Email marketing services pricing for agencies in 2024

Email marketing has still got that magic. While social media marketing and PPC ads get the bulk of the attention these days, email marketing retains the highest ROI of any digital channel. With customer acquisition costs spiraling in recent years, email marketing provides real value for money for clients right when they need it.

Moreover, according to the 2023 Gartner Multichannel Marketing Survey, email marketing is the most effective way to engage prospects and generate leads.

Thanks to the influx of great marketing technology, there has rarely been a better time to start an email marketing agency. However, it’s not always easy to know what to charge. Well, that all changes today with our email marketing services pricing guide.

An overview of email marketing pricing

Before you start trashing out and defining your email marketing service pricing, you need to ask yourself a few questions. They are:

• Which factors affect what you can charge for email marketing services?
• What specific email marketing services will you provide?
• Average email marketing service prices.
• Which pricing models will work best for you and your clients?

When you have answers to each of these questions, you’ll have a much stronger idea of both what and how you should charge your clients.

The primary factors that influence email marketing service pricing

Let’s explore the different facets of email marketing services that determine how much you can charge your clients.

Level of service

Email marketing is a broad church consisting of several different services. There are plenty of email marketing agencies that will only provide bare-bones services, like email list management and campaign creation. However, the prices you can credibly charge will go up as you begin to introduce more advanced and time-consuming services.

Some of the extra services that will have a huge bearing on the prices you charge include:

• Advanced audience segmentation
• A/B testing
• Email marketing automation workflows
• Dedicated account management

In short, the more resources you allocate to your client, the more you can justify charging.

Technology

This factor is slightly related to the level of service, but it deserves its own entry. There is a wide array of email marketing technology available today.  Some of the tools out there are trusty and reliable but relatively limited in the options and features they offer.

On the other hand, more advanced tools come with features that can boost the level and quality of service you can provide to your clients. For example:

• Advanced personalization, which supports dynamic content based on your email recipients' demographics, preferences, or other personal data.
• Advanced list segmentation that helps you deliver more relevant messaging to different cohorts.
• Automated email-sending workflows for drip campaigns and lead nurturing.
• A/B testing and other email marketing optimization tools.
• Integration with your customer relationship management (CRM) software.
• Reporting and analytics tools to help understand campaign performance.

Unless you have proprietary tools, providing the services above requires subscribing to particular software. Typically, these tools offer tiered pricing based on email frequency, customer support, and more.

For context, popular email marketing tools like HubSpot and MailChimp might cost around $1,000 or so per month for higher-usage plans. However, while these costs are essentially passed on to your clients, you can spread them over different accounts.

It’s also worth pointing out that there are lots of low-cost email marketing solutions out there. The biggest isn’t always the best!

Experience

Email marketing campaigns are fairly easy to measure. There are lots of metrics out there to help you understand the effect of a campaign. So, when it comes to selling your service, clients will want to know if you have a track record of delivering what you promise.

Of course, it’s not just results that will move the needle for your clients. Email marketers who bring industry experience or other in-demand skills can ask for a premium.

Account size

The size of the accounts you target will also affect pricing. Large B2B companies or businesses that sell high-ticket items are typically more willing to open the checkbook than smaller businesses. However, it’s something to deal with on a case-by-case basis.

Another factor you need to consider is the size of your client’s email list. A list of 50,000+ email addresses requires more intensive management to maximize deliverability. So, ensure you factor that into your pricing.

Pricing model

We’ll get into pricing models in more detail below. However, for now, it’s worth noting that some email marketing service pricing models will influence how much you can charge for your work.

For example, some freelancers and agencies will charge per email, while others will request payment based on performance. As such, the exact same campaign for the exact same company could generate different levels of income for your business.

Costs for email marketing services

OK, now that you know the various levers that affect pricing, it’s time to explore the average costs of different email marketing services.

Email marketing agency pricing

Before we share typical pricing, it’s worth looking at what a client gets when they work with an email marketing agency.

Here are the four primary aspects of the service you can provide:

• Email marketing strategy
• Copywriting
• Any graphics or images used in the main body
• Implementing and delivering the email

Now, we need to look at the typical prices:

• Per email: Between $250 and $700
• Per hour: Starting at $120 per hour
• Retainer: Somewhere between $2500 and $7500 per month, based on volume
• Per project: Starting from $1000

These ballpark prices will give you an idea of how much an agency will charge for email marketing services.

Remember that if you offer different or more advanced services, they will be added to your pricing. For example, email copywriting or design will incur extra costs. However, you can bill these costs as extras or define different packages that meet the client’s needs.

Email marketing services pricing models

There are four main email marketing services pricing models that you need to know. They will form the basis for how you charge your clients for your email marketing. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Hourly pricing

Hourly pricing works best for services like copywriting or template design. However, it’s less common for full-service email marketing.

Pros:

• Flexible
• Great for smaller contracts
• Clients only pay for completed work

Cons:

• Unpredictable revenue
• Requires meticulous time tracking
• Can hinder client relationship building

Retainer

Retainer models are a great option for email marketing service providers. Implementing this model involves making it very clear what your clients can expect each month.

Pros:

• Predictable revenue
• Helps build relationships and trust
• Options for more strategic planning

Cons:

• Vulnerable to scope creep
• Clients might be forced to pay for unused services
• Less flexible and responsive to changing needs

Performance-based

Perfomance-based pricing is a great idea when you know your services will produce results. When you back yourself, you can get big rewards.

Pros:

• Unlimited income opportunities
• Client and provider goals are aligned
• High performance is incentivized

Cons:

• Unpredictable income
• Difficulty quantifying results can lead to underpayment
• Attribution complexities

Project-based

Project-based pricing works for one-off campaigns or specific tasks, like setting up marketing automation.

