TLDR – What’s the True Scoop on Budai Media and Daniel Budai
Budai Media offers full-service ecommerce email marketing, SMS marketing, and loyalty program management to take your customer retention and lifetime value to the next level.
I like to think of good retention services as the watering can that helps your ecommerce business grow. Without proper email marketing and retention tactics, your business dries up. But with the right nurturing, it blossoms.
After reviewing Budai Media’s services and looking around for some true testimonials, I believe they have the tools and knowledge to be that watering can – but the plant still needs a strong foundation.
While they offer a legitimate service that is useful for many ecommerce businesses, it doesn’t help you overcome the many challenges you’ll face in your journey to passive income success.
Challenges such as:
- Optimizing campaigns based on metrics
- Writing top-notch copy
- Segmenting your customer base
- Integrating different marketing channels
- Building an iconic brand
Without retaining expertise in these areas long-term, you risk declining returns if you ever stop using the agency.
Instead of relying on someone else to do the legwork for you, why not trust in yourself and learn about Digital Leasing?
The concept here is simple – build digital assets that attract customers, lease those assets to local businesses, collect hands-off residual income each month.
Now you don’t have to worry about remarketing campaigns, copywriting, email delivery rates, SMS delivery success, and constantly analyzing data.
This is a straightforward business built on providing value to brick and mortar businesses in your community.
So if you’d like to learn more about Digital Leasing, click here.
If you still want to read more on Budai Media’s services, let’s continue.
Who Benefits From Budai Media and Who Doesn’t?
Budai Media clearly spells out their target customer – established ecommerce brands seeing slowing growth who want to revive audiences. Their services aim to ignite retention for stores already seeing decent traction.
Taking a closer look at their offerings around email, SMS, and loyalty program management, an ideal fit becomes apparent:
Who Benefits
- Mid-size and enterprise ecommerce stores who have matured past the startup stage and need retention rediscovered as their next lever for profit growth. Budai Media specializes in re-engaging languishing audiences.
- Owners with a solid grasp of retention principles but lacking the specialized expertise to excel at email, SMS and loyalty program execution. Budai Media fills this gap.
- Companies valuing hands-off automation over obsessively fine-tuning campaigns. Budai Media handles the heavy lifting so owners can focus elsewhere. But a retention marketer mindset still helps guide strategy.
Who Doesn’t Benefit
- Early-stage ventures likely better served investing budget into an integrated new customer acquisition and existing customer retention strategy first. (you obviously can’t retarget customers you don’t have yet)
- Aspiring marketing wizards who want to become channel experts themselves or have expansive in-house teams. Budai Media’s outsourced services won’t build these skills.
- Businesses needing major website traffic growth, SEO, or anything on-site with their ecommerce store. Budai Media purely focuses on nurturing existing known audiences. You need to already have the makings of an email list.
Long story short, if you have a list and you want to successfully build out a retargeting campaign via email and text messaging, this could be useful for you.
If you’re struggling to get your ecommerce business running at the scale you want it to be, you may benefit more from an ecommerce program like Ecom Degree University or eCom Good Life.
1,000 FT View of Budai Media
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Program Name | Budai Media |
| Owner | Daniel Budai |
| Price | Approx. $4,000-5,000 |
| Refund | No refund policy |
| Website | Source |
Let’s backtrack a little and take a look over the shoulder of Budai Media and discover what really makes this ecommerce email strategy service tick for e commerce.
They provide a variety of different services as I’ve said ranging from email templates to SMS marketing. The ultimate goal of Budai Media is to help you retain more of your customers so they remember you and come back to shop again.
Business Model
First, let’s take a look at this business model as a whole.
At its core, Budai Media focuses purely on retention marketing activities. They don’t touch on acquisition channels like paid ads or SEO.
The premise lies in nurturing existing customer relationships through personalized, automated campaigns sent via email, text message, and specialized loyalty incentives.
Done right, these retention tactics boost customer lifetime value significantly. But they require specialized expertise and constant testing and optimization.
Budai Media handles all of this for you rather than educating you to run campaigns yourself. This saves time but misses long-term skill building.
In fact, they come right out on their website and say that most of their customers choose to work with them on a long-term basis.
If what you’re selling nets enough profit for you to be able to continue working with them and still have a high enough margin, kudos to you.
No matter what, ecommerce retention marketing is a necessary part of any successful ecommerce business whether you outsource it or handle it yourself.
About Daniel Budai
Daniel Budai is the founder of Budai Media. He positions himself as an email marketing expert with deep knowledge on the Klaviyo email marketing platform and experience working with over 100 ecommerce brands.
Much of Daniel’s story reminds me of a popular email marketer, Ian Stanley.
Back in 2016, he said he started to explore email copywriting and took on a few clients of his own. As the business grew, he discovered that he enjoyed managing a team more than the nitty gritty work of writing day in and day out so this is where the agency was born.
His mission focuses solely on taking over the retention activities businesses often neglect due to lack of expertise, time or resources. The promise lies in increased revenue and profit margin by reviving disengaged audiences.
