Why We Started an Email Marketing Company

You know, it's, uh, it's interesting
you shared some background because

you're clearly thinking about something.

A lot of creators are probably
wondering with like a million email

options already out there, why on
earth start another email marketing

company Seems well crowded, right?

It's a totally fair question.

I mean, yeah.

Stepping into any PAC digital space,
you really need a a, a strong why.

So let's dig into what drove
Ambreen and Sam, the folks behind

Reply two to actually do it

right, and their origin
story's kind of different.

They met on Tinder.

Which, you know, immediately
makes them feel a bit more human,

less like standard tech founders.

Ah, yeah, it definitely does.

It adds a different flavor

and they joke about their partnership
being this best hostel takeover ever.

With Ambreen apparently taking over
Sam's business in life, it sort

of gives you a feel for their.

Dynamic maybe.

Yeah.

Fun, but driven.

It certainly paints a picture.

Yeah.

You know, that mix of personal
connection and professional

drive, that can be a really potent
combination for building something

and yeah, sharing that little detail.

It feels authentic, doesn't it?

Totally.

So what we really wanna get into
here is the why behind Reply two.

We're not gonna get lost in like all
the specific email tactics today.

Mm-hmm.

We're trying to understand the
progress creators are actually aiming

for, and, uh, how Ambreen and Sam saw
Reply two fitting into that picture.

We're mostly hearing, um,
Ambreen's perspective on this.

That's a really good way to frame it.

Focusing on the outcome, the
actual progress people want instead

of just the email tech itself.

It makes the whole thing
much more relevant, I think.

Okay, so let's rewind a bit.

Ambreen's early career.

She spent eight years teaching design,
like physical design, think fancy coffee

table books for big global brands.

Wow, okay.

Yeah.

She even had designs
pop up in a Marvel show.

So pretty established in that
physical, tangible world.

This quite a background, a solid
foundation in visual communication,

presenting things effectively, physically.

It makes you wonder how
that translated later.

Right.

For you listening, it kind of shows
how even skills that seem unrelated

can give you a unique angle on
understanding what people need, whether

it's a book or you know, an email.

Exactly.

But then 2014, she meets Sam and
boom, pivots hard into digital.

She called it going from tangible
stuff to something less tangible,

but infinitely more scalable.

Her first digital job title,
customer success cheerleader.

Okay, that's memorable.

Right.

You don't hear that every day.

What do you make of a title like that?

How might that shape how she
interacted with customers?

Well, apart from being
catchy, it suggests, um.

A really positive,
proactive vibe, doesn't it?

Like really wanting to help people
succeed, but underneath the fun title,

that's where she started getting that
crucial frontline experience, talking

directly to customers, hearing their
problems, their frustrations firsthand.

Totally.

And she even said her
design background helped.

Like she could visually grasp where
people were getting stuck with

content or the design, or just
if the message wasn't clear, even

without designing interfaces anymore.

That's fascinating, that intersection, her
design eye meets direct customer feedback.

So she wasn't just like closing support
tickets, she was seeing it from the

user's point of view, thinking about
how things looked and felt a, a very,

uh, human centered way of looking at it.

Okay, so moving forward a bit.

The company brings in HubSpot.

Apparently the rest of the team kind of
groaned new platform to learn, you know?

Oh yeah.

The classic reaction.

But Ambreen was just like,
I'll figure it out.

And she really did just dove right
in, got fully certified, all while

still handling customer support
stuff, talk about initiative

that all figured it out.

Yeah.

Mindset is huge, isn't it?

Especially when you're building things.

That willingness to
just jump in and learn.

Mm. And doing the certification
while juggling support.

Yeah.

That shows some serious dedication to.

Mastering this new domain

and that hands-on support work turned
out to be critical because she wasn't

just learning HubSpot's features, she
was getting this deep, raw understanding

of what confused people, the exact words
they used, the questions they asked.

It's like she built this internal library
of customer language and pain points.

That direct line is so much
more valuable than just reading

a report about pain points.

You know, hearing it day in, day out.

It builds this empathy, this intuition
that's hard to get otherwise you really

feel what the customer's going through.

And she identified this early
principle that came out of it.

Deep customer empathy, paired with
solutions that lead to outcomes.

You can already see the seeds of their
agency's philosophy forming there.

Exactly.

It's not just feeling the pain.

It's about actively finding ways to fix
it and get results for the customer.

Very action oriented, very
focused on making things better.

Okay, so now their first business is
growing and email gets way more complex.

Um, brains managing thousands of
personalized messages, intricate nurture

campaigns, complex automations built
by Sam and their colleague Darko.

It sounds intense.

Yeah.

That paints a picture of things
really scaling up email becoming this.

Core engine for growth, for engagement,
managing all that personalization and

automation that takes serious know-how.

And, uh, meticulous attention to detail

and check this stat.

Their website hits 90,000 monthly
visitors, converting leads at 0.7%.

