Founder emails: when a plain note from you beats a designed email

What is a founder email?

It's an email that reads like the founder sat down and wrote it. Usually that means text only, a first name in the From field, a short story or reason, and one link at most. No hero banner, no product grid.

It's a different tool from a designed promo. A designed email says "here's what we sell." A founder email says "here's who we are and why we bother."

Do plain-text emails actually perform better?

Sometimes, and it depends on the list. HubSpot ran A/B tests on its own emails and reported "in every single A/B test, the simpler-designed email won," adding that "even a single image reduced the click rate." But HubSpot also found most survey respondents said they preferred HTML and image-based emails, and it's a B2B company. Litmus ran its own test and found its audience "engaged a little bit better" with plain text, while calling the results "far from definitive."

Klaviyo says text-only emails "often see higher click rates than fully designed HTML emails," without publishing numbers. So the honest answer: plain text is worth testing on your own list, not assuming. I compare the two formats in more detail in plain text vs HTML email.

The bigger reason to send a founder email isn't the click rate. It's that some messages land better from a person than from a brand.

Where should founder emails go?

The welcome series

This is the classic spot. Klaviyo's help center says "it is best practice to have a longer welcome series with personal anecdotes from your brand's founder discussing why they started the company." Klaviyo's blog also describes using a "letter from the founder" late in the series to make a last push to people who haven't bought feel special.

One caution from my own data: across 4 brands, welcome email #1 earns $4.50 per person, and emails #2 to #5 earn about $0.10 each. That's 30x. So don't let the founder story crowd out the first email's job, which is getting the first order. Put the story in email #2 or #3, or keep it to a few lines inside email #1. Klaviyo's blog makes a similar point: plenty of brands use the welcome series to tell their story, but "proceed with caution." More in welcome email series.

Coming back after a break

If you've gone quiet for a while, a founder note is the natural first email back. When I restart a brand that's stopped sending, the first email back is gratitude: thank people for sticking around. Not an apology. And the biggest mistake is leading with a huge flashy offer before you've rebuilt any value. A plain note from the founder does that better than a sale banner. The full playbook is in restarting email marketing after a break.

Explaining a change

A price increase, a reformulation, a delay, a shortage. When customers might feel something is being taken away, the explanation should come from a person. I go through the price version in how to announce a price increase by email.

Saying thank you

A milestone, a first anniversary as a customer, the end of a big season. These don't need a discount. They need a real sentence from a real person.

When does a founder email backfire?

• When it's every week. A founder note works because it's rare. If every promo is "a note from Sam," it reads like a costume.
• When it's fake. If the founder would never say it, readers can tell. Use their actual words, even if someone else tidies them up.
• When it hides the ask. A story with no clear next step is just a nice email. Say what you want them to do, once.
• When you need to show product. A launch with five colors needs pictures. Use a designed email for that and save the founder note for the story behind it.

How do I write one?

Write it to one customer, not to "our community." A simple structure:

1. One line on why you're writing. "I wanted to tell you why we changed the formula."
2. The story or reason, in a few short paragraphs. Specific beats polished. A real detail from the kitchen, the warehouse or the first batch is worth more than a mission statement.
3. One ask. Try the product, reply with a question, read the full story. One link.
4. Sign it with a first name.

Keep it short enough to read on a phone without scrolling much. If it needs a headline, it's probably not a founder email. For more on writing in a voice customers trust, see ecommerce email copywriting.

How do I set up a founder email in Klaviyo?

Use the text-only editor

In a campaign, Klaviyo lets you "Switch to text only editor." In a flow email, choose Edit, then Text only. Klaviyo describes text-only emails as "a great option if you want your message to have a very personal feel."

Set the sender name and reply-to

Klaviyo lets you override the account's default sender name and email on any campaign or flow email. Use the founder's first name, or "Name from Brand," on your own sending domain. Klaviyo recommends sending from your own domain, not a Gmail or Yahoo address.

Then make sure replies go somewhere. Klaviyo notes that "replies go to the sender email address unless you set a separate reply-to address." If the email invites a reply and nobody answers, you've undone the whole point.

Let people reply

A founder email that says "hit reply and tell me" should come from an inbox someone checks. It's also good practice for deliverability. Mailchimp notes that many spam filters are built to flag no-reply addresses, and Microsoft's sender guidance for high-volume senders recommends real From and Reply-To addresses that accept replies. Getting your sending setup right overall is covered in Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook sender requirements.

What should I write first?

If you've never sent one, start with the welcome series. Write a short note on why the brand exists, add it as email #2 or #3, send it from the founder's name with a working reply-to, and give it one link. Then watch the replies. They'll tell you more about your customers than the click rate will.

FAQ

WRITTEN BY Jack White

Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.

Instagram @jackintheinbox LinkedIn