Daniel’s motto is:
“We must always remember that every client success story means a fulfilled entrepreneurial dream, countless new workplaces created, and millions of consumers’ lives impacted.”
Honestly, that’s a message I could definitely get behind. I respect it.
Budai Media Cost
Like a lot of other agency services, the Budai Media cost is hidden behind a typeform so you don’t know how much it’s going to cost until you fill everything out and get a unique quote.
What I don’t like is that this doesn’t provide you with a ballpark estimate before they swoop in for the hard sell.
But based on their positioning for established ecommerce stores, monthly fees likely land in the mid 4-figures at a minimum.
For context, they discuss an email marketing ROI averaging 8.9X. So a hypothetical $5,000 monthly spend would presumably generate around $44,500 in attributable sales.
Essentially, the amount you pay is likely based on the amount of output you expect on the other end.
Since there’s a direct ROI, the amount of success you experience will depend on the quality of their copywriting and email design.
What Makes This Different From Any Other Service?
I have to be honest, I love their case studies. You can take this fashion case study for example.
Any company that goes this hard into providing real examples and success stories is worth trusting in my eyes.
In that example, the company was able to increase revenue by 33% in three months geneating an additional $209,000.
So, you asked me what makes Budai Media different, it’s this. It’s the transparency.
When you see case studies like this in your own niche, you know you have a company that isn’t trying to hide behind anything.
We see it all the time with service providers that offer very little in terms of honest and trustworthy results.
While there are plenty of companies that don’t offer testimonials or case studies, there are some who do. So, it’s up to you to decide if this is a differentiating factor or not.
If I we’re you, I would carefully research other companies like Magnetic Marketing and Digital Bankroll that offer similar services and see how they compare.
My Personal Opinion
| Area of Importance | Score | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| Time Investment | 4/5 | Since you’re hiring Budai Media to tackle most of the work for you, there isn’t much time to invest unless you want to start implementing it yourself. |
| Upfront Cost | 2/5 | The upfront cost is likely very high for a service like this but at least there is a direct ROI. |
| Learning Curve | 2/5 | Email marketing is simple when you’re hiring someone else to handle it for you! |
| Profit Potential | 3/5 | I think profit potential is somewhat limited because you’re chained to the fact that you need to keep paying Budai Media to run the show for you. |
Having explored countless marketing services and ecommerce business models, I understand the difference between reality and inflated promises.
Budai Media shows strong potential but the problem is, most businesses simply aren’t at the phase yet where hiring a premium agency makes sense. You need an existing customer base first.
The idea of effortless high-ROI retention campaigns undoubtedly appeals to all ecommerce owners. But the reality of succeeding on your own requires substantial expertise across many areas – from segmenting your list to optimizing flows.
Did I mention the fact that you need to be equipped to actually handle this business and fulfill these orders?
Entirely relying on Budai Media’s services long-term poses some risk if you ever bring things back in-house.
So how do you evaluate if Budai Media is the right call? Here’s what I’d analyze:
- Research the founder’s expertise and client results. Daniel Budai positioned as an email authority but his background and proof are unclear.
- Seek candid feedback from past clients across online communities. One Shopify store questioned the value vs. doing emails themselves.
- Check for transparency around custom pricing and overall services. Costs likely exceed $4K monthly but specifics aren’t publicly listed.
- Compare to alternative business models like Digital Leasing. You retain control for a fraction of the cost and realistic profits.
While you might think I’m being too cynical, it’s important to look out for yourself in business. Budai Media and Daniel Budai are almost as legit as they come in terms of service providers.
But just make sure that all your other ducks are in a row before you whip out your wallet.
Do You Really Need to Worry About a Budai Media Scam?
I wouldn’t call Budai Media an outright scam since they do seem to provide done-for-you email, SMS and loyalty program services as advertised.
Those services could actually be quite good…
So in that sense you likely gain high-performing retention campaigns tailored to your store after hiring them. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a smart investment long-term.
The bigger question is whether Budai Media delivers enough lasting value to justify its high monthly costs once their involvement ends.
For most ecommerce owners seeking profitable growth, I believe the answer leans towards no.
Between the unclear founder background, hands-off approach that stunts self-learning, ever-increasing fees, and lack of audience acquisition, it’s a significant ongoing spend that gives me the heebie jeebies.
How can you truly build a successful and sustainable long-term business plan around a service that requires you to keep pouring money into it month after month?
There seem to be better alternatives that don’t require such a perpetual financial commitment or essentially relinquishing all control of your marketing data and assets.
A combined focus on acquisition and retention keeps costs reasonable while allowing you to expand and scale easily.
So while there’s definitely no Budai Media scam, this is where Digital Leasing comes in.
It lets you leverage digital assets to create semi-passive income based on your own evolving efforts. Yes, there is a learning curve but the community helps shortcut much of that.
Once your assets are built, profits flow in month after month. And you own everything. You never have to rely on anyone else to navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of online business.