Pros:

• Clear scope
• Predictable pricing
• Simple to sell and invoice

Cons:

• Potential for scope creep
• Hinges on accurate cost estimation
• Less good for building relationships

Read this article for a deeper dive into agency pricing models.

Productizing your email marketing services

While custom email marketing services are important to some clients, they involve a lot of consultation and ongoing management. However, if you want to streamline your client acquisition and onboarding process, a productized service model that is packaged like a product is where it’s at.

Here are some of the most important characteristics of a productized service:

• Services are offered in pre-defined packages with set features, pricing, and deliverables, which make it easy for customers to understand what they're getting.
• A set of standardized processes and workflows are used for campaign creation, deployment, and reporting, ensuring high levels of consistency and efficiency.
• While some level of customization may be offered, it's usually limited to specific elements like branding and messaging, while the underlying structure and strategy remain standardized.
• Pricing is transparent and predictable, with no hidden fees or surprises.
• Clients are encouraged to choose self-service options where possible. 

As you can see, productizing your email marketing service makes things easier to manage. This means you can cut down on time spent negotiating and consulting with clients and more time on delivering results. Additionally, productizing your service is highly scalable, which makes it a great option for growing agencies.

Run your email marketing business on Copilot

The typical customer journey for email marketing service clients looks something like this. Copilot is here to help you each step of the way.

Awareness and consideration

Your client realizes they have an email marketing need. It could be any number of things, such as low open rates, poor conversion, dwindling revenue, or a lack of experience in running a successful email marketing campaign.

How Copilot can help: Clients are searching for information at this stage. In essence, they want evidence that you can improve their service. One great Copilot feature that you can employ at his point of the client journey is making a publicly available knowledge base. You can stuff these searchable information repositories with articles, case studies, testimonials, and other resources that can supplement your website, landing pages, and other SEO efforts.

As potential clients land on your site, you can also use Copilot's excellent range of customizable forms to collect customer data and load it into your CRM and sales pipeline.

Decision

Once your prospective client has shortlisted various email marketing service providers, it’s time for them to decide which business will best serve their goals or objectives.

How Copilot can help: There are a bunch of great Copilot features that are ideal for the decision stage. For starters, you can make use of the excellent proposal features to share deliverables and clear and transparent pricing.

Copilot’s client portal is perfect for more complex deals that require a lot of back and forth. This centralized hub supports messaging and document sharing, meaning your interactions with clients are secure and easy to manage.

Onboarding and setup

Great onboarding experiences are one of the major contributing factors to client retention. They need to be low-friction and easy for your clients. Furthermore, these steps also require contracts to be signed and any technical implementation of email marketing software.

How Copilot can help: Copilot allows you to build custom contracts for your email marketing services. It also comes with a range of legally sound templates that you can use. The best thing is that Copilot allows you to build time-saving workflow automation. Once users sign up, a contract that comes with built-in e-signatures is triggered.

Campaign management

Whether it’s a one-off campaign or a series of outbound emails, your clients need to be kept in the loop and aware of marketing performance. Here is where you can collaborate with your clients to make sure that your messaging and overall approach suit their needs.

How Copilot can help: Copilot’s client portal is your center point for client communications. That means you have secure messaging and document-sharing capabilities, which can boost collaboration.

Perhaps more importantly, you can also integrate third-party project management tools within the client portal. In effect, these integrations turn your client portal into a dashboard for displaying the pertinent data about your email marketing campaigns.

Payments

Ease of payment is an important part of the client journey. Some of the things to think about her include flexibility of payment options, convenience, and accurate invoicing. What’s more, you also need access to a payment processor that doesn't charge extortionate fees.

How Copilot can help: As we mentioned earlier in the article, there are lots of different ways that your agency can charge for email marketing services. No matter what model you choose, Copilot can support you and help you get paid.

For example, you can invoice clients from inside the client portal thanks to the Billing App. Your clients can pay for these invoices via credit card or ACH transfer. Additionally, Copilot also allows you to build and charge for subscription services, which is great if you want to use a retainer pricing model or a productized service.

Ongoing support and client retention

While we covered some of this part of the client journey in the campaign management section, ongoing support and client retention deserve their own category.

How Copilot can help: Once again, the client portal allows you to build a dashboard so your clients can see the effect of email marketing campaigns on sales and revenue. By conducting regular reviews, your agency and your clients can continue to develop strategies and optimize your campaigns.

Producing results is ultimately what helps you hold on to clients. However, being reachable, transparent, and focused on providing a client-centric experience are the little extras that promote loyalty and, in the best-case scenario, advocacy for your service.

As you can see, Copilot is a great solution for email marketing teams who want to delight their clients, manage campaigns, and get paid.

Productized email marketing service example

The beauty of productizing your service is that you can build different packages that suit a wide variety of clients. Some clients want a very simple service with minimal headaches, while others will want you to be more involved.

Here is a quick example of some different packages and guideline prices to help you learn how to productize a service.

Essentials:

• Campaign setup
• One email per month
• Email template design
• List management
• Limited reporting

Cost: Initial setup is $1000, and $400 per month afterward.

Growth:

• Everything is in the Essentials package
• A/B testing
• Two drip campaigns
• Email copywriting
• Lead generation form integration
• Advanced reporting

Cost: Initial setup is $1500, and $800 per month afterward.

Enterprise:

• Everything in the Essentials and Growth package
• One custom email template per month
• Four drip campaigns per month
• Custom welcome email sequences
• Custom reporting
• Custom design for each email

Cost: Initial setup is $1500, and $1500 per month afterward.

The prices provided here are just a guide. Remember, what you charge is based on a variety of factors covered above, including