights into segmentation, customer response, future strategy, and learnings, all in an easy-to-follow format is essential A good email marketing agency will send reports that cover all of this, even the not-so-pretty parts and send them on a timely cadence, without being needed to follow up with.

6. The agency has nailed ‘Deliverability’

The difference between an average email marketing agency and a market-leading one is not just a difference in email aesthetics but it’s also technical strength. There’s a lot more to email marketing than putting together a bunch of visuals and an offer. The actual work starts even before a single email is sent out to make sure it goes to as many inboxes as possible and doesn’t land in spam. The agency should be able to test every campaign sent to gauge its deliverability in advance and should have a track record in improving their clients’ email deliverability.

7. The agency offers transparent pricing

The agency should be able to send you a clear pricing structure along with a breakup of individual components. The pricing should also involve clear timelines and inclusions and exclusions. Ideally, the agency should also be able to justify the prices of the hours required by the specialists for the services. Moreover, the prices you’ve been offered should be the prices you get in your invoices. It’s not ethical to receive surprise changes in rate or extra amounts for something you just found out. 

8. The agency has testimonials and case studies

It’s one thing for an agency to talk about its credentials and laurels, and quite another to have it vetted by past and current clients, as well as their results. A good email marketing agency should let its customers and case studies do the heavy lifting of promotions. Here’s a 5-point checklist for you to evaluate an agency’s credentials:

1. 1. Real client testimonials: What do the clients say about the agency? Are these real clients? Look them up.
   2. Is the agency well-reviewed on agency aggregator sites like Clutch? 
   3. Has the agency won any awards in its category?
   4. Are there case studies of actual client results along with real screenshots that corroborate the claims?
   5. Will the agency be able to provide a client reference on request?

There are a lot of eCommerce email marketing agencies to consider, and while price matters, remember to find the agency that can best deliver what you need based on the above criteria as well as any other factors that are specific to your business. This can take some searching if you’re not sure what you need. If you want to boost your revenue and experience continual growth online, and looking for a top-rated e-commerce email marketing agency that will help your business grow, look no further and book a call with us. We have a global team and count on them to bring multicultural knowledge and experience.

Some eCommerce founders insist that a digital marketing agency is indispensable to scaling up. Others prefer to work with freelancers, or build their in-house team. 

So which one is better? And are marketing agencies worth it in 2025? Important questions, without short answers. The reality is that the “in house vs agency” question is not an either/or. An eCommerce business will need one or the other (maybe even both) at different stages in its development. 

Let’s Cut to the Chase

Here, we’re not doing the stock standard “benefits of marketing agencies” blog. Because that would tell you nothing you don’t know already. Instead, we’re connecting each model to a different type of eCommerce brand, based on our experience working with eCommerce trailblazers. You may recognize your business in one or more of the types that we outline here.

So let’s get to it. 

You’re a Marketing Agency…I See Where This is Going.

Hustler Marketing ranks #21 in organic search for “email marketing agency” (no cap). So, of course, we want as many brands to sign up to work with us. Right?

Not necessarily.

In fact, sometimes it’s in everyone’s best interests to stay on friendly terms without taking the step of working together. Here are some cases where an eCommerce brand does not need an email marketing agency:

• The brand doesn’t have enough budget to make full use of the agency’s offerings.
• The agency requires a length of commitment that the brand is uncomfortable with.
• An audit is done, and the agency confirms that the in-house team is knocking it out the park.

That last one happens more than you think, especially here at Hustler. Here’s a conversation between one of our SDRs and a brand that we would have loved to sign – but whose email marketing channel was in such good shape that everything we audited got a stellar rating.

Email Marketing Services: Who Are They For, Really?

Here are the types of eCommerce businesses who really succeed with an email marketing agency partner.

1: The Scale Up Superhero

You’re an up-and-coming brand with a healthy marketing budget. If you’re the founder, this probably isn’t your first rodeo. You’ve got product-market fit down, and your shipping and fulfillment infrastructure is good to go. Now, you need to scale fast. A full-service email marketing agency can be your fast track to getting the right expertise, resources, and tools.

2: The Growth Guru

Established ecommerce brands with a strong customer base can face stagnation. It’s always a good idea to refresh your marketing strategies – and an agency partnership might be just what you need to do that. Marketing agencies bring fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and the latest tools to help established brands optimize their existing strategies and explore new opportunities for growth and differentiation, like UGC advertising.

3: The Niche Ninja

Most agencies take a jack-of-all-trades approach to email marketing. But others have taken a steep learning curve on a specific niche, so they can service specialized markets like luxury goods, high tech, CBD products, even SaaS. If yours is a niche brand, it’s a good idea to vet potential vendors based on their ability to work in your vertical. A full-service email marketing agency who understands your language, your audience, and the unique compliance issues within your field could help you to stay ahead as competition intensifies through 2025, and more niches approach saturation.

In House vs Agency: Who Should Stay on Team Freelancer (or Hire a Permanent Team)?

If any of these describe your brand or business, hiring in-house or sourcing freelancers directly might be the best option for you right now:

You have Specific, But Short-Term Needs

If you only need help with one-off projects (e.g., a website overhaul, a single email flow), freelancers offer flexibility without long-term contracts. Or, if you already have an established in house marketing team, they can quickly address these short-term projects as part of their daily operations.

Your Want Full Control Over Marketing

In-house teams or freelancers allow more direct control over branding, strategy, and execution. This is ideal for businesses that want tight integration with other departments (like product or customer service) and immediate decision-making. That’s because, in an agency partnership, control is always shared to some degree. After all, the agency’s insights and expertise are part of the package. Micromanaging an agency team can lead to suboptimal relationships and results. It could drastically escalate costs – especially if they bill by the hour.