Doing the opposite simply requires too high of a risk tolerance for me.
What’s Inside Budai Media Services?
Budai Media focuses purely on done-for-you email, SMS and loyalty program management to boost ecommerce revenue through better retention.
They do provide consultations and very very basic landing page design but the focus is entirely on remarketing and retention for ecommerce businesses.
Here’s a convenient breakdown of what they offer:
Email Marketing Management
A core offering, Budai Media handles creating segmented email lists, designing templates, writing high-converting copy, building flows, sending campaigns, rigorous split testing and providing detailed analytics/reporting.
Everything centers around expert email execution, freeing you from constant testing and optimization. The amount of success you experience essentially relies on their ability to create highly converting email copy and email designs that move readers through the sales process.
SMS Marketing Management
Similarly, Budai Media will set up or migrate your SMS software, ensure legal compliance, build flows, craft campaigns, integrate other channels like email and provide metrics/analysis.
Getting text message marketing right does require specialized knowledge given regulations. But again, less opportunity exists to expand SMS skills yourself.
Loyalty Program Management
If you seek to launch a custom loyalty or referral incentive program, Budai Media helps with choosing the right platform, building a sound strategy, creating relevant offers/rewards, designing creative assets, handling technical integrations, cross-promotions and reporting.
This can undoubtedly increase existing customer lifetime value. I don’t personally see as much of an appeal to this loyalty program structure for ecommerce. In my opinion, it’s not nearly as valuable as the two previous services.
Full-Funnel Retention Consultations
The consultation services center around post-purchase customers yet lack nuanced new customer acquisition offerings. Budai Media gives recommendations but this is where you need to handle the majority of the work.
While some might see this as a negative, I see it as a positive because you could use this to compliment some of your other email marketing automation efforts or even use this as a way to offboard from using their services regularly.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here but there’s two things that are important to stress. One, you’re reliant on the success of their copy in your niche. They appear to have success in a lot of the most common niches, but that might not always work for you.
Two, you need to already have a successful ecommerce store for this to make sense. If you’re still trying to grow your audience and generate sales on a regular basis, these services will not make sense for you.
Is Now the Right Time for Budai Media?
After reading this Budai Media review, what do you think?
I think this is a great question to ask yourself. Should you invest in these types of retention marketing services, right now? Are you in the right position to increase your revenue and successfully generate more sales using remarketing through emails and SMS?
If you think you are, then maybe now is the time to start investing in Budai Media.
But, is it worth it?
Is it worth the ongoing cost of something that you have to turn on and off and once it’s off, the leads and sales stop coming through?
You need to constantly be at the will of another company to flip the switch and allow to earn more money.
Because of that, I can’t recommend Budai Media.
I like to be in complete control of my business and even if that means doing a little more work to handle things on my own, I’m going to do that. Not to mention the fact that you could hire a freelancer or even someone in house to handle this work for you.
What is My Top Recommendation for Making Money Online in 2024?
At this point, we’ve analyzed everything. We’ve broken down the good and the bad behind outsourcing your retention marketing for ecommerce to Budai Media. The done-for-you agency is going to take care of everything and on paper, it seems like a good deal.
But upon closer inspection, relying entirely on their services long-term fails to set most ecommerce owners up for sustainable success. Lacking practical expertise in core areas like email and SMS marketing, what happens when inevitable hiccups emerge?
Also, what if your business isn’t ready and you’re not earning the money you want to yet? How could you invest in something like this when you haven’t hit those milestones?
What happens when:
- Campaigns show declining returns and you don’t know how to optimize them yourself?
- You want to take retention strategies back in-house but have to start from scratch?
- The business slows down and you can’t afford to pay for these retention services anymore?
We gotta wake up and smell the coffee at some point and realize there is no fast path to success.
This is why I want to recommend Digital Leasing as a better business model overall.
I’ve seen dozens of people change their lives and the lives of those around them through digital asset leasing that brings in consistent passive income.
1. True Passive Income – Money flows in automatically without reliance on traffic or platforms thanks to built-in lease agreements. Your assets continue benefiting clients while paying you.
No matter how hard you try or what anyone likes to make you believe, ecommerce is not passive and you’ll constantly be shackled to order forms, fulfillment, and customer inquiries.
2. Minimal Ongoing Work – Running digital marketing campaigns demands constant tweaks and reactionary changes. Digital leasing allows mostly hands-off income generation once your assets are built and monetized.
Expect to work a couple of hours per day rather than a couple of hours per hour…yeah it’s that stressful.
Ecommerce can really put a strain on your personal life and retention marketing isn’t going to make it any better.
3. Replicable Scale – Expanding done-for-you services requires greater financial resources. But copying digital leases takes minutes by tweaking the branding and connecting payment links. You can replicate the same process to boost your earnings.
4. Helping Real People – Instead of relying on disengaged website visitors, your assets provide real value for local small business owners happy to pay you monthly. And you develop marketing skills in the process.
You have the opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives while also securing your own time and financial freedom. It’s a clear win-win situation.
