About us
We are a boutique consultancy with a supporting agency implementation team focused on DTC ecommerce. Over the decades, we’ve narrowed our focus to customer retention. We love advising brands how to attune to their customers and manage a list.
a retention focus
We work to improve the income side of your DTC business, the people and parts that talk to retail customers. It’d be incomplete to say we’re an email marketing firm. We also advise on customer service, or “CX”. Costs go down, and profit goes up, when you improve customer relationships before and after the online purchase.
our professional guarantee
After 20+ years, we know where we can make a positive impact in companies like yours. We’re believers in the 80 / 20 principle that a fraction of what gets done yields most of the results. But which fraction? We promise to only recommend changes we believe to be of real value. Let’s do what matters.
how we work
Our engagements start in an advisory capacity for a period of weeks or months depending on which service. If there’s a need for follow-through support, we may have capacity to supplement your team with agency implementation services. It’s done-with-you.
what we don't do
We’re not a resource for marketplace development (Amazon, etc.) nor social media (Instagram, etc.). If paid traffic (Google, etc.) is what you most need, we can refer you to trusted friends elsewhere.
We care about improving marketing and customer service through channels you own directly, like email, SMS, chat and phone. We don’t grow relationships that are mediated by Big Tech, i.e. third parties that control the relationship to their disproportionate benefit.
We do not touch your back-office: not admin, warehouse, factory, production, sourcing, shipping, nor logistics.
our history
In 2020, Patrick Pitman created ebusiness pros as a division of ebusiness coach, the firm he founded in 2000. The team he’d built up over the prior decade had exceeded the ‘coach’ role and represented a capable team of professional advisors and consultants. The ‘pros’ name reflects our expertise.
Patrick Scott Pitman
President & founder
Patrick leads our customer retention Advisory practice. His specialty is guiding brands through the transition from B2B to B2C, developing an ecommerce retail channel and the systems and team to support it.
Patrick built his first ecommerce website in 1996 after graduating from Vanderbilt University. In 2002 he invented a SaaS turnkey ecommerce and email marketing software platform to serve the mail order catalog industry in the US and UK.
He hosts the Austin Shopify Meetup and events around the country.
Patrick’s proud of his daughter Gabrielle, proud of his jiu jitsu black belt, enjoys piano, and arranges flowers.
Gabrielle Alyse Pitman
Email marketing lead
Gabrielle leads our Email Marketing practice. Her speciality is our List Reset service, bringing email lists back to productive, sustaining value. She does this through segmentation, delivery rehabilitation, and blending automations with campaigns.
In 2023, her work was recognized when she was selected as one of twelve global community champions by Klaviyo. She advises their product team on feature development and supports the community of Klaviyo customers.
Gabrielle is nerdy for brand storytelling and luxury products from artisan brands. She says she’s doing marketing and CX research while shopping or scrolling through IG.
She enjoys photography and painting. Her favorite office snack is a croissant with a doppio espresso cortado.
Get insights every week or so about how to encourage your customers to buy again, and how to manage your company’s vital asset: your list.
retention insights
ATTUNED
A concept, a principle, that informs our interactions with prospects and customers. It means we aim to be in harmony in a responsive, two-way relationship.
'ATT' for attention
Let’s attend. Let’s bring our presence and focus to this specific situation, this relationship here.
'U' for understanding
Let’s be curious and aim to understand the other and what they’re needing? How did we get to this point now?
'N' for now
Let’s not get ahead of this moment, not rely on a script or formula, nor imagine what might go right or wrong. Let’s stay here and notice.
'E' for empathy
Let’s connect in a felt, energetic way, something more than a thought in our heads, more than the written word.
'D' for dignity
Let’s acknowledge the other’s personhood, respecting both their sovereignty and our larger connection as fellow humans.
Two forthcoming certifications help marketers and customer service professionals level up.
Advisory & agency services