In House Plus Agency: the Best of Both?

There’s a third scenario that we haven’t considered yet: the “both and”.

Working with an agency doesn’t mean firing your in-house team. In fact, if an email marketing agency’s model is flexible enough, they can help you to fill critical skills gaps that let your internal marketing team focus on product or business expansion.

This works especially well for businesses who want to expand into new marketing channels like UGC.

Laying a Strong Foundation for Success in Q1 2025

With a new year on the horizon, it’s time for brands to give their marketing infrastructure a health check. Whether you’re managing marketing in house, with freelancers, or in partnership with an agency, a full audit of your marketing channels could reveal new opportunities for growth in 2025.

Contact our team to schedule yours. Worst case scenario: you come away with a clean bill of health and the peace of mind that comes from knowing you’re set up for success as Q1 rolls around in just 2 months.

Why does it happen? From ramping up marketing to managing inventory and planning promotions, there’s a lot to juggle. It’s no surprise that 23% of entrepreneurs report feeling burned out, especially during peak shopping seasons. Long hours, sacrificing personal time, and lack of rest will leave you exhausted by the time Christmas rolls around. But it doesn’t have to be this way!

We’re publishing this article on October 10th, because  World Mental Health Day is an ideal time to prioritize your mental well-being. Sure, May is the official month for mental health awareness … But for those of us in e-commerce, October is when things get very real as we gear up for the holiday rush.

So, let’s take a deep dive on e-commerce burnout — what it is, why it matters, and a few practical tips from our team to help you get through the sale season.

What is e-commerce burnout?

The simple answer?  It’s that feeling of “I’m tired. I can’t take this anymore.” If that sounds familiar, then you might also recognize a few of these warning signs: 

• Feeling drained and defeated
• High levels of stress and anxiety
• Loss of motivation and work satisfaction
• Feeling tired and detached from your loved ones
• Struggling to sleep or eat like you usually do
• Frequent headaches or stomach troubles
• Being more irritable, angry, or short-tempered
• Feeling flat or numb

Burnout is more than just exhaustion — it’s a mix of emotional, mental, and physical fatigue caused by prolonged stress, particularly when the demands keep piling up without any relief in sight. For those of us in e-commerce, the constant pressure to stay competitive and profitable during the busy shopping season makes burnout even more likely to happen.

But here’s the thing: Burnout doesn’t just happen overnight. It builds up over time! The continuous hustle, handling countless tasks, and pushing yourself to do more without a break — it all adds up. 

Over time, this wears down your motivation, productivity, and mental well-being, leaving you feeling drained and unable to focus. You might find yourself feeling less inspired, disconnected from your goals, more cynical with the people around you, or struggling to keep up with your usual pace. Eventually, you can also lose your sense of achievement and success — even if your business is doing well.

The worst part? The harder you push through it, the more likely you are to hit a wall. And the longer you suffer from burnout, the more damage your business is going to take.

How does e-commerce burnout actually affect my business?

When you’re exhausted and overwhelmed, it’s nearly impossible to perform at your best. Decision-making becomes harder, and creativity dries up. You become constantly distracted, making mistakes, and dropping the ball on important tasks.

Your productivity can also take a serious hit. E-commerce burnout reduces your ability to focus, which means it will take you longer to get things done, and the quality of your work will suffer. Worse still, the passion you once had for your business might start to fade, leaving you less motivated to push forward.

On top of all this, feeling burned out will create a tense work environment for you and your team. This leads to lower morale and decreased performance across the board. Plus, as deadlines get missed or work quality dips, your customers will start to notice, and your sales will slow down. 

Burnout won’t just drain you — it drains the success of your business, too!

Luckily, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Burnout is 100% avoidable, and the best way to get out of this slump is to rest, look after yourself, and recharge your battery.

5 Simple strategies to avoid dealing with burnout

At Hustler Marketing, we get the pressures that come with high-demand seasons like Black Friday. We’re a global team of 60+ marketing professionals (including copywriters, designers, and account managers) working remotely and across different time zones. 

So, yeah — we understand how you’re feeling! That’s why we want to share what our team does to protect their mental well-being while staying at the top of their game.

Here are a few tips straight from our team of Hustlers:

1 — A healthy company culture is essential

At Hustler Marketing, we encourage open communication and taking time off when you need it. We offer generous leave time and even call-free days to make it easier for our people to keep their work-life balance. We also regularly ask our people for their feedback on how we can improve. On top of that, we also make it a point to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and even the smallest wins. All of this (and more) leads to a work environment where everyone feels supported and comfortable asking for help.

2 — Organize meet-ups for your team

Even though our team loves their virtual coffee dates, we make sure to regularly get everyone together for a big meet-up. Our most recent meetup was in Prague, and we’re heading out on another trip early next year. These gatherings allow us to connect on a more personal level, making it easier to collaborate during high-pressure times.

3 — Keep your workload healthy

At Hustler Marketing, we’ve managed to hire and retain the top account managers and creatives in the industry. How? By keeping their workloads manageable! We’re proud of our strong internal processes, and our account managers only work with 2-3 clients at a time. That means our clients get the best service at all times, and our Hustlers stay happy, motivated, relaxed, and on top of things.

4 — Make your schedule flexible

Working across different time zones means flexibility is crucial. We encourage our team to create a work schedule that suits their productivity patterns, making it easier to manage high workloads without feeling overwhelmed. And when things like last-minute tasks, strategy changes, or unforeseen stuff happen … We feel much more relaxed and ready to solve any problem that comes our way!

