Your 2026 Email & SMS Masterplan: How to Go From Scrambling to Scaling This Year! | Retention Nation Podcast
Most ecommerce brands don’t have an email problem.
They have a planning problem.
They wake up Monday and ask:
“What campaign are we sending this week?”
And then they wonder why their retention is flat, their list is tired, and they’re constantly behind.
In this episode, Isaac Hyman breaks down the exact framework he used inside billion-dollar portfolios to stop the chaos and build a system that compounds—without burning the list or the team.
You’ll learn how to:
Audit your program to find the revenue you’re already sitting on
Build a real strategy (not random tactics dressed up as “strategy”)
Create a 12-month roadmap that makes weekly execution obvious
Use email marketing + SMS the way top brands do: to build relationships that print repeat purchases
If you’re done scrambling—and you want a masterplan that scales—press play.
10 Episode Takeaways (Real Actions To Take Now!)
If you’re scrambling weekly, you’re losing monthly. Chaos doesn’t scale—systems do.
Start with the number. Define your email/SMS revenue target first, then reverse engineer the levers.
Most brands “improve” the cosmetics. New designs, new copy, new ESP… while the engine stays broken.
Audit before you add. You can’t fix what you don’t measure (list size, CTR, CVR, AOV, flow performance).
Strategy comes before tactics. Tactics without strategy = busywork that feels productive and stays unprofitable.
Relationships beat volume. More sends won’t fix low trust. Better timing + relevance will.
The 4 pillars that scale retention: segmentation → personalization → automation → multiplication.
Quarterly roadmap wins: Q1 foundation, Q2 testing, Q3 refinement/investment, Q4 scaling.
Data is the tiebreaker. You have opinions. Your customer has behavior. Behavior wins.
Execution is easy when the roadmap is clear. Daily tasks should ladder up to the annual goal—or they’re noise.
Final Word
Most brands think scaling is about sending harder.
The top brands know it’s about planning smarter.
It’s not just “did we send emails?”
It’s “did our email marketing system:
Target the right segment?
Personalize the experience?
Automate the follow-up?
Multiply what works across flows, campaigns, and channels?”
If you’re working with an email marketing agency and they’re not building:
A revenue projection
A 12-month roadmap
Quarterly testing + refinement cycles
A repeatable retention system
…you don’t have a strategy partner. You have a sender.
Ecommerce retention is a game of compounding.
You don’t compound with random weeks.
You compound with a masterplan.
This is your masterplan.
Now go build your 2026 Email & SMS roadmap so it actually does its job — drive repeat purchases, collect data, and scale predictably.
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