Sourcing Builders Without Wasting Reach
When you run an email marketing agency or scale an ecommerce brand, execution bottlenecks usually come down to production. You need reliable people who can take a Figma design and build it cleanly inside Klaviyo without breaking layouts on mobile. Finding those people, however, requires a deliberate filter from the very first touchpoint.
I source most of our builders through LinkedIn and Twitter. The trick here is simple: announce the role in the main post, but put the application link in the first comment. Social platforms deliberately penalise posts that drive users off-site. Keeping the external link in the comments protects your organic reach and ensures hundreds more prospective builders actually see the listing.
The One Application Question That Cuts Half the Field
I use a straightforward Google Form to collect candidate information. Alongside standard details like email address, hourly rate, time zone, and full-time availability, I ask one critical question: Do you build emails entirely as images?
If a candidate answers yes, they are disqualified on the spot. That is a mistake we cannot afford. Slicing an entire email into raw image blocks destroys your deliverability, ruins the experience for subscribers with image loading disabled, and makes your messages unreadable to Gmail's inbox parsing filters. We require a healthy balance of live text and supporting graphics, and anyone who relies exclusively on image slices does not understand modern email standards.
Filtering Candidates in Spreadsheets
Reviewing submissions one by one inside form software is inefficient. I pipe all responses into a single Google Sheet to assess the pool in bulk. This allows me to apply strict column filters across hourly rates, production turnaround expectations, and technical disqualifiers.
I immediately filter out image-only builders, anyone outside our required working windows, and applicants whose rates sit outside our target margins. Once the list is trimmed down to a qualified shortlist, I reach out via individual emails rather than a mass BCC. Mass BCC blasts frequently trigger spam filters, which defeats the purpose of evaluating prospective applicants.
Setting Up a Paid, Multi-Phase Technical Test
I do not hire anyone based solely on a portfolio. Portfolios show you the final visual output, but they tell you nothing about how cleanly someone builds inside the Klaviyo editor, how they manage mobile formatting, or how fast they work.
We run a paid test divided into distinct phases using Asana. I give candidates access to a dedicated dummy Klaviyo account. Never give an untested contractor access to a live client account. I also require candidates to track their hours for each phase. This serves two purposes: we pay them fairly for their time, and we verify their operational speed. If a standard email build takes someone two hours instead of roughly 30 minutes, they are either inefficient or misrepresenting their experience.
Phase 1: The Template Build
Phase 1 tests fundamental template construction. I provide the candidate with an approved email design asset and instruct them to build it as a reusable Klaviyo template. I specifically do not over-explain the mobile requirements because I want to see if they possess natural QA instincts.
During this 30-minute phase, I evaluate three main criteria:
- Live text integration: Ensuring body copy and headlines are built using native text blocks rather than flat exported graphics.
- Link accuracy: Verifying that buttons, product images, and social icons route to the correct destination URLs.
- Mobile responsiveness: Checking that desktop and mobile versions render cleanly with appropriately stacked columns and legible font sizing.
Most applicants fail right here at step one. If they cannot build a clean, responsive template with proper live text within 30 to 45 minutes, we cut them immediately and do not proceed to the next phase.
Phases 2 and 3: Sign-up Forms and Flow Logic
Candidates who pass Phase 1 move on to Phase 2, which involves building interactive sign-up forms. This phase usually takes around 60 minutes. We test whether they can construct separate mobile and desktop form variations, configure multi-step zero-party data capture fields, and correctly style success states without breaking brand guidelines.
If their form build passes review, we assign Phase 3: building an automated flow. Candidates receive a logic diagram for a standard abandoned cart sequence and must build it out in the dummy account within 30 minutes. This proves they understand trigger splits, flow filters, time delays, and dynamic product feed tags inside Klaviyo.
Final Thoughts
Hiring technical talent comes down to building a repeatable vetting funnel. By disqualifying image-only builders early, isolating candidates in a dummy environment, and running structured paid tests, you protect your production quality. Test thoroughly before you hand over client accounts.
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