5 — Take regular breaks

Just switch your status to offline, pause your work, and take a few minutes to have some “you” time. A quick walk, a 10-minute meditation, or even just stepping away from the screen can do wonders for resetting your focus and boosting your energy levels.

By improving your internal systems and following these tips, you can lighten the load as you grow and scale your business. This way, both you and your team can stay strong and focused during busy times like Black Friday and avoid the pitfalls of getting burned out.

But if you’re looking for an easier way to relieve stress right now, then keep reading!

Why outsourcing can be the perfect solution for you

Imagine if someone took away the stress of managing your email campaigns, creating user-generated content, and handling your brand’s marketing for you.

By outsourcing these tasks, you can focus on what really matters: Growing your business and reconnecting with your passion.

Outsourcing gives you the freedom to step back and focus on the bigger picture. That’s exactly what a busy online retailer needs to avoid e-commerce burnout during the sale season. When you’re an e-commerce founder or entrepreneur, your business will become more complex as it gets bigger and bigger. While you’re focusing on your products and services, you can outsource other tasks to specialized teams that bring valuable expertise and efficiency.

That freelancer you hired on Fiverr may have been good enough when you only had 500 subscribers, but now that your business is growing … It’s time to let other people take some of the work. Because doing everything yourself will lead to e-commerce burnout and costly mistakes!

The business case for outsourcing

Did you know that outsourcing can save businesses up to 70% on costs in the long run? On top of helping to cut costs, outsourcing also frees up your internal resources for other work. That means more time for you and your team to focus on business development.

Here are the specialized and business-critical areas that brands typically outsource:

• email marketing services for retention
• UGC ads and ad creatives for acquisition
• CRM implementation and optimization to enhance sales efforts

At Hustler Marketing, we support with e-commerce brands in almost every niche with email marketing services, UGC ads and more. Whether you’re selling health supplements, luxury jewelry, clothing, kitchen knives, or anything else … We tailor our strategies to make you money, connect with your customers, and keep your business thriving.

Let our team at Hustler Marketing take the stress off your shoulders

At Hustler Marketing, we’re committed to supporting our team’s mental well-being through initiatives like our #MoveForMentalHealth campaign. We believe that happy people do their best work, and that’s why we put so much effort into fostering a healthy work environment and avoiding e-commerce burnout. By prioritizing mental health, we make sure our Hustlers can focus on what they do best.

If you’re looking to lighten your load this busy season, consider partnering with us. We’re here to help you and your business thrive without all the stress.

The industry has seen it coming for some time, but the Yotpo Email Advisory Board (EAB) event in New York made it official. 10 of Yotpo’s agency partners came together to learn about their email product and help to direct its evolution. 

Through this initiative, Yotpo aims to build an email product that works for those who use it most. Hustler Marketing was proud to be one of the agencies invited, represented by our CEO Bostjan Belingar and MD Ákos Doleschall.

Agency Partnerships: Force Multipliers for SaaS Companies

One of the keys to Yotpo’s success is their approach to agency partnerships. They’ve invested in building a strong partnership ecosystem that includes leading eCommerce marketing agencies.

Bring the Leads, Service the Leads

There are good strategic reasons for that. Email marketing companies like Hustler Marketing are important to software companies. As advisors, they serve a role in supporting R&D. They’re also key to lead acquisition, because they tend to evangelize the software they prefer using. 

And once customers are using software, they rely on agencies to support and manage it for them.

As Bostjan puts it, “we bring the leads, we service the leads”. That’s why Yotpo has worked so hard to become “the most partner centric company in the (eCommerce) ecosystem”. And it’s also one of the reasons they’re well on their way to the top of the eCommerce ecosystem.

Yotpo: Reviews Point Solution to Retention Platform & eCommerce Giant

Yotpo’s founding mission was to fight fake reviews. The platform began as a way to provide businesses with authentic, verified customer reviews.

From there, they added customer loyalty features after acquiring Swell Rewards in 2019, supported by successive rounds of funding. Investor confidence continued to grow, and in 2020 Yotpo acquired SMSBump, consolidating their position as an integrated, all-purpose eCommerce platform. Yotpo SMS was the #1 shopify SMS provider at the time, and they’re still the only fully international provider.

Hustler Marketing became a Premier Partner 2020 and began using Yotpo’s new SMS product to service our own clients. 

In 2022, Yotpo Subscriptions was launched, a product that Yotpo built in-house. Their email product was already in the pipeline and launched officially to the market in May 2023. Now it’s here, and it’s going to toe-to-toe with other large ESPs.

The First Ever Full Retention Marketing Platform

Through a combination of M&A and in-house development of their own products (visual UGC, email & subscriptions), Yotpo has grown into the first ever multi-product retention marketing platform. Brands love this because it allows them to consolidate their tech stack and cut vendor bloat. It also For agencies, Yotpo’s integrated multi-product platform provides opportunities to deepen their own service offering.

With competition in eCommerce getting stiffer and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) skyrocketing, retention is moving higher up the list of priorities for brands. Yotpo predicted this trend, and built accordingly. That’s why they’re years ahead of the curve, winning market share from single point SaaS solutions that cannot match Yotpo’s platform experience. Through the Yotpo Email Advisory Board, they have successfully brought top agencies into the conversation to help them make this experience even better – for brands and agencies alike.

Filling the SME Gap: Yotpo Takes Aim at the eCommerce Email Market 

At Hustler Marketing, our finger is always on the pulse of the email platform market. We’re obsessive about integrating new tools and upskilling our team to ensure we keep delivering the world-class retention marketing we’re known for. As a Klaviyo Elite Partner agency, we’ve seen Klaviyo’s meteoric rise, and its ongoing pivot towards enterprise since going public.

