Get live statistics and analysis of Trayan Hristov | Email & Retention Marketing's profile on X / Twitter

- 4 years of running an email & sms agency. - $100m+ in results for clients. - 100+ clients helped all around the world in 10+ languages. - $1m+ in personal revenue by age 27. No shady tactics, rinse-and-repeat strategies, and fake promises. And I want to ask you: What can I do to support your business and career? People my age are already breaking records, writing history, creating products, and changing the world. I sell a simple service: Email & SMS marketing that's data-driven, personalised, and creates a sustainable profit machine through empathy. We only work with brands led by people who are not there only for the money but to create a legacy with memories, products, and services for their customers and families. 28 is around the corner in a month and a half, and I want to become better just like everyone else. It's not hard to get AI to do your email and SMS basics, and we've never been about only the basics. It's much harder to understand your data, deliverability, and strategy, which is what we tap into for those ready to take their business to the next level. While we take pride in creatives that inspire awe, our work has gone far beyond that. CEOs, CMOs, CGOs, and COOs have repeatedly said that we can think like them (just see the testimonials on my website). But it's hard to show it unless you experience it. My vision is to change this industry from cheap, rinse-and-repeat, or shady marketing tactics to true, lasting relationships (and greater LTV for every brand). And it's very hard to achieve this only through a direct, hands-on approach that my team can take for you... I just spent a few days meditating on our mission: We believe growth should always be personal, meaningful, and free of manipulative tactics. We partner with DTC and family-owned brands to craft data-driven, highly personalized email and SMS campaigns that inspire loyalty, sustain revenue, and honor each customer’s humanity. By blending creativity, empathy, and innovation, we empower our clients to focus on what truly matters—living fulfilling lives, forging deeper connections, and building a legacy rooted in authenticity. Sometimes, we're expensive. Sometimes, brands need more from the team that is in the scope. Sometimes, it's just not a match. And that's okay! Therefore, for the next three months, expect a lot more YouTube content from me, diving even deeper into the tactics and strategies we implement that anyone can use to grow exponentially much quicker than they would on their own! So, please let me know: What topics excite you the most I can help you with through my content?

I made a mistake and took on a performance deal with lower retainer. Let this be a lesson for someone else: Client 1: What else are we getting? When will this be ready? Why don't we do 6x more work tomorrow? We're very excited but we want you to grow us by 1000% in 3 weeks,

I just bought my first car.

The most unexpected thing happened today. My agency supported one brand from $30k/mo to $3m/mo between Oct 2023 and January 2025, and in February, we lost the account. I later realised that a competitor of ours badmouthed us to the client, who was a friend of theirs. Today, 8 months later, the brand came back to us, and their email & SMS performance had dropped to 1/3 of what it used to be. And, ironically, we're auditing another account for this agency this week, which came to us through word-of-mouth inbound. Sometimes, there are people who think ill of you when you literally haven't done anything but be a decent person and do good work, but what I've found is that everything always comes around.

Happy New Year from the slopes! PS working on a 2024 recap, wins, losses and lessons. This time, I'm going to share the good, the bad and the ugly. 2024 was the most exciting yet challenging year I've had. Some highlights: 1. 29 clients served. 2. Strongest month $90k+ 3. 15 team members at peak (now 10 but recruiting) 4. Travelled to Ireland, UK, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Qatar, and Iceland. 5. Got featured in Foundr, Mayple, Three podcasts and a big one coming soon! 6. Got into 4 of the biggest ecom communities. 7. Was in a hospital 3 times for 4+ days. 8. Bought my first car. 9. Got a place in Bulgaria 10. Became a Klaviyo Elite Partner 11. Picked up tennis. 12. Almost gave away a third of my company to a not-so-great fit. 13. Joined an operators community which finally showed me my mistakes. 14. Co-created a community of email agencies. 15. And most importantly, she said yes!

