Sponsored: Sticky Digital paid for this profile. What it says about its services, results and prices is attributed to its own pages or to Klaviyo’s partner directory. Retention marketing is all Sticky Digital does (email, SMS, loyalty and subscription, mostly in Klaviyo), and its retention cost guide says new engagements start at $4,500 per month.
With a three-month minimum, that floor settles most of the fit question before a sales call. The first step, a Klaviyo audit, is free.
Quick verdict
Sticky Digital is worth a look for a Shopify DTC brand of about $5M to $100M+ in annual revenue that wants one team running email, SMS, loyalty and subscription.
Skip it if the retention budget is under the $4,500 floor, or if the list is under about 5,000 profiles with working flows, where Sticky Digital’s cost guide says a brand may not need an agency yet.
Main strength: published prices and a free 35 to 40 page audit, both set out on Sticky Digital’s site. Biggest limit: the three-month minimum, which commits at least $4,500 x 3 months = $13,500.
In This Article (12 sections)
Sticky Digital at a Glance
The agency calls itself Shopify’s premier retention marketing agency, and its about page says retention marketing is all it does.
- Type: retention agency for email, SMS, loyalty and subscription
- Klaviyo tier: Platinum Master, per Klaviyo’s partner directory
- Built for: Shopify DTC brands doing $5M to $100M+ a year
- Starting price: $4,500 per month retainer (Sticky Digital’s cost guide)
- First step: free Klaviyo audit
- Minimum term: three months, then a 30-day out (Sticky Digital’s pricing guide)
- Not offered: paid media, SEO, brand design
Co-founders Nikki Tooman (CEO) and Mariel Kilroy (COO) lead it, and its pricing guide names Josie Maran, Hilma and Routine Wellness among its accounts.
Why Brands Choose the Agency, by Its Own Account
The agency’s pitch is focus: one retention-only team running the lifecycle “as a connected system, not a collection of individual sends.” Its pages give these reasons:
- Channel roles. Its full-funnel guide sums them up: “Email is where the customer learns. SMS is where they act.”
- Method. A 1:1 roadmap per brand, RFM analysis, and A/B tests behind every retention tactic, per the about page.
- Capacity. It says it takes on a small number of clients at a time, so ask how many hours your account gets.
- Claims. The homepage says it was “Voted #1 Retention Marketing Agency In North America 2023 + 2024” and has taken 50+ brands from 1m to 10m and 10m to 50m+, without naming the voter or the brands.
Does Klaviyo confirm the partner tier?
Yes: Klaviyo’s partner directory lists the agency as Platinum Master, with expertise on Shopify, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and WooCommerce, and three scopes of work: retainer, one-time project and hourly consulting. The tier explainer on Sticky Digital’s blog, updated October 1, 2026, puts Platinum Master third of four tiers on Klaviyo’s agency track, below Elite Master, and says tier tracks agency size far more closely than agency skill.
So I would read the badge as a floor, not a ranking.
Retention Marketing Services It Runs
The services page lists four lines (email and SMS programs, loyalty and rewards, subscription growth, retention audits) plus reviews, push notifications and wallet passes. Sticky Digital’s audit guide says Klaviyo is where the agency spends most of its time, so a brand still choosing a platform should start with the best email marketing platforms for ecommerce.
Email and SMS programs
The core program covers segmentation strategy, flow infrastructure, campaign cadence and creative direction. One team owning both channels matters most where email and SMS sit with two vendors and overlap. A brand without an SMS tool yet can compare the SMS marketing platforms I ranked first.
Loyalty and subscription retention
The agency says it designs loyalty programs to change purchase behavior, not just reward it, and builds churn-reduction flows, cancellation interventions and win-back sequences for brands on Recharge, Stay.ai and Ordergroove. A subscription brand on another app should raise that on the audit call.
What it does not do
It does not run paid media, SEO or brand design; the services page rules all three out. A brand that wants acquisition and retention from one vendor needs a second agency for ads and search, and that fee belongs in the budget beside the retainer.
How an Engagement Works, From Audit to Retainer
Per Sticky Digital’s audit and onboarding guides, an engagement has three steps: a free audit 2 to 4 days after the brand grants Klaviyo access, an onboarding that typically ends six to ten weeks after first setup, then a retainer or a defined project. The contact form promises a reply within 48 hours.