That pivot has made room for other platforms to target SMEs. Yotpo is aggressively targeting this whitespace, taking a bite into the $64 billion TAM for eCommerce software.

At Hustler Marketing, we’re excited to see Yotpo move from strength to strength, and to play our part in shaping the evolution of their email platform. 

Gender and culture play a pivotal role in modern marketing. When it comes to launching new products and campaigns, gender and cultural diversity are two pivotal factors that shape decisions, prompting organizations to dive deeper into understanding diverse audiences. 

Here at HM, both women and cultural diversity are essential to our success as a global full-service marketing agency. To celebrate International Women’s day 2024, we took the time to speak to some of the women who are shaping our clients’ success, and the future of our company.

Here’s what they have to say while reflecting on International Women’s Day 2024.

Andrea Lancheros, Designer: Representation Means Everyone Wins

We’ve come a long way since the 1960’s, where the most common female representations in marketing were:

• Almost all caucasian
• Based on traditional roles
• Purely instrumental – there to sell a product 

Mothers, housewives and beautiful young girls featured on the pages of print media, usually simply as tools to showcase products.

If you had been a marketer then, it would have been an understatement to call the marketing industry male-dominated. That is definitely no longer the case, with women now occupying around 60% of marketing roles in North America. At Hustler Marketing, we’re actually a little above the average – our team is 65% female. It’s great to be celebrating International Women’s Day 2024, with this year’s theme, in a company that doesn’t just talk the talk.

Having such strong representation is obviously a huge win for diversity, but it’s more than that: gender and cultural diversity are actually good for business.

Diversity Boosts Brand Loyalty and Customer Retention

By cultivating female brand ambassadors from diverse backgrounds, a brand can build stronger connections with consumers, fostering trust and loyalty. That’s true for everyone: from large enterprises to eCommerce brands and email marketing agencies. 

Diverse Teams are More Innovative and Creative

Diversity (both in culture and gender) injects creativity into marketing teams. It enables them to approach challenges from multiple perspectives, amplifying innovation. That is vital for staying ahead and tapping into trends in a fluid, global landscape. Research has consistently shown that it also translates into higher profits.

Gender and Cultural Diversity Extend a Brand’s Generational Appeal

Millennials and Generation Z tend to let their values and social consciousness direct their spending habits. Diversity is one of the most important of those factors, so brands need to reflect this to stay competitive over time. 

Danny López, Design Lead: Marketing Design Without the Pink Tax

At Hustler Marketing, we don’t rely on the “pink” gimmick for marketing. As women, we all see “pink tax” coming a mile off. 

Instead, we try to come up with marketing messages and campaigns that really connect with our clients’ female audiences. We get the results we do because we don’t just target these women’s challenges, not their gender. And that means more than just throwing in a body positive stock image. It means tackling those usually hush-hush or touchy subjects that women face in real life.

Sadly, marketing still tends to steer clear of less-than-glamorous topics like periods, ageing, hormonal imbalances, menopause, childbirth, and breastfeeding. One of the great things about Hustler Marketing is that we support female entrepreneurs who are diving headfirst into these taboo topics. They’re catering to the practical but often overlooked needs of women, from boob tape to breast pumps to menstrual cups. It’s our job to transmit that message through design the best way possible.

A new breed of women is smashing through social norms. They need fearless dynamic marketers to support them – and Hustler Marketing shines here.

Kübra Özübek, Account Manager: a Community of World Citizens

Working at Hustler Marketing, I really appreciate how inclusive and supportive the work environment is. It’s great to see so many women in the team. Everyone is treated equally here, with no discrimination, and the management truly cares about all of us all as individuals. 

What stands out to me is how the company supports anyone eager to learn and improve, regardless of their gender. The way we communicate, especially among women, is clear and respectful, and the men here are very polite and supportive, too. I also love that Hustler Marketing feels like a “world company,” with a truly global team that supports a range of exciting global brands.

This makes me feel like a world citizen, which really brings everyone together and motivates us, especially as women who want to make a mark on the world of digital marketing.

Hustler Marketing: the Agency of Choice for World-Class Female Marketing Talent

As a fully remote agency from day 1, we have lived through the mainstreaming of work-from-home and the rise of the Freelancer Economy 2.0. So knowing how to attract and retain top marketing talent from around the world is part of our recipe for success. That’s how we have built a thriving team that is 65% female, covering 24 countries and a wide range of specialized skill sets on the cutting edge of modern marketing trends.

They could be exactly what you need to accelerate progress for your brand this year – and we’re waiting for your call.

Happy International Women’s Day!

This International Women’s Day, women in eCommerce are more perfectly placed than ever

In the past, women in the workplace often felt pressure to emulate their male counterparts by dressing in power suits and carrying buffed briefcases in order to gain acceptance in what was traditionally seen as a ‘man’s world.’ However, in the fast-paced and constantly evolving digital era, companies and employees are recognizing the importance of meaningful connections and ‘soft skills.’ 

These skills are especially valued in the eCommerce industry, where building strong relationships with clients and understanding their needs is key to success. Most of these skills come naturally to women, making them perfectly placed to flourish in leadership roles. 

Large corporates like Google are starting to recognize the importance of these skills. The results of their Project Aristotle set out to find ‘what makes the perfect team’ and revealed employees are happiest and perform best in a ‘psychologically safe’ environment where they are able to be vulnerable with each other. Good news for women who are natural communicators and will easily be able to foster meaningful connections with teammates.

