Email Marketing Agency Canada — For E-Commerce & DTC Brands

Canada’s e-commerce market has grown into one of the most sophisticated in the world. With over $40 billion CAD in annual online retail revenue, a highly connected population spanning major urban centres and a uniquely diverse retail calendar, Canadian DTC brands have enormous opportunity — but only if their marketing channels are working.

For most Canadian e-commerce brands, email is the highest-ROI marketing channel available. It costs less than paid social, converts better than organic, and — when built properly — generates 30–40% of total revenue on autopilot.

But here’s the reality: most Canadian e-commerce brands are leaving that revenue uncaptured. Their email programmes are under-built, under-segmented, and under-maintained. They send occasional campaigns but haven’t built the automated flows that generate revenue while they sleep. They’re not CASL compliant in their list-building practices. And they don’t have the internal expertise to fix it.

That’s where Excelohunt comes in.

What We Do

Excelohunt is a done-for-you email marketing agency for Canadian e-commerce and DTC brands. We handle everything — strategy, design, copywriting, build, deployment, and ongoing optimisation — so you can focus on running your business.

We work across all major ESPs:

Klaviyo — our most common platform for Shopify-based brands
ActiveCampaign — ideal for brands with complex automation needs or B2B elements
HubSpot — for brands integrating CRM with email marketing
Campaign Monitor — for brands prioritising design quality and simplicity
Mailchimp — for brands already invested in the platform

We don’t push you toward any particular platform. We assess your business model, stack, and goals and recommend what’s genuinely right for you.

CASL Compliance — Built Into Everything We Do

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) is one of the world’s most stringent anti-spam laws. Violations can result in fines of up to $10 million CAD per violation for organisations, and $1 million CAD for individuals.

CASL requires:

Express or implied consent before sending commercial electronic messages (CEMs)
Clear identification of the sender in every message
A functioning unsubscribe mechanism that processes within 10 business days

Many Canadian e-commerce brands are unknowingly operating outside CASL compliance — particularly around consent documentation and implied consent timelines.

At Excelohunt, CASL compliance is built into every programme we build:

Consent capture setup at checkout, pop-ups, and landing pages
Consent record-keeping in subscriber profiles
Implied consent timeline management (3 years for existing customers, 2 years post-inquiry)
CASL-compliant unsubscribe handling
Compliant physical address inclusion in all emails

The Canadian E-Commerce Email Opportunity

Most Canadian e-commerce brands generate 10–18% of revenue from email. Best-in-class brands generate 30–40%. The gap is almost always attributable to missing or poorly built automation flows.

What separates top-performing Canadian brands:

1. Complete automation stack Welcome series, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase series, win-back flows — all running simultaneously, all generating revenue passively.

2. Proper segmentation Top performers don’t send the same email to their entire list. They segment by purchase history, product category, engagement level, and geographic region (important for a country spanning 6 time zones).

3. List hygiene Clean, engaged lists deliver. Bloated lists with unengaged contacts hurt deliverability, inflate ESP costs, and reduce the effectiveness of every campaign you send.

4. Canadian retail calendar alignment The Canadian retail calendar has distinct peaks that global email templates don’t address: Canadian Thanksgiving in October (a full 6 weeks before Black Friday), Victoria Day in May, Boxing Day on December 26, and CASL-compliant list-building at physical retail events.

The Canadian Retail Calendar: Email Edition

Unlike US-focused brands, Excelohunt builds Canadian campaigns around the Canadian calendar:

January: Post-Christmas clearance, new year goals content February: Valentine’s Day March: End of RRSP season (relevant for financial and lifestyle brands) April: Easter, spring campaign launch May: Victoria Day (third Monday in May) — early summer long weekend; Mother’s Day June: Father’s Day July–August: Canada Day (July 1), summer campaign content September: Back to school, Labour Day (first Monday) October: Canadian Thanksgiving (second Monday) — very important; treat as a standalone campaign event November: Remembrance Day (November 11), Black Friday/Cyber Monday December: Christmas gifting sequence, Boxing Day (December 26)

Canadian Thanksgiving and Boxing Day are often overlooked or handled generically by agencies without Canadian market expertise. We treat both as major campaign events in their own right.

Our Services for Canadian Brands

Done-for-You Email Management

Full management of your email programme including:

Monthly campaign calendar development and execution
All creative (design and copy) produced in-house
Segmentation and send management
Performance reporting in CAD revenue metrics

Email Programme Build

For brands starting from scratch or migrating to a new platform:

Platform selection and setup
Full flow build-out (6–8 core flows)
Segmentation structure implementation
CASL compliance setup
Template design and coding

Email Audit and Optimisation

For brands with existing programmes:

Comprehensive audit of existing flows, campaigns, and deliverability
Gap analysis and priority roadmap
Implementation of recommendations

Platform Expertise Across Canada’s Major ESPs

Klaviyo: We’re Klaviyo specialists. For Shopify brands, Klaviyo is typically the strongest choice — its native Shopify integration, real-time behavioural triggers, and e-commerce analytics are unmatched.

ActiveCampaign: Ideal for Canadian brands with complex automation needs, CRM requirements, or multi-channel presence beyond Shopify.

HubSpot: For Canadian brands with significant B2B or corporate gifting elements, or those using HubSpot as their CRM.

Campaign Monitor: For brands prioritising elegant design and straightforward campaign management.

Mailchimp: For brands already using Mailchimp who want to get significantly more value from the platform.

What Our Canadian Clients Typically See

Within 90 days of engagement, our Canadian clients typically see:

Email revenue share increase from 12–18% to 28–38% of total revenue
Significant improvement in abandoned cart recovery rates (10–25% of abandoned carts recovered)
Higher open rates through improved segmentation and list hygiene
Full CASL compliance implemented across all subscriber touchpoints

Who We Work With

Excelohunt works with Canadian e-commerce and DTC brands generating between $500K and $20M+ CAD in annual revenue — typically on Shopify, but also on WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce.

Industries we serve include:

Fashion and apparel
Health, wellness, and supplements
Beauty and skincare
Home and lifestyle
Food and beverage
Sports and outdoor
Pet products
Subscription boxes

CAD Invoicing and Canadian Operations

We invoice in CAD and operate across Canadian business hours. Our team understands the Canadian market — from bilingual considerations for brands with Quebec audiences to the regulatory environment under CASL and the Competition Act.

Ready to Get Started?

The best first step is a free audit. We’ll review your current email programme (or lack thereof), identify exactly what’s missing, and give you a clear roadmap for building a programme that generates 30%+ of revenue from email.

Book your free email marketing audit — no obligation, no pitch, just honest advice from a team that specialises in e-commerce email for Canadian brands.