Step 1: The free audit
Sticky Digital’s audit guide has the brand sign an NDA and grant Manager access to Klaviyo, then deliver a 35 to 40 page report grading flows, campaigns, segments, deliverability and sign-up capture, with fixes ranked by revenue in a 30, 60 and 90 day roadmap.
The services page says most of its audits surface $50K to $200K in identifiable revenue gaps within the first 90 days; that is the agency’s claim, so ask how each figure was estimated.
Step 2: Onboarding and flow activation
Sticky Digital’s onboarding guide puts foundation checks first (Shopify integration, behavioral events, a dynamic warm-up segment), taking a day or two. In Sticky Digital’s plan, flows go live one at a time on metric conditions: abandoned checkout waits until the welcome series has run seven days below a 0.1 percent complaint rate, and no subscriber gets more than one Klaviyo-triggered email per 24 hours during warm-up.
Since onboarding typically ends six to ten weeks in, a brand should not budget full flow revenue for the first two months.
Step 3: What a retainer covers
Sticky Digital’s guides put roughly 10 emails a month, SMS, testing and a monthly strategy call in the email and SMS retainer, and staff a program with four roles (a producer, a coordinator, a designer and a strategist). Ask for that scope and those names in writing before the first month starts.
Sticky Digital Pricing and Contract Terms
Sticky Digital’s pricing-models guide, updated October 27, 2026, puts an email and SMS retainer at about $4,500 to $5,500 a month for roughly 10 emails, with a three-month minimum, then month to month with a 30-day out.
| Offer in Sticky Digital’s guides | Price | Billing | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard audit | Free | Per audit | Needs an NDA and Manager access |
| Loyalty or subscription audit | $1,500 each | Per audit | Separate from the free audit |
| Flow build | About $500 per email | Per email | No testing or adjustment after launch |
| Hourly work | $150 to $175 an hour | Per hour | Short, bounded tasks |
| Email and SMS retainer | About $4,500 to $5,500 a month | Monthly, three-month minimum | Roughly 10 emails, with SMS, testing and a strategy call |
| Klaviyo migration | Complimentary for clients | Included | Stated for Klaviyo migrations |
Sources: pricing-models guide, retention cost guide and audit guide, checked November 2026.
Which retainer band a brand lands in depends on what its program needs:
| Sticky Digital cost-guide band | Hours a month | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| $4,500 to $6,000 a month | Roughly 35 to 50 | Working flows and a steady calendar; enough to build or to run, not both |
| $6,000 to $9,000 a month | Roughly 50 to 80 | No flows, with campaigns running during a rebuild |
| $9,000 to $12,000+ a month | Roughly 80 to 120 | Retention as a primary revenue engine |
Source: retention cost guide, checked November 2026.
I would point a team that ships its own campaigns to a defined build instead.
The smallest retainer commitment is $4,500 x 3 months = $13,500; the brand with no flows commits at least $6,000 x 3 months = $18,000. A year at the floor is $4,500 x 12 months = $54,000, and a year at the top of the email and SMS band is $5,500 x 12 months = $66,000. A five-email welcome build is $500 x 5 = $2,500, and the pricing guide does not say whether builds or hourly work carry the minimum.
The fee is not the whole bill: Sticky Digital’s cost guide lists the email platform and SMS credits as separate layers, and estimates SMS credits at $500 to $3,000 a month for a mid-market DTC brand.
Case Studies: The Numbers the Pages Print
Four client case pages print figures (Nest New York twice, Deborah Lippmann and KISS USA), and none states the dates the figures cover or the starting baseline, so they show direction rather than a benchmark.
| Client, per Sticky Digital | Program | Results as printed | Period stated | Left out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nest New York | Pop-up tests after moving to Klaviyo | Revenue +2M, YoY revenue +10%, orders +20% | Year over year for one figure only | Currency, dates, baseline |
| Nest New York | Recharge subscriptions | +3 months on subscription, 223% subscription revenue, 300+ failed payments recovered | One year, undated | Starting revenue |
| Deborah Lippmann | Email redesign and segmentation | Revenue YoY +110%, ROI 22x, orders YoY +120% | Year over year | Which year, ROI method |
| KISS USA | Loyalty revamp | Active customers +12%, purchasing customers +35%, cross-sell 100%+, revenue +175K | None | Currency, dates, baseline |
Sources: Nest New York email case, Nest New York subscription case, Deborah Lippmann case and KISS USA case, checked November 2026.