Celebrating Hustler Marketing’s Female Leaders

Here at Hustler Marketing, we too understand the value of empathy and compassion in the workplace and see these traits as strengths rather than weaknesses. To celebrate International Women’s Day, we spoke to our four female department heads to gain insights into their experiences as women in the fast-paced world of eCommerce. 

Here’s what they had to say….

Insights from Leading Women in eCommerce 

Susanna: Head of Account Managers

Being in a leadership position in an eCommerce agency has been a truly eye-opening experience for me.

Numerous studies have linked having women in leadership roles with better organizational performance, better decision-making, and stronger financial results. However, it wasn’t until I experienced this firsthand that I began to believe in it myself and, more importantly, in myself as a leader.

As women, we often possess stronger intuition, empathy, and a unique perspective. These can all bring new innovations to the industry. This has been particularly true in my role as Head of Account Managers, where I get to interact closely with both clients and my team of Super AMs. Though I am still learning every day, I try to observe dynamics and behaviors and establish a comfortable yet encouraging environment for each individual.

On a management level, I have found that I can contribute fresh insights, have a voice, and make a real difference. The cherry on top? I get to do all this while being supported by other incredible women leaders who have truly become my support system both in and outside of the workplace.

Carrie: Head of Copy

As the Head of Copy here at Hustler Marketing, I have the privilege of leading a team of super-talented digital copywriters. Working in eCommerce means things can move at a quick pace – technology changes all the time. That’s what makes our jobs so exciting! The constant change brings many different opportunities, so my team has to be flexible and ready to learn new skills. I think being a female leader helps, as women are adaptable and we generally have good communication skills.  

One of the things I enjoy most about my role is the opportunity to mentor my team. I think women in leadership are important for this reason. I wish I’d had more women to look up to early on in my career as there’s a nurturing side to team leading – I want to be the person who advocates for them and helps them to grow their confidence and skills. 

On a personal level, as a mother, I love that my kids are growing up with the example of both their parents equally sharing parenting responsibilities whilst pursuing their careers. I love that my career at Hustler Marketing makes this possible. 

Ashita: Sales & Partnerships Director

I feel incredibly fortunate to have had some amazing leaders as examples throughout my career. Many of these leaders were women, and they demonstrated an exceptional combination of emotional intelligence and intellectual capability. In the last few years, I’ve had the chance to take on various leadership positions, and I’ve learned some invaluable lessons that have made me a better person.

One thing I’ve come to strongly believe is that women have a natural entrepreneurial spirit that makes them a perfect fit for leadership roles. I think this is because women are often able to identify opportunities and act on them with confidence and conviction.

As a leader, my top priority is creating an environment that allows my team to learn and grow. I believe that when we provide our team members with the resources and support they need, they will achieve great things. At the end of the day, it’s the connections we make with our colleagues that matter most. People might not remember the specifics of the work we did, but they will always remember how we made them feel.

Pearl: Account Managers Associates Lead

During the past year, I have had the privilege of leading the AMA (Account Manager Associate) team at Hustler Marketing, despite being new to a leadership position.

With the challenge of managing a team of seven, I sought the guidance of our company’s consultant and therapist to help shape the team’s vision and identify key areas for growth and success. Once we had established a foundation, my focus shifted to the ongoing management of the team, tackling challenges as they arose and expanding our capabilities.

As a woman in a leadership position, I have found it essential to have the support and guidance of other women leaders. It’s crucial to me that we lift each other up and create an environment where we can thrive together. My fellow department heads have provided that support, and it has made all the difference. They have offered valuable feedback and insights, helping me to continually improve and grow in my role as a leader.

Working with such amazing women has been a privilege, and they have not only become trusted colleagues but also dear friends.

Danny: Design Lead

I believe that the importance of women in e-commerce resides in the broad perspective of our gender. Women balance out the rational and emotional sides, providing solutions while keeping in mind that we’re dealing with other human beings.

Also, we can now access many more opportunities than we could in the past, and it really shows in the kind of campaigns and content that we see in the media. From the tone of voice, visual identity, and angles to the full marketing strategy, the presence of women in the business has definitely been a game-changer.

Being a woman in a leadership role means reminding myself that I can guide, bring relevant ideas to the table, and inspire others to learn, grow, and deliver.

Luckily, I’ve come across amazing women in the process who happen to be in leadership roles as well and who have helped me feel supported in the (not-always-easy) process and who I look up to in many different ways. From empowering each other to sharing tips, experiences, and relatable memes, having them as a close support system has been amazing, to say the least.

Marina: Account Manager Lead

Being a woman in the e-commerce world has definitely been a ride, but it’s one I would re-do a million times. I believe that, as women, we’re used to dealing with so much at the same time. We’ve learned to go above and beyond to be visible. This has given me the perseverance I need to move forward in this business. For every tricky client or bad day, there’s always that inner strength to strategically know just how to communicate, keep things rolling, and get results in the midst of madness.

I’ve noticed this general mindset among all the women I’ve had the fortune to work with in this business. No problem is big enough that we can’t just work through it and figure it out. I’ve seen the most productive forms of teamwork and support from women in e-commerce. Women supporting women might be a nice hashtag on Instagram, but in this business, it’s an everyday activity.

As a manager to a team of professionals and a mentor to new trainees, I’ve seen time and time again how all the emotional maturity being a woman forces you to develop has helped me build people up and cheer them on. I’ve been able to help others push through adversity and provide valuable advice on how to use every tool in their toolbox.

