Great audits are not built in a vacuum: they’re built from strong discovery
Now that you’ve learned how to run an impactful discovery call, it’s time to apply your learnings. In this lesson, we’re drawing from real-world advice shared by Jacob Sappington, Director of Strategy at Homestead Studio, a Klaviyo Master Elite Partner.
You’ll learn how to:
- Qualify or disqualify clients based on your ideal client profile (ICP).
- Align your client’s pain with your audit findings.
- Deliver an audit that creates urgency and builds trust.
Build your own audit with this simple framework
Now that you've seen how Jacob connects discovery to strategy, it's your turn.
If this feels familiar, it should. All the discovery tactics you’ve practiced in this course build to this: crafting an audit that makes your agency indispensable.
The more you anchor your findings to business pain, the more you move from “vendor” to “strategic partner".
Map problems to audit section
Access the audit guide written by the Klaviyo partnerships team to give you a simple framework to get started on your client audit.
Use a repeatable audit structure
Not sure what that looks like? Here is a simple structure:
- Start with the current state.
- Define the problem (aligning it back to that critical pain your prospect is feeling).
- Define the solution from your audit.
- Then, explain the impact and what that can do for the business and how you are uniquely positioned to solve it.
Define quick wins, but don’t make them the centerpiece of your audit
Tactical fixes like Smart Sending or link errors are worth noting, but they don’t close deals. In our conversation with Jacob, he gave this example:
“Fixing Smart Sending isn’t what’s going to help me [double your revenue].”
Add a quick-win section, then move on to strategy.
Let their words lead your recommendations
Strong audits don’t just diagnose problems, they reflect that what your client already told you matters. Jacob emphasized that he doesn’t audit in a vacuum. Instead, he uses the client’s exact goals and pain points from discovery to shape every recommendation.
How to apply this:
- Mirror their goals and phrases when framing your solution.
- Use their own success metrics as the “why” behind your recommendations.
- Prioritize fixes that unblock their path to growth, not just common best practices.
- Educate the prospect on how each recommendation fits into a broader customer engagement strategy, one that unifies data, channels, and touchpoints to drive long-term value. Anchor your recommendations in their original business pain to show how your strategy directly supports their larger goals.
By rooting the audit in their own words, you prove that you’re not just prescribing tactics, you’re delivering a strategy aligned to their business priorities.
How Homestead Studio runs audits
Jacob Sappington gave us a peek behind the curtain. Here's how his team at Homestead takes discovery insights and turns them into audits that win business.
Start with their goals, not yours
Jacob always begins by asking:
- “Why did you reach out to us?”
- “What are your goals for the next 6–12 months?”
These help surface the business outcomes your audit should address. Jacob’s goal? Tie every recommendation back to what the client cares about most.
“So much of LTV [lifetime value] is baked into the product. If you tell me you’re spending a ton of money and your product should be repeatable but no one’s coming back, then I can [look] to [your post purchase experience] as a reason.”
Qualify the client as much as the problem
You’re not just assessing the account, you’re also assessing the fit.
Jacob shared that Homestead takes time during discovery to understand whether a prospect is aligned with their agency’s services, stage, and platform expertise.
While every client is different, there are a few patterns Homestead pays attention to:
- Does the prospect have a traffic strategy (paid or organic)? If not, do they plan on investing in a strategy?
- Is there a meaningful list to work with?
If the answers are no, the team flags it early. As Jacob put it:
“Even the best customer journey strategy won’t do anything if no one is coming through to them.”
It’s not about rejecting prospects, it’s about being honest about where you can drive the most value.
In order to drive more impactful customer relationships as a CRM, you need clients invested in making that initial effort to grow their list, whether it's through your agency, in-house, or through another agency.
If the foundation isn’t there, Homestead uses the audit to highlight those gaps and help prospects understand what needs to happen before Klaviyo strategy can really take off.
Seek opportunity based on these 3 levers
While every audit is customized, Jacob shared that Homestead often finds the biggest opportunities in 3 areas:
- List growth: Are forms converting effectively? Is the offer compelling?
- Flow conversion: Are key lifecycle flows present and working?
- Campaign performance: Are campaigns (email or SMS) personalized, segmented, and sent with a strategy?
These areas serve as a helpful starting point, not a checklist. Homestead uses discovery to find out what matters most to the brand, and then looks for gaps in the customer journey where they can make an impact.
For example, if a prospect mentions they're struggling with repeat purchase rates, Homestead might examine whether their post-purchase experience educates the customer, reinforces product value, or encourages a second purchase.
Quantify the opportunity
Tie each issue to a business result. Just like technical pain versus business pain, it’s not about pointing out small flaws but framing business growth.
For example, Homestead is confident that they can double a form conversion rate, Jacob will quantify what this looks like for the prospect’s list growth, the overall return on investment, and the impact it can have on the rest of the personalization and customer journey automation strategy.