Which sounds small, but that's
630 new leads every month

needing personalized follow up.

Wow.

Okay.

630 leads a month.

That's not a trickle.

That's, yeah, that's significant volume.

Yeah.

Nurturing that many people effectively
through email that demands some

pretty sophisticated systems.

Automation segmentation.

You really know your stuff.

And what's interesting is Ambreen realized
that even small technical things like

really dialing in email deliverability,
making sure emails actually hit the inbox,

not spam, or dealing with things like the
iOS privacy changes, those seemingly minor

tweets had a huge impact on their results.

It really highlights how important
that operational side of email is.

Absolutely.

Those technical details, the
plumbing, basically, yeah.

You can make or break your open
rates, your clicks, your conversions.

It's foundational.

Those iOS changes, for instance,
suddenly tracking opens got way harder.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

So understanding deliverability,
understanding click rates

became even more vital to see
if things were actually working.

And right around then, Sam makes this
casual comment something like, you know,

most companies hire entire agencies to
handle what you guys are doing internally.

Ah,

the outside perspective.

Yeah.

Um, Ambreen said that was the first
little spark, the first hint that

maybe the expertise they'd built
up could be valuable to others.

Funny how sometimes it takes someone
else pointing it out, isn't it?

It really does.

Mm-hmm.

When you're deep in the weeds,
you can totally underestimate

the skills you've developed.

Sam's comment was probably like, oh,
right, this is actually a big deal.

It gives you that external validation.

I.

So then she gets introduced to the Jobs
to Be Done framework, and she said this

just completely changed how she saw
customers moved away from those, you

know, typical marketing me buyer personas,

uh, jobs to be done.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a powerful way to look at things.

Instead of demographics, it asks what
job is the customer actually trying to do

when they hire your product or service?

Like, what problem are they
really trying to solve?

What progress are they
trying to make in their life?

She uses their social media
planning app as an example.

They thought users just wanted to
save time scheduling posts simple

enough, but using jobs to be done,
they realized the real job was getting

more clicks, more leads, more sales.

That was the underlying goal.

Makes sense.

And knowing that it totally changed
their email messaging made it much more

focused on those core desires, not just.

Save time.

It's a perfect illustration.

Yeah.

Understand the real job, the desired
outcome, and suddenly your messaging

connects on a much deeper level.

You're talking benefits,
value, not just features.

For anyone listening, thinking
about the job your audience is

trying to do by engaging with you.

That's super valuable.

What progress are they after?

Right.

And Ambreen said that framework, that focus
on the job became central to how they

later positioned their own email company.

Right?

It wasn't just about doing email,
it was about helping creators

achieve a specific kind of progress.

Connecting with their
audience, growing their thing.

Exactly.

They weren't selling email tasks.

They were selling the outcome.

The ability to connect, build
relationships, achieve those

bigger goals, enabling progress.

So fast forward a few years.

Ambreen is applying these email skills
across all sorts of different industries.

BDB video streaming, a mobile app
for Instagram creators, nonprofit.

A real mix.

That kind of breadth is
invaluable, isn't it?

Seeing the same challenges or
maybe different nuances across

totally different sectors.

It lets you spot the common
threads, the universal problems,

and she kept seeing the same pattern.

Organizations had great content,
clear goals, but they consistently

struggled with the operational stuff,
the technical side of email, getting

it implemented correctly, making sure
it actually delivered, optimizing it.

It wasn't the what it was the how.

Or maybe the, if it even got there.

That's such a key insight.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

Content is useless if
it lands in spam, right?

Yeah.

That behind the scenes tech, the
operational skill, just as vital as the

creative part, often more so initially.

And she mentions talking to Sam
saying something like, it's the

same problems everywhere, different
businesses, same operational headaches.

Uh, and his response was basically,
yeah, that usually means there's

a business opportunity there.

He's seeing the market gap,
she's seeing the real world pain.

That's the classic
entrepreneur dynamic, isn't it?

One person experiences the problem deeply.

The other recognizes the
potential business in solving it.

Sam's comment probably
nudged them forward again.

Then the pandemic happens.

Suddenly everyone seems to
be starting a newsletter.

This huge boom in direct
creator to audience stuff.

Yeah, that was a definite shift,

and this becomes a pivotal
moment for a brain.

She starts working with a big social
media influencer managing a newsletter

community of half a million subscribers.

Wow.

500,000. That's serious scale,

serious.

That's not just an email list.

It's like a direct line
to a huge engaged group.

The pressure for deliverability for
engagement must have been immense.

Absolutely.

With an audience that
size, every email matters.

Newsletters become this
incredibly valuable connection.

Any operational slipup could have a big
impact on that relationship, that trust,

and um, Ambreen was deep
in the nitty gritty.

Ensuring delivery.

Setting up advanced segmentation based
on how people engaged, constantly

analyzing metrics to make it better.

Sounds like high level stuff.

Definitely managing that scale effectively
requires deep knowledge of best

practices, the tech to implement them.