Iveta: SMS & Ad Creatives Lead

As controversial as it might sound, I’ve always believed that women and eCommerce go hand in hand. I may be biased due to my love for eCommerce, but let me share my perspective.

Women have the privilege of understanding people’s feelings and making them feel better. We have empathy built into us, which helps us sell to customers in the right way and give them exactly what they want. Additionally, we possess creativity, which can lead to surprisingly interactive emails or SMS and unique ideas.

As women, we also learn how to be organized, plan in advance, and identify our best qualities. It warms my heart to know that I use each of my feminine qualities for every task I do. Developing new services in our eCommerce agency allows me to demonstrate how women’s great qualities shine. I need to be structured, reliable, creative, and an out-of-the-box thinker and the best part is being myself.

For me, every day is a learning opportunity, and the entire eCommerce ecosystem inspires me more and more. I believe women thrive in this space, and we’ll see more and more joining because of it.

Brenda: Account Manager Lead

When I started studying journalism and marketing at the age of 18, I never imagined that I would end up working in the eCommerce industry. I don’t think it was something that resonated with many people around me, but I did know that not many women were involved. I can look back and see how many women have broken the stereotype with their leadership, strategies, and passion for execution and have led the way for the rest of us.

Being a woman in the eCommerce industry is challenging, but I know I must forge my own path by believing in myself with strength, resilience, determination, and pushing harder. This is changing day by day, and our voices are being heard even more. It’s gratifying to know that I have the constant support of incredibly talented women who are willing to push me forward every day.

I am grateful that today I am surrounded by their dedication to motivate and inspire me to grow and learn, both personally and professionally.

***

As demonstrated by our female leaders here at Hustler Marketing, women in eCommerce are perfectly placed to flourish in leadership roles. They are paving the way for innovation in the industry and inspiring the next generation of female leaders. 

Talk to our hustlers and power up your retention marketing strategy now!

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Absolute experts at hustling online and finding creative ways to forge friendships between tasks, it had always been the team’s ultimate dream to meet up together in person.

Just a few weeks ago, that dream became a reality. For the first time, we all flew to Budapest for a first-of-a-kind, company-wide retreat. 

Our founder, Bostjan is a digital nomad himself, spending a few months at a time in different countries across the world. Currently he’s attending calls from Medellin, Colombia, after spending time across Europe and his hometown in Slovenia. Before which he enjoyed long stints in Mexico and Asia respectively. From its origin in Barcelona, to where it is today, Hustler Marketing has never been office-bound and got a handle on remote work even before Covid was a thing. Majority of our 70+ clients are ecommerce stores that mostly serve the US market, Europe and others.

The Budapest meetup has just concluded and the team members are pretty much back to their bases after taking the opportunity to travel all over Europe and beyond before or after the retreat. For most of the non-European employees, it was their first time in Europe and for some, even the first time out of their country. Naturally, not only was the retreat a great opportunity for team bonding, team building and fostering of closer rapports between the employees, but also an all-expense paid travel opportunity for its employees, some of them traveling from as far as Argentina and Ecuador.

The seed for a company-wide retreat was planted when Bostjan floated a “Travel Bonus” last year. The bonus entitled each employee to a $500 allowance to travel and meet up with a member of their team.  The Colombia meetup, the largest, saw a group of 10 employees, mostly based in LatAm, come together for 3 days of partying, sightseeing and even coworking in the Colombian capital. Another memorable trip was the Directors-only meet-up which happened in Istanbul last year. It was here where the idea of a company-wide retreat the next year became a plan.

The HR team and Bostjan personally spent nearly 10 months planning the trip, ironing out the budget, and the logistical complexities. Turns out flying 60+ people from 26 countries is no mean feat what with a myriad of visa requirements, accomodation challenges, and logistical-complications. Budapest was zeroed in on as it was deemed to be central to almost all the participants and is a party-friendly and fun city that’s not as expensive as its Western European counterparts. Having a service director who’s a local helped. 

For four days, the Hustler Marketing team spent time bonding over hotel breakfasts, sightseeing in Budapest, eating out meals and partying. A highlight was a night boat cruise on the Danube followed by a shindig at a local bar. The final day saw official photos, profile photo shots by the event photographer and another formal dinner at a local Budapest diner. It wasn’t all fun and games though. During the 2 week days in the trip, it was work as usual, just instead of Zoom and Slack, many of the teams settled in the hotel lobby and worked side-by-side. Breakfast tables were commissioned as conference rooms and strategies, growth and KRAs were discussed over coffees and croissants. For some employees, it was the closest they came to having a taste of an office and by all accounts they loved it. 

While the retreat was funded almost entirely by the company, to help offset the budget a little, it was decided to ask for a once-off 10% deduction from the participating employee’s paycheck.  Further input came from BlendJet, a long-standing client of Hustler Marketing’s who came onboard as an official sponsor of the trip. Another partner, Yotpo, also chipped in with a small amount. Overall, the trip cost almost $100K, a good chunk of its annual net profit. 

But as Bostjan says,  “It was money well spent through and through! At first, I wasn’t sure if right now was a good time for a trip like this, given the bottomline and the impending recession, but now that’s done, I’m glad we did. Profits and losses come and go, but to see the whole team come together under a single roof, bond, exchange stories, form close bonds, share all the jokes and memes and travel updates on the whatsapp channels, left all our hearts all warm and fuzzy! It was incredibly fulfilling to have made this happen. In fact, I’m convinced now that we need to do this every year!”

Check out the trip video in 90 seconds here:

 

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Even for a self-proclaimed traveler and someone who had been to Slovenia, the name, to my shame, wasn’t an easy one to pronounce.  Boss-Jan, Boss-Jun, or Bostiyan?

