How Much Does Email Marketing Cost? A Price Guide
Are you wondering how much does email marketing cost? If yes, you should check out our guide here to learn about the prices to expect.
Email marketing, at first glance, is a free marketing channel. It's also hailed as the channel that gets the best results.
According to the DMA, every dollar you spend on email marketing will give you a return of $42. So any email marketing cost is well worth it.
While it's true that you can send marketing emails on a budget, there are still costs involved.
This price guide outlines the not so obvious email marketing cost involved in an email marketing campaign.
According to the DMA, every dollar you spend on email marketing will give you a return of $42. So any email marketing cost is well worth it.
While it's true that you can send marketing emails on a budget, there are still costs involved.
This price guide outlines the not so obvious email marketing cost involved in an email marketing campaign.
How Much Does Email Marketing Cost?
Running an email marketing campaign involves a lot more than designing and sending out emails. It is a big investment of time when it is not an investment of money.
Half of the work happens before an email is sent and then continues as results need to be monitored and optimized. Here is a breakdown.
Acquiring Email Addresses
To run an email marketing campaign, you must build your email list. This is often a type of campaign in itself that comes with its own costs. The cost will vary depending on your target number of emails.
A popular strategy is to create a resource and then offer it for free in exchange for a customer's email. The cost involved in this includes:
As you can see, this first step is already quite complicated and requires an investment of time and money.
Creating Email Content
Unless you write your email content yourself (which again is a time investment) you will need to hire a skilled content or copywriter.
An experienced content writer can cost you anything from 0.05c to $1 per word. If you are sending an email per week, this can range from $40 to $200 per week. There are great content writing resources available where you can learn more about this service.
You may also want to have design work done for images and graphics which again will cost you roughly the same to outsource.
Choosing the Right Software
Thankfully there are a number of email marketing software resources available that keep every aspect of your email marketing in one place.
HubSpot and MailChimp both provide a free email marketing service with paid upgrade options. These services help you track and monitor your email results as well as options to A/B test your emails and segment your audience into personas.
MailChimp's first upgrade starts at around $10 per month, while HubSpot jumps straight to $800 per month for a premium service.
Monitoring Results
After you've done the hard work in acquiring emails for your list, creating great content, and sending it out, you still need to look at the data. This is how you know what has worked, what hasn't, and how you can improve.
To outsource this you will need a digital marketer unless you take on the job yourself. Digital marketers cost about $40-$60 per hour. Analyzing campaign results could cost you about an hour a week to hire a marketer.
Half of the work happens before an email is sent and then continues as results need to be monitored and optimized. Here is a breakdown.
Acquiring Email Addresses
To run an email marketing campaign, you must build your email list. This is often a type of campaign in itself that comes with its own costs. The cost will vary depending on your target number of emails.
A popular strategy is to create a resource and then offer it for free in exchange for a customer's email. The cost involved in this includes:
- Creating a high-quality resource
- Researching the target customers
- Driving traffic towards your deal, usually via some form of paid advertising
- Measuring your ad spend results
As you can see, this first step is already quite complicated and requires an investment of time and money.
Creating Email Content
Unless you write your email content yourself (which again is a time investment) you will need to hire a skilled content or copywriter.
An experienced content writer can cost you anything from 0.05c to $1 per word. If you are sending an email per week, this can range from $40 to $200 per week. There are great content writing resources available where you can learn more about this service.
You may also want to have design work done for images and graphics which again will cost you roughly the same to outsource.
Choosing the Right Software
Thankfully there are a number of email marketing software resources available that keep every aspect of your email marketing in one place.
HubSpot and MailChimp both provide a free email marketing service with paid upgrade options. These services help you track and monitor your email results as well as options to A/B test your emails and segment your audience into personas.
MailChimp's first upgrade starts at around $10 per month, while HubSpot jumps straight to $800 per month for a premium service.
Monitoring Results
After you've done the hard work in acquiring emails for your list, creating great content, and sending it out, you still need to look at the data. This is how you know what has worked, what hasn't, and how you can improve.
To outsource this you will need a digital marketer unless you take on the job yourself. Digital marketers cost about $40-$60 per hour. Analyzing campaign results could cost you about an hour a week to hire a marketer.
The Bottom Line
While email marketing is one of the most engaging and cost-effective marketing channels in today's overcrowded advertising world, it still requires the same amount of strategy as any campaign.
Each business's needs are different depending on budget and goals that will affect your overall email marketing cost.
Feel free to get in touch with us today for professional advice on your next marketing campaign.
Each business's needs are different depending on budget and goals that will affect your overall email marketing cost.
Feel free to get in touch with us today for professional advice on your next marketing campaign.
