Marketing With Laryssa

Laryssa Wirstiuk

Formerly the Joy Joya Jewelry Marketing Podcast, Marketing With Laryssa is a podcast for purpose-driven, product-based brand owners who want to build real connections with their customers. Hosted by Laryssa Wirstiuk, founder of Joy Joya and marketing strategist since 2018, the show zooms out beyond tactics to explore the bigger picture of email, SMS, and digital storytelling. With a mix of practical tips, inspiring ideas, and behind-the-scenes insights, Laryssa shares how to grow your brand with creativity, strategy, and intention - without getting lost in the marketing noise. Whether you're an ecommerce founder or a creative entrepreneur, this podcast will help you market with clarity and confidence.

  1. 2d ago

    392 - I Subscribed to 362 Ecommerce Brands to See What Actually Happens After You Sign Up

    📥 Download the FREE Front Door Study: https://joyjoya.com/frontdoor I subscribed to 362 real ecommerce brands - jewelry, fashion, beauty, home, wellness, accessories - using fresh email addresses and phone numbers I'd never used before. I just wanted to know what actually happens after you hand over your contact information. Not what a Klaviyo dashboard says is happening. What actually shows up in the inbox. Nearly half of them never sent a welcome email at all. That means 158 brands took someone's email address, made them a promise - usually a discount or incentive - and then went completely silent. And SMS had the same problem, maybe worse. 53 brands never sent the text they promised either, and giving up a phone number is a bigger ask than an email. Going silent after that isn't just a missed conversion. It's probably the last time that person bothers engaging with you. The part that got me wasn't the deliverability issues or the mismatched offers or the spam folder problems - though all of those showed up too. It was that nobody in this study is losing because they lack a sophisticated segmentation strategy. They're losing because the very first message, the most important one they'll ever send, just isn't sending. Or isn't landing. Or isn't matching what they promised. And that's actually good news. Because this isn't complicated or expensive to fix. In this episode I walk through what I found across all 362 brands, why the welcome window is the most critical moment in your entire email program, and the one thing you can do today to find out exactly where you stand. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: Why nearly half of the 362 brands I subscribed to never sent a welcome email - and what that's actually costing them Why SMS silence after a signup is an even bigger offense than email silence The brands that didn't even have a real way to sign up - and what that signals to potential customers What happens when your welcome offer doesn't match what you promised on the popup Why deliverability problems are likely worse than most brands realize - and what I could see just from the consumer side Why the basics, not advanced strategy, are what's actually breaking most email programs The one simple thing you can do right now to find out exactly what your new subscribers are experiencing You genuinely can't fix this until you've experienced it as your own customer. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    392 - I Subscribed to 362 Ecommerce Brands to See What Actually Happens After You Sign Up
  2. Jul 20

    391 - Is It Time to Upgrade Your Text Message Marketing? An Honest Look at SMS vs RCS

    Every SMS marketing platform is pushing something called RCS right now, telling you it's the future of texting your customers. And the upgrade is real - but the pitch is leaving out a few things worth knowing before you make any decisions. RCS, which stands for Rich Communication Services, isn't actually new technology. It was standardized back in 2007. The reason everyone is suddenly talking about it in 2026 is that Apple only added support for it in iOS 18, which came out in fall 2024. Once iPhone users were covered, rich messaging across both major platforms became possible for the first time - and that's what's driving all the noise. The difference between SMS and RCS is genuinely significant. Instead of a plain text from a string of random numbers, your customers see your actual brand name, logo, and a verified badge. Instead of compressed, blurry product images, they see high-res photos. Instead of a link, they get tappable buttons - Shop Now, Track Your Order - right inside the message thread. It's a real upgrade in how branded and trustworthy your texts look and feel. But there's an approval process, a waitlist with no guaranteed timeline, a country availability limitation, and a few things about how to measure performance that most platforms aren't mentioning. And none of it matters if your SMS foundation isn't solid first. In this episode I break down what RCS actually is, what it takes to get set up, what it genuinely does better than SMS, and my honest take on whether it's worth pursuing right now. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: Why RCS isn't new - and what actually changed to make everyone talk about it now What the difference between an SMS and an RCS message actually looks and feels like as a consumer What the approval process involves and why the timeline is unpredictable Why RCS has an automatic SMS fallback - and why that matters for your reach Which 10 countries RCS is currently available in Why RCS delivery reporting is actually more reliable than SMS - and what that means for your data The trust and anti-phishing benefits that come with being a verified RCS sender Why click rate isn't the right metric to compare RCS and SMS performance How to think about RCS as a layer on top of SMS - not a replacement for it This isn't hype you should ignore. But it's not an emergency switch either. Get your fundamentals right first - and then RCS can be a genuinely good next layer. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    391 - Is It Time to Upgrade Your Text Message Marketing? An Honest Look at SMS vs RCS
  3. Jul 13