And wait, what’s LOOM now?

Two questions that came to my mind when I received that email from Bostjan just a little over a year ago to discuss the possibility of working for Hustler Marketing. Little did I know that Bostjan and Loom would be the two constants of my life very soon, for a whole year and counting.

Hustler Marketing: a Fully Remote Email Marketing Opportunity

Hustler Marketing wasn’t my first choice for a job last year. In fact I’d originally applied to Stacked Marketer, the awesome daily marketing newsletter, and I was one of the top two contenders for the editor’s post, but unfortunately I didn’t make it. But Manu (bless him), wouldn’t just let all that effort I put in my application to waste, and referred me to Bostjan who happened to be looking for a marketing director at the time. An introduction was made and I was asked to make a Loom video introducing myself and why I was interested.

But the truth was, I wasn’t very interested. a) It was a B2B role  b) It was an agency. Both were uncharted territories to me. Add to it, my snobby self who’d been ruined by the “brand tags” having worked at tech giants like Google, EY, Ola, and other biggies back home in India to consider an unknown (to me) marketing agency with no physical presence and a team full of people whose names I couldn’t even pronounce at first! Plus, I already had a very new job going at EY, the BIG4,  which was a much “valuable” brand to have on the resume (I’m so over this line of thinking BTW).

So, About That Loom…

But I sent that Loom to Bostjan anyway, and he immediately asked me to work on a case study as the next step. Turns out I’d never done a case study either. But I remember oddly enjoying doing it, and it helped that Bostjan offered to pay for my work on it, irrespective of the final outcome. In all of my 10 years of going through the rigmarole of job applications, some of them as arduous as Uber where I’d spent a whole week making a marketing plan for them only for it to come to nought to not even get a thank you, to now have a company pay me $100 for a case study which I did as a part of the application process. I knew this company was going to be different. Very different.

I Decided to Let EY Go and Take the Biggest Risk of My Career

And so I decided to let EY go and work for Hustler Marketing. So I said yes, and boy am I glad! 

I was no stranger to a remote work lifestyle having worked with a US ecommerce startup for 4 years just before the pandemic struck, but doing a remote job with a team of 60 people most of whom were younger and came from a different country was unusual for me. As a traveler and past MNC employee I wasn’t completely new to working with people from different nationalities either, but to be the only Indian in a company was new. (weren’t the 1 billion of us everywhere?!)

On a serious note, I knew that as a single member marketing team, I knew my work was cut out for me. Unsurprisingly, I had a long list of stuff to work on in my very first week, but I wasn’t complaining.

For 10 years, despite working with big ticket companies, I’d somewhat, even if I never admitted it to myself, struggled to find my niche, my place under the sun. What is it that I’m good at? I could do so many things –some well, some not so well, you know jack of all trades and all that. But big companies expected me to pick one thing and stick with it. Google pushed me into the backend of ad management. On the other hand, Ola didn’t know what to do with me so I sometimes I edited the CEO’s tweets or just waited for something to fall on my plate. And at EY, a little something died in me every time someone mentioned SCRUM yet another time. But I was someone who lived for the joy of creation. More than management or Powerpoint presentations, I enjoyed getting my hands dirty. So I wanted to experiment and do many things at once and see them all come together as a whole.

Work at Hustler Marketing: the Pieces Fall Into Place

Hustler is where I realised I didn’t have to find a niche.  All my skills that I always thought were all over the place finally fit like pieces of a puzzle.  I undertook new projects harnessing some of my existing skills and learning some from scratch.  One day I’d be writing a video script and next day I’d be deep down the rabbit hole of Klaviyo stats for a case study. I’d belt out thousands of words on a blog post and come up with a 200 character ad blurb all in equal measure. I’d invoke my rudimentary SEO skills from my time building OfficeChai, and also get a privilege to manage people without being their manager.

It’s only at Hustler I could claim to have an actual job repertoire which looks like this in a year:

105 social media posts

21 1000+ word articles 

10 newsletters

5 video scripts

4 case studies

2 white papers

1 website overhaul

Hundreds of emails to partners, Youtubers, podcasters, other companies, publishers and what have you.

And at least a single exchange with pretty much every member of the company!

But these are just some numbers for my own validation. More importantly, this year has given me a heart full of gratitude and great moments from all the meetings, huddles and monthly calls. I’ve also benefited from non-stop inspiration, from across all departments and levels.

What I Have Learned So Far

Through this process, I learnt how you can get good work done if you have a high-functioning team and a manager who empowers and supports your vision. So on one hand I could get so much done because of Bostjan’s go-aheads and sometimes even childlike enthusiasm about my initiatives that sometimes I myself wasn’t super pumped about. On the other hand, all of it could be executed smoothly because I worked with driven and talented colleagues.  I could churn out so much content and so quickly because I worked with kickass designers who would work on my ideas and turn them into reality at lightning speed. (Yesica, you’re my bullet train!) I could get a lot of case studies and other reports done because the concerned account manager or assistant would produce the required data within hours or a couple of days. Truly, Hustler Marketing is a lean mean well-oiled machine.

Trust me, it’s intoxicating to work at a place where people are constantly delivering. 

Here I learnt how efficiencies can be achieved if you have the right systems, tools, processes and people to manage them all but you’re not anal about them. Yes most companies have them, but at HM, I learnt to use them to my advantage, not to bog me down. (Here’s looking at you, JIRA!)

Marketing Agency Toolkit: Slack, Airtable, Figma, LOOM!