HOT TAKE: "AI can do my email marketing for me." Can we please stop parroting this nonsense? If you love losing, go ahead! This lie might as well fit almost every job. Here are some tough pills to swallow: 1. If your products can be found on Temu or Alibaba... Your business is not as unique as you think. 2. If all your SaaS does is promise a GPT wrapper or a fancy Pivot Table, you will keep churning after the 30-day trial. 3. Can a professional generate your output in a few prompts? You need to make yourself more valuable. What doesn't grow dies. Humans are social animals by nature. (If you don't believe me, read Sapiens by Yuval Harari). Your goal is to find the right WHO that will be there next to you as you go further. Do you honestly believe that one of the first humans thought, "Now that I have fire to fight off the lions, I don't need my tribe anymore"? It's easy to turn lazy and go cheap when something "feels" like it's off your plate. Winners know what it takes: responsibility placed on a competent person. And that's because business is a team sport. The best businesses we work with get out new products, collections, and updates every month, constantly creating value for the world. The best people reinvent themselves every day. Discipline in private is confidence in public. If you're currently working with someone whose suggestions result from a prompt, I can see where this could come from. So, let's reshape your priorities. Here's what you should look for in the agency or practitioner you work with (that will be more valuable to you than AI): - Ways to grow your LTV are by increasing your repeat purchases and AOV. - Ways to segment your audience that can you rearrange your offers into a scalable business with better customers. - Ways to decrease your CPA are by testing and interpreting multiple creatives based on structure, research, and ICP understanding. - Ways to improve customer experience by positioning personalised products and communications based on the correct delay and product journey. - Ways to USE AI on your behalf based on your data that can filter out the clutter and give you actionable insights you won't have to dig in for months. - Ways to understand buyer biases and address them with the most cohesive argument by making the best promise. Email marketing has never been about how pretty your email is. It's a mechanism for you to transform intention into money that will grow your business and freedom. It's a unique blend of creative and analytical thinking, far beyond another pretty banner... And that's what I love about it! Think about this the next time you rush to hire or think you can go cheap. PS: Did you like this post? Please comment and like so that I get the dopamine hit from this rather than doom-scrolling and continue spending hours thinking and writing these out! PSS: No, this picture is not AI.

Sintra AI has become one of our biggest success stories by becoming a multi-8-figure brand in just a few months. Yes, although we're positioned for DTC, in 2024 we helped a few SaaS companies grow. Some of these include Sintra AI, Mewing (the tongue posture and jaw exercise movement that took over TikTok) and others. One of the key principles we use is showing what the product can do in action rather than speaking about it. Most SaaS companies lose customers not because of the quality of their products but because they fail to teach their customers how to make the most of their products. Steal this template for these type of ads/emails/website pages: 1. FAQ 2. Testimonials 3. Objections 4. Education 5. Product spotlight 6. Product launch 7. Soft Pre-Sell tips 8. Up-sell 9. Cross-sell 10. Offer launch

Only dead fish goes with the flow.

We're now a platinum agency.

I've been hiring and interviewing email specialists for my team over the last month. The only candidates with either relevant experience or good enough understanding (before being trained) are asking for north of $6k salaries. The average is $10k. I'm not sure who is setting up these expectations but thought I'd share. I understand great talent is expensive. But getting an agency of 4 to 6 people to work for you with vetted systems and experience on this price is an absolute steal.

This 8-fig brand fell to 7-figures in 2024 with 60% to 200% monthly YoY decline in sales before reaching out to us. 3 landing pages later, 100+ ads, 4 new google campaigns, and 60 emails within a month later, they're 8% up YoY. Case study incoming.

DTC brands today

- 4 years of running an email & sms agency. - $100m+ in results for clients. - 100+ clients helped all around the world in 10+ languages. - $1m+ in personal revenue by age 27. No shady tactics, rinse-and-repeat strategies, and fake promises. And I want to ask you: What can I do to support your business and career? People my age are already breaking records, writing history, creating products, and changing the world. I sell a simple service: Email & SMS marketing that's data-driven, personalised, and creates a sustainable profit machine through empathy. We only work with brands led by people who are not there only for the money but to create a legacy with memories, products, and services for their customers and families. 28 is around the corner in a month and a half, and I want to become better just like everyone else. It's not hard to get AI to do your email and SMS basics, and we've never been about only the basics. It's much harder to understand your data, deliverability, and strategy, which is what we tap into for those ready to take their business to the next level. While we take pride in creatives that inspire awe, our work has gone far beyond that. CEOs, CMOs, CGOs, and COOs have repeatedly said that we can think like them (just see the testimonials on my website). But it's hard to show it unless you experience it. My vision is to change this industry from cheap, rinse-and-repeat, or shady marketing tactics to true, lasting relationships (and greater LTV for every brand). And it's very hard to achieve this only through a direct, hands-on approach that my team can take for you... I just spent a few days meditating on our mission: We believe growth should always be personal, meaningful, and free of manipulative tactics. We partner with DTC and family-owned brands to craft data-driven, highly personalized email and SMS campaigns that inspire loyalty, sustain revenue, and honor each customer’s humanity. By blending creativity, empathy, and innovation, we empower our clients to focus on what truly matters—living fulfilling lives, forging deeper connections, and building a legacy rooted in authenticity. Sometimes, we're expensive. Sometimes, brands need more from the team that is in the scope. Sometimes, it's just not a match. And that's okay! Therefore, for the next three months, expect a lot more YouTube content from me, diving even deeper into the tactics and strategies we implement that anyone can use to grow exponentially much quicker than they would on their own! So, please let me know: What topics excite you the most I can help you with through my content?