    390 - Ecomm Entrepreneur Julie Cole Has Been Building Her Email List for 23 Years - Here's What She Knows

    390Julie Cole said something in our conversation that I haven't stopped thinking about. Social media, content, followers - all of it can disappear tomorrow. The only thing she actually owns is her email list. Julie is the co-founder of Mabel's Labels, the brand behind those indestructible labels you've seen on kids' water bottles and lunchboxes - the ones that survive the dishwasher, the microwave, and everything in between. She started the company 23 years ago in her sister's basement with three co-founders, none of them technical, trading a foosball table for their first website. It's since grown into a multi-million dollar brand selling worldwide. What I really wanted to dig into with her was how she thinks about email after two decades of building it. She segments by life stage - kids growing into teenagers, and now labels for aging parents. She guards her list fiercely, turning down requests to use it even when it costs her a speaking opportunity. And she treats it like the most valuable asset the company owns, because it is. This conversation is full of the kind of perspective you only get from someone who's actually been doing this for 23 years. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: How Mabel's Labels got its first big marketing break before social media even existed - and what it taught them about the power of the inbox Why Julie guards her email list so carefully she'll turn down opportunities to protect it How segmenting by life stage has kept customers coming back for over two decades The repeat customer flywheel that turns back-to-school buyers into lifelong label customers - and now, senior label customers too How Julie thinks about the relationship between social media and email - and why one will always take priority Why UGC and founder visibility have become core to how Mabel's Labels builds trust in an era where everyone's questioning what's real The culture of innovation Julie has built internally - and why giving teams room to experiment is good for the bottom line What 23 years in ecommerce actually teaches you about staying relevant when everything keeps changing The only thing you really own is your email list. Everything else can disappear tomorrow. Connect with Julie: Mabel's Labels: https://mabelslabels.com More on Julie: https://mabelslabels.com/juliecole Instagram: @juliecoleinc Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    390 - Ecomm Entrepreneur Julie Cole Has Been Building Her Email List for 23 Years - Here's What She Knows
  4. Jul 6

    389 - I Tested Klaviyo's New AI Tool - Here's What You Actually Need to Know

    Klaviyo has been rolling out something called Composer in beta - an AI agent that promises to build entire marketing campaigns from a single prompt. Audience, copy, design, segmentation, all of it. The promise is impressive. So I got access on a real client account and tested it myself. And my honest take is more nuanced than the hype - and more useful than the skeptics would have you believe. The short version: Composer is less an autonomous agent and more a really well-informed assistant. It knows your account data better than any outside AI tool could. It just still needs you. Where it genuinely surprised me was the data side - send time recommendations backed by actual account history, revenue per recipient, open rates by date, flagging which sends had enough volume to be statistically meaningful. That's marketing expert level analysis, and it's specific to your account in a way that ChatGPT or Claude simply can't replicate without a direct integration. Where it fell short was the creative side. The copy was functional but generic. The design pulled image slices from across the account that didn't really hang together. Getting it to feel on brand would have taken enough back and forth that I may as well have just written and designed it myself. In this episode I walk through exactly what happened when I tested it, what genuinely impressed me, where it still needs a human, and how to think about using it if you get access. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: What Klaviyo Composer actually is and what it promises to do What happened when I tested it on a real client account with a real campaign prompt Why the creative output is a starting point, not a finished product The limitation that affects accounts where most emails are designed in Figma or Canva The one thing Composer did that genuinely surprised me - and why it matters Why the send time analysis is where this tool actually earns its place What to watch out for with the auto-populated segmentation suggestions How to think about the human vs. AI division of labor in your email program right now Let it handle the data. You handle the creative direction and strategy. That framing is really useful for anyone thinking about where AI fits into their email marketing going forward. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    389 - I Tested Klaviyo's New AI Tool - Here's What You Actually Need to Know
  5. Jun 28

    388 - Can You Actually Trust Your Email Marketing Numbers?