A fifth case, about an unnamed brand, prints no figures. The agency’s wider claim, that clients usually see 25% to 40% of store revenue come from email within six months, is in Sticky Digital’s pricing-models guide; ask which clients and months it covers.
Sticky Digital Pros and Cons
Pros
- Published floor, hourly rate and per-email price let a brand budget before a sales call
- Free audit with a stated scope and a 2 to 4 day turnaround in Sticky Digital’s audit guide, so a brand can judge the agency before committing
- One team for email, SMS, loyalty and subscription, for brands with channels split across vendors
- Platinum Master in Klaviyo’s directory, and complimentary Klaviyo migrations for clients
- Named subscription apps (Recharge, Stay.ai, Ordergroove) for brands fighting churn
- Month to month after the minimum in Sticky Digital’s pricing guide, so a brand can leave on 30 days’ notice
Cons
- A $54,000 year at the floor rules out small retention budgets
- No one-month trial: Sticky Digital’s pricing guide sets three months before the 30-day out
- No paid media, SEO or brand design, so acquisition needs another vendor
- Case pages print no dates or baselines, which makes agency comparisons hard
- Sticky Digital’s cost guide puts the platform bill and SMS credits outside the fee
Who Should Hire Sticky Digital?
It fits Shopify DTC brands of roughly $5M to $100M+, the range Sticky Digital’s services page names, that already acquire customers and can fund the retainer for at least three months.
- Skip it if:
- your list is under about 5,000 profiles and your flows work; Sticky Digital’s cost guide itself says that money would do more as inventory or acquisition.
Best for
- Shopify DTC brands in beauty, wellness, food and beverage or apparel, the categories the services page names
- Brands on Klaviyo or moving to it, with migration complimentary for clients
- Subscription brands on Recharge, Stay.ai or Ordergroove that are losing subscribers
- Brands whose acquisition engine runs ahead of their retention
Not ideal for
- Lists under about 5,000 profiles with working flows, or retention budgets under the $4,500 monthly floor (both from Sticky Digital’s cost guide)
- Brands that want ads, SEO or brand design from the same agency
- Teams that ship campaigns weekly and need one flow rebuilt
Alternatives If the Agency Is Not a Fit
Three routes, depending on what rules it out. If it is the terms or the scope, my comparison of email marketing agencies for ecommerce brands sets several agencies side by side; the agency also holds a paid slot on that list.
If it is headcount, Sticky Digital’s cost guide says most mid-market brands land on an in-house owner for strategy and brand, with an agency carrying execution, design and technical depth. If it is budget, run Klaviyo in-house and buy a flow build when one needs rebuilding, at about $500 per email, the rate Sticky Digital’s pricing guide lists.
How I Evaluated Sticky Digital
The agency paid for this profile. I built it from the agency’s own pages on stickydigital.io (homepage, about, services, pricing-models and cost guides, audit and onboarding guides, tier explainer, five case studies), read on November 3, 2026. The one third-party source is the email platform’s partner directory, named wherever the profile uses it.
Agency statements are attributed to those pages; the cost math and fit calls are mine. Sticky Digital’s site does not publish a retainer ceiling, the dates and baselines behind its case figures, or who awarded its “#1” title. This profile carries no score.
FAQ
What do the agency’s clients say?
Its homepage quotes RUDIS, Ascent Nutrition (crediting it with doubling annual revenue) and Danrie (reporting its best SMS results), and Klaviyo’s listing adds Xmondo on an email platform migration. The agency chose all four, so read them as endorsements, not a sample.
Does it work with stores that are not on Shopify?
Yes, per Klaviyo’s directory, which lists BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and WooCommerce expertise beside Shopify. Its own pages define its clients as DTC brands on Shopify, so a non-Shopify brand should ask for a case on its own platform.
Does it work with Attentive?
Yes for audits: the audit guide says the agency reads the Attentive side when a brand’s SMS runs there. Its pages do not say whether it manages Attentive day to day, so confirm that before signing a retainer.
Final Verdict
Request Sticky Digital’s audit, which costs an NDA and Manager access rather than money, if your brand is a Shopify DTC business in the $5M to $100M+ range on Klaviyo, or moving to it, and can commit to the retainer for three months. Below that budget or list size, a flow build, an in-house owner or another agency fits better.
On the call, ask for the dates and baselines behind the case figures, the retainer scope in writing and the people filling the four roles.