HOT TAKE: "AI can do my email marketing for me." Can we please stop parroting this nonsense? If you love losing, go ahead! This lie might as well fit almost every job. Here are some tough pills to swallow: 1. If your products can be found on Temu or Alibaba... Your business is not as unique as you think. 2. If all your SaaS does is promise a GPT wrapper or a fancy Pivot Table, you will keep churning after the 30-day trial. 3. Can a professional generate your output in a few prompts? You need to make yourself more valuable. What doesn't grow dies. Humans are social animals by nature. (If you don't believe me, read Sapiens by Yuval Harari). Your goal is to find the right WHO that will be there next to you as you go further. Do you honestly believe that one of the first humans thought, "Now that I have fire to fight off the lions, I don't need my tribe anymore"? It's easy to turn lazy and go cheap when something "feels" like it's off your plate. Winners know what it takes: responsibility placed on a competent person. And that's because business is a team sport. The best businesses we work with get out new products, collections, and updates every month, constantly creating value for the world. The best people reinvent themselves every day. Discipline in private is confidence in public. If you're currently working with someone whose suggestions result from a prompt, I can see where this could come from. So, let's reshape your priorities. Here's what you should look for in the agency or practitioner you work with (that will be more valuable to you than AI): - Ways to grow your LTV are by increasing your repeat purchases and AOV. - Ways to segment your audience that can you rearrange your offers into a scalable business with better customers. - Ways to decrease your CPA are by testing and interpreting multiple creatives based on structure, research, and ICP understanding. - Ways to improve customer experience by positioning personalised products and communications based on the correct delay and product journey. - Ways to USE AI on your behalf based on your data that can filter out the clutter and give you actionable insights you won't have to dig in for months. - Ways to understand buyer biases and address them with the most cohesive argument by making the best promise. Email marketing has never been about how pretty your email is. It's a mechanism for you to transform intention into money that will grow your business and freedom. It's a unique blend of creative and analytical thinking, far beyond another pretty banner... And that's what I love about it! Think about this the next time you rush to hire or think you can go cheap. PS: Did you like this post? Please comment and like so that I get the dopamine hit from this rather than doom-scrolling and continue spending hours thinking and writing these out! PSS: No, this picture is not AI.

I just bought my first car.

I made a mistake and took on a performance deal with lower retainer. Let this be a lesson for someone else: Client 1: What else are we getting? When will this be ready? Why don't we do 6x more work tomorrow? We're very excited but we want you to grow us by 1000% in 3 weeks,

HIRING an Email Strategy Manager! (Fully Remote, Part-Time or Full-Time) What we're looking for: ✔️ Passion and understanding of eCommerce strategy ✔️ Problem-solving mindset with a flair for creativity ✔️ Great communication is a must ✔️ Knowledge of LTV, churn, and customer experience ✔️ Expert in segmentation, direct response strategies, and customer experience. ✔️ Self-motivated A player, a natural leader, and willing to take ownership of results. If that's you, I'd love to have you on my Thrivelia team! Fill in the form below! 👇

Sintra AI has become one of our biggest success stories by becoming a multi-8-figure brand in just a few months. Yes, although we're positioned for DTC, in 2024 we helped a few SaaS companies grow. Some of these include Sintra AI, Mewing (the tongue posture and jaw exercise movement that took over TikTok) and others. One of the key principles we use is showing what the product can do in action rather than speaking about it. Most SaaS companies lose customers not because of the quality of their products but because they fail to teach their customers how to make the most of their products. Steal this template for these type of ads/emails/website pages: 1. FAQ 2. Testimonials 3. Objections 4. Education 5. Product spotlight 6. Product launch 7. Soft Pre-Sell tips 8. Up-sell 9. Cross-sell 10. Offer launch