    $6,000 in Klaviyo. $600 in Google Analytics. Same campaign. Same week. Real numbers from a real account my team took over. If you've ever stared at two reports that should say the same thing and thought - is someone lying to me? - this episode is for you. Nobody is lying. But what's actually happening is something every ecommerce brand sending marketing emails needs to understand. Those two tools aren't giving you different answers because one of them is wrong. They're giving you different answers because they're asking completely different questions. Klaviyo is asking how much did the people who engaged with this email go on to buy. Google Analytics is asking how much was purchased in the single visit that started from clicking the email. Same campaign, different questions, different numbers. Once you understand that, the gap stops being scary - and starts being expected. But there's more to it than just the attribution philosophy. There are specific settings inside Klaviyo that most brands have never looked at, and those settings have a massive impact on the revenue numbers you're seeing every month. If you've never checked your attribution window or thought about whether open-based attribution makes sense for your account, this episode is going to be eye-opening. In this episode, I walk through exactly why these numbers differ, what to check first when you see a shocking gap, and how to actually reconcile your data so you can make real decisions instead of nervous ones. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: Why Klaviyo and Google Analytics report completely different revenue for the same campaign - and why neither one is lying The first thing to check when you see a big discrepancy (it tells you immediately whether something is broken or not) How Google Analytics decides which channel gets credit for a sale - and why it's the most conservative number you'll see What Klaviyo's open-based attribution actually means and why it inflates revenue compared to other tools Why Apple Mail Privacy Protection may be affecting your open counts - and what to do about it The pros and cons of switching to click-only attribution in Klaviyo Why your Shopify store is the only real source of truth - and how to think about every other tool's numbers Why understanding this protects you in conversations with agencies, employees, and anyone else reporting on email performance When you can explain the gap, it stops being something that makes you feel like someone's pulling one over on you — and starts being something you can actually use. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    388 - Can You Actually Trust Your Email Marketing Numbers?
  6. Jun 21

    387 - Where Your Email Marketing Welcome Flow Is Leaking Revenue

    The moment someone signs up for your emails is the highest attention moment you will ever have with that subscriber. They just said yes. They're interested. They're engaged. And most brands are using that window to send two, maybe three emails - and then calling it done. That's a problem. Because the subscribers who buy from email one were already close to purchasing anyway. The discount and the timing just pushed them over the edge. The rest of your welcome series exists for everyone who wasn't ready yet - the people who need more trust, more context, more touchpoints - and that group is typically the majority. But length is just one piece of it. The deeper issue is what's actually inside those emails. A welcome flow that feels like it could have come from any brand in any industry isn't going to convert. Static product blocks that haven't been updated since the flow was built aren't giving new subscribers an accurate picture of who you are. And treating someone who already purchased the exact same way as someone who's never bought a thing is leaving revenue on the table every single day. You already paid to get these subscribers - through paid ads, organic content, collaborations, or years of showing up. The welcome flow is where that investment either pays off or gets wasted. In this episode, I walk through the specific places welcome flows leak revenue, what to do about each one, and why getting this right isn't starting from scratch - it's making sure the work you've already done actually converts. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: Why the welcome window is your highest attention moment - and how most brands squander it Why 4 emails is the minimum for a welcome flow and 5-7 is optimal What every email in the sequence needs to do - and why more discount reminders isn't the answer The most common welcome flow problem: emails that feel like they could come from any brand How personalization from your pop-up can meaningfully change how the welcome series performs Why dynamic content is one of the easiest wins in any welcome flow - and why most brands overlook it What happens when a welcome flow hasn't been touched since it was built and the brand has completely evolved The revenue leak that comes from treating first-time purchasers and non-purchasers exactly the same How to think about whether buyers should exit the flow or stay in with adjusted content The welcome flow is where your subscriber acquisition investment either pays off or gets wasted. Getting it right is worth the effort. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    387 - Where Your Email Marketing Welcome Flow Is Leaking Revenue
  7. Jun 14