Segmentation, analytics, deliverability.

It's complex work

and she throws in that Sam had
built this, uh, ridiculously

over-engineered newsletter workflow.

Her words that was getting insane.

Open rates like 70% in some tests.

70%. Okay.

Yeah, that's exceptional.

That screams deep technical,
understanding, optimized systems,

knowing how inboxes work.

Clearly Sam knew his
stuff on the tech side.

Then Ambreen gets into the
Beehive newsletter, XP program.

She's learning alongside experts
from huge names like Morning Brew,

good validation.

Totally.

And she said it just confirmed
everything they were seeing.

Creators are amazing at content,
but consistently tripped up by the

operational side of running a newsletter.

It was like the industry pros were
saying, yep, this is a real problem.

That kind of confirmation
from respected peers is huge.

It tells you you're not imagining things
that the need you identified is real

and widespread in the creator world.

She mentions some life events, put
things on pause for a bit, but the

core idea, focusing on newsletter
ops for creators had clearly stuck.

You can see all the
threads coming together.

Yes.

Sometimes those pauses, even if forced
by life stuff can actually bring clarity.

Right.

The idea was there.

Just needed the right time to blossom.

And then comes the real aha moment.

She does this informal market analysis,
just listening, observing creators,

and the main insight was crystal clear.

Creators are brilliant at
creating, that's their thing.

That's why people follow them.

But they were getting totally bogged
down by the email tech, the operations.

They just wanted to get back to creating.

That really nails the
core tension, doesn't it?

The thing that makes them successful
creating was being held back by the time

sucking complexity of email distribution,

and she heard these four
questions over and over.

Why aren't my emails getting opened?

That's deliverability
and engagement, right?

Hmm.

How do I connect all
these different tools?

That's the tech integration nightmare.

Yep.

Classic pain point.

This formatting is driving me nuts.

Just wanting it to look
good without a fight.

The simple stuff that shouldn't be hard.

And the big one, I have no idea
if this is actually working.

The lack of clear insights, it just
sums up the frustration perfectly.

Those four questions really capture it.

Reach simple tech, good presentation,
and knowing the results.

Those are the pillars creators need for
email, but struggle to manage themselves

and seeing that frustration firsthand,
knowing creators didn't sign up

to be deliverability experts.

That's what pushed them to officially
launch Reply two, focused only on

newsletter operations for creators.

It wasn't some grand corporate plan.

It was a direct response to seeing
that real recurring struggle,

that organic problem first
approach often leads to the

most useful businesses I find.

Identify a real pain, build a
solution tailored precisely to fix it.

So Reply Two's core offer is basically.

If they handle everything but the
writing, all the technical stuff,

the deliverability, the automation,
the reporting, so creators can focus

their energy on creating the content.

Making the progress they actually wanna
make connecting with their audience.

It's about removing those roadblocks.

That clear division is key.

You do the creating, we'll
handle the messy backend.

It lets creators lean into their
strength, use their time for what actually

grows, their connection and brand.

And they've been doing this a while.

They mentioned managing newsletters
at scale since like 2006.

Dealing with the really complex
bits like DMARC for deliverability

accessible templates.

They've got experience.

Yeah, that long track
record counts for a lot.

Yeah.

Tackling things like DMARC and
accessibility shows, they understand

the deep infrastructure and are
committed to doing it right,

ensuring emails get delivered and
work for everyone that builds trust

and I liked their core belief.

The human creative spirit
will mute synthetic noise.

They're really emphasizing the
value of real human creation.

They even advise against relying
too heavily on AI for content, which

feels, well, pretty bold right now.

It's

a strong stance and it
really resonates, I think.

Yes, in a world getting flooded with
AI stuff, that authentic human voice,

yeah, that unique perspective, that's
likely to become even more valuable.

It shows they believe in the
core power of the creator.

So wrapping it up, starting reply
two wasn't just jumping on a

trend, it was this whole journey.

Ambreen's shift from physical design
to digital learning email deeply through

customer support, seeing that universal
operational struggle again and again.

And finally this real drive
to let creators get back to

creating, back to connecting.

It's a great story of identifying
a real need through direct

experience and building something
specifically to meet it.

And the key I think is that.

Focus on enabling the creator's progress,
not just managing their email tasks.

That's the subtle but
important difference.

Exactly.

They handle the boring
stuff, the technical chaos.

So creators can build their
own thing, their media empires.

Maybe it's about freeing
up that creative potential.

It really changes the perspective on email
from a chore or a hurdle to something

that actually helps you achieve your
creative goals when managed correctly.

Taking away the complexity.

Unlocks potential.

So a final thought for everyone listening.

If you've ever felt like the tech side
of email, the operational bits are

just draining your energy, pulling you
away from what you actually love doing.

What could you create?

What could you share if all
that complexity was just gone?

Think about the whole you're trying to
create in the world with your work, not

just the drill of email marketing tech.

Maybe that's the real question.