Happy New Year from the slopes! PS working on a 2024 recap, wins, losses and lessons. This time, I'm going to share the good, the bad and the ugly. 2024 was the most exciting yet challenging year I've had. Some highlights: 1. 29 clients served. 2. Strongest month $90k+ 3. 15 team members at peak (now 10 but recruiting) 4. Travelled to Ireland, UK, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Qatar, and Iceland. 5. Got featured in Foundr, Mayple, Three podcasts and a big one coming soon! 6. Got into 4 of the biggest ecom communities. 7. Was in a hospital 3 times for 4+ days. 8. Bought my first car. 9. Got a place in Bulgaria 10. Became a Klaviyo Elite Partner 11. Picked up tennis. 12. Almost gave away a third of my company to a not-so-great fit. 13. Joined an operators community which finally showed me my mistakes. 14. Co-created a community of email agencies. 15. And most importantly, she said yes!

our creative is how creative you are as a person and a business. I believe it indicates whether you will make it far or not. Here's how I know: When advertising started in the 1400s, the creative was everything: 1. Write a powerful headline. 2. Craft an idea-loaded image. 3. Make a promise. After interviewing, hiring, and training people for four years and earning over $100m for over 100 DTC companies, I fully realise that the fancy graph showing the bars going up is NOT what makes you money. These principles apply to static ads, UGCs, YouTube ads, email headlines, PPC, SEO, and even the radio. It's universal, like gold, and will remain the gold standard in advertising for growing your business or career. Here are some all-time classics you can "borrow" that my army of writers and I use every day: 1. Eugene Schwartz (Breakthrough Advertising): - How to transform your [ordinary solution] into [desirable result] - starting right now. - They said it couldn't be done - until [product/method] proved them wrong. - Why [commonly overlooked factor] is the key to [big benefit]. (Feels familiar? Read this post from the start.) Lesson: Find the "mass desire" in the marketplace and position your offer as the new, faster, or easier solution to that desire. 2. John Caples - They laughed when I sat down at the piano - but when I started to play... - How [action] made me a [transformation]. Lesson: Focus on CURIOSITY and "the secret". 3. Maxwell Sackheim (Book of the Month Club) - Do you make these mistakes in [field]? Lesson: Challenge the reader's knowledge and pride. 4. Robert Collier - Are you ever tongue-tied at a party? Lesson: Verbalise what they feel and solve it. 5. David Ogilvy - At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock. - The man in the Hathaway shirt. Lesson: Be specific and intriguing with a tone of elegance and exclusivity. 6. Claude Hopkins - Drink an orange. - From a man who spent 37 years in the most demanding kitchens in Europe. Lesson: Change perception and show why they should believe. Here are a few more good ones that I know from experience: - Look, mom, no more cavities! - A mistake that costs a [person type] $[X] a year. - When was the last time you felt [emotion]? - How one bush produced 16,000 roses. - The lazy way to [achieve result]. - Doctors prove that 2 out of 3 women can have more beautiful skin in 14 days. - Are you ashamed of smells in your home? - Every [final state] was once a beginner. We rely on algorithms to show advertising, meaning ten creatives can attract ten entirely different buyers. And when you test hundreds of them, how do you truly know who is your customer? For your email marketing, here's a tactic I guarantee you'll love: -Use the good old UTMs, create segments based on the creative and improve your conversion of first-time buyers. PS: Comment below your all-time favourite headline(s) that made you awe!

Most people aren't built for my scedule. Want to live the CEO life? Do this.

It's been 1371 posts, and I still have no idea what works on X. With LinkedIn, every time I post, it adds 20-40 followers. Here, I see the same 15 people who are the real Gs. I will keep posting what's happening and what I think is valuable, but I welcome any tips.

Which of these emails is more likely to make you click? An A/B test for a Taylor Swift-inspired email going out today for one of our brands!

Gratitude Monday: Thankful to be healthy, in love, in Vietnam, and surrounded by a motivated team and amazing clients. I wouldn't change anything about the cards I was dealt.