    386 - More Segments, More Problems: Rethinking Email Segmentation

    Segmentation sounds like the answer to everything. The right message to the right person at the right time - that's the dream. And to be clear, I'm a segment stan. Smart segmentation is one of the most powerful things you can do for your email program. But the conversation around it is almost always one-directional: more segments, more targeting, more personalization. And at a certain point, that stops being true. I see brands build 12, 20, who even knows how many segments - and end up spending more time managing those segments than actually sending good campaigns. The result is a sophisticated-looking account generating less revenue than a simpler setup would. More segments doesn't automatically mean more revenue. Often it just means more complexity for the sake of complexity. There's also a math problem most brands don't see coming. When you fracture your engaged list into smaller segments, you're sending to fewer people - and the lift in open rates doesn't always make up for the drop in volume. Worse, when you send one campaign to five "different" segments, there's almost always massive overlap. You're not reaching new people. You're just hitting your most engaged subscribers more often. In this episode, I break down when segmentation starts working against you, the simple test for deciding which segments are actually worth keeping, and what a leaner, more sustainable segmentation strategy actually looks like. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: Why more segments doesn't automatically mean more revenue - and can actually mean less The real workload cost of maintaining too many segments The math problem most brands don't realize they have when they over-segment Why sending one campaign to five "different" segments often just means hitting the same people more often Why using a completely different segment for every send leaves you with no baseline to learn from The simple test for deciding whether a segment is actually worth keeping Why segments with only 10-20 people are usually adding noise, not value What a leaner segmentation strategy looks like: one engaged foundation plus a small number of intentional layers A leaner set of segments you actually use is worth far more than an elaborate setup that mostly just looks impressive. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    386 - More Segments, More Problems: Rethinking Email Segmentation
  8. Jun 7

    385 - What Actually Makes an Email Marketing CTA Work (And Why Simple Wins Every Time)

    The call to action is the last thing someone reads before they click - or don't. And for something that important, it gets surprisingly little strategic thought in most email programs. What I see instead is one of two extremes. Either the CTA is completely ignored - "Shop Now" slapped on every button, same wording across every email, no thought given to whether it's actually doing its job. Or it's wildly overthought - someone spent 20 minutes trying to make the button sound clever and ended up with copy that nobody instantly understands. Both are a problem. And the fix is simpler than most brands expect, because simple almost always wins with CTAs. The brands that obsess over making their buttons sound unique are often the ones leaving clicks on the table every single day. The other thing worth talking about is structure - because a CTA doesn't live in isolation. It lives inside an email, often alongside other buttons and links, and how those compete or support each other changes everything about whether anyone clicks at all. In this episode, I walk through what actually makes a CTA work, the formula that produces clear and compelling button text almost every time, and how to think about CTA hierarchy so your emails stop pulling people in five directions at once. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: Why the CTA is the most overthought and under-strategized part of most email programs The simple verb + noun formula that produces strong CTAs almost every time Why "Shop Now" has survived decades of email marketing - and what that tells you about clarity The most common CTA mistake brands make and how it kills clicks before anyone even reads the button What happens when an email has five different CTAs - and why nobody clicks any of them Why every email needs one primary goal, and how to structure everything else around it How to repeat a CTA throughout an email without it feeling repetitive or overwhelming First person vs. second person CTAs - when it works and when it just feels like a conversion tactic Why a CTA that's hard to write is almost always a sign that the email itself needs more work first If your button text feels hard to write, stop trying to fix the button. Go back and clarify the email - and the CTA will almost write itself. Work with Joy Joya: https://joyjoya.com

    385 - What Actually Makes an Email Marketing CTA Work (And Why Simple Wins Every Time)

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About

Formerly the Joy Joya Jewelry Marketing Podcast, Marketing With Laryssa is a podcast for purpose-driven, product-based brand owners who want to build real connections with their customers. Hosted by Laryssa Wirstiuk, founder of Joy Joya and marketing strategist since 2018, the show zooms out beyond tactics to explore the bigger picture of email, SMS, and digital storytelling. With a mix of practical tips, inspiring ideas, and behind-the-scenes insights, Laryssa shares how to grow your brand with creativity, strategy, and intention - without getting lost in the marketing noise. Whether you're an ecommerce founder or a creative entrepreneur, this podcast will help you market with clarity and confidence.