I learnt to use Slack, AirTable, Figma and of course Loom! I found that Slack is the perfect communication medium, and how one-hour meetings can actually be productive, not just a ruse for setting up a follow-up meeting and how one-page Google docs can do the job much better than fancy presentations with charts can. That HR teams can actually care about people beyond managing their payslips.

I learnt how you don’t have to meet everyday to have fun at work. You can just post and react to memes on a Slack channel and laugh to your heart’s content or even singing a birthday song on a monthly team meeting and botching it up somehow can be equally if not more bonding than team lunches at a big table. (Heck! We have “custom emojis” for some wonderful people and it never fails to crack me up. Hey Demetris!)

I learnt how you can enjoy the professionalism and the systems of a big company without any of the hierarchies, red tape and analysis paralysis of one, and have the freedom and ownership of a small company without any of the chaotic and vague systems and “too casual” culture of one.

I learnt from Bostjan and others, the art of time management, structure, organization and generosity. It is inspiring to come to the management huddle every Monday and see Bostjan transform from the weekend party-goer into this super focussed, structured, no-nonsense CEO with a pre-set agenda, all of which would get covered by the end of the hour. 

Imagine my surprise, when after all of 5 months into the company, Bostjan announced on a monthly call that everyone – irrespective of level or tenure would be getting a “13th salary” or a holiday bonus because the company performed well, instead of well buying himself a Merc – A magnanimous gesture by any standards given that HM isn’t a public company.

But bigger and monetary gestures isn’t all. Bostjan set an example of how empathy goes a long way. There have been many a time where I cancelled a 1:1 at the last minute to focus on personal issues. He never complained, but rather asked me to take care and reschedule any time.

There were times I messed up, but I wasn’t given a ‘strike’, instead I was offered a patient ear to listen to my side of the story and a plan on “how do we fix things”. The keyword being “we”.  Not just me, I noticed this empathy being channeled when it came to dealing with other issues and people too. When an employee that I was managing had to be let go, he was given more than a fair compensation, and a second chance when he was financially hard up much later. Not that we lose many clients given the company’s stellar track record with client retention, but every time a client came on the verge of it, Bostjan was never bitter or sore about it. “Hey, give them a discount if we didn’t do a good job”; “it’s alright! We’re doing great!” instead of admonishing the person who may have slipped up. And there were even little things like once I got a colleague’s name’s pronunciation wrong, and Bostjan made sure to correct it on our 1:1 because he felt like that person deserved that courtesy.

And Bostjan’s own work and leadership style and his empathy has inspired the same culture across the company. On my birthday (like for everyone else) a custom-designed banner was posted on the common channel. Today for my one-year anniversary, I’ve already received a giant coffee table book on “Home Decor” at my doorstep because I’d once mentioned in passing that I was into home decor. I don’t remember a single other company which did something so personalised (Except Google with its giant number balloons hanging over your desk!) on a birthday or even an anniversary. And I’ve been through a lot of birthdays and work anniversaries. 

I learnt that a culture built around appreciation, team spirit and working together towards a common goal can actually work wonders. Here people actually come together to help and hype each other up, take a busy colleague’s workload or re-assign the latter’s work in case of an emergency. Well-noticed shoutouts for colleagues as well as from our clients come thick and fast on our dedicated Slack channels. 

What Makes Work at Hustler Marketing Truly Exceptional

So, Hustler Marketing isn’t a Fortune500 or a snazzy startup with a fancy office to boast of millions in funding. And yet, what Hustler has very few companies can stake a claim to have.  And that’s a soul.  Everything here is done with a heart. Many startups claim to be “open”, “people oriented” and “you can walk into the CEO’s office anytime”, but the reality often is different. But at Hustler, all those tropes are actually true. And this very culture and way of working translates into Hustler’s performance as a company. That’s why it – despite being remote and the average age being like 25 – means business. It has grown multi hundred times in just 3 years – from a few freelance projects to now 60 7-and-8-figure clients, and 60 very happy and motivated people. Very few companies can scale like that, be not only self-funded but also be profitable! And yet, the stats don’t do justice, you have to experience it for yourself.

In a year that was largely ravaged by Covid19 (more like covid19-21), Hustler came in as the perfect antidote to all that the pandemic wrecked. On a personal level, it took me closer to my dream of owning a lake house, and on some level, it satisfied the traveler in me as I talked and worked with people from over 27 countries day in and out (watch this video for a glimpse of all our team in their own countries) without ever leaving my house!  I’ve learnt more and got more done here in a year than in double the time in most other companies, and after long, I’ve truly looked up to and liked a leader. For once, work hasn’t left me living only for the weekends, but rather optimised the perfect work life balance where I can do meaningful work any day and any number of hours, while also having enough time to have a life outside of the laptop. (And trust me, as a single woman with two old dogs and a house to take care of, that’s been a big blessing!)

This is not to say it’s all been rosy. Working at Hustler Marketing is challenging. Yes it’s remote, but sometimes that can be alienating and you can miss out on all the “cubicle action”, or catching some after-hours drinks. Yes, the hours required are shorter, but every minute is accounted for. So you end up doing more work per time unit available. I still sometimes to forget to turn off my Hubstaff. I teeter close to a burnout often but self-correct, and yes every now and then the impostor syndrome still hits me hard. Am I doing okay? Do I belong here? Do I bring a value to the table worthy of my role? But you know what, every time that happens, it’s a message like the one I just read on my Anniversary wish on the Slack channel that put paid to all my fears and concerns, and I’m back to being a happy camper, knowing this is my place, these are my people, this is my favourite Hustle.

A year ago, I took a bet on Hustler Marketing. And I’m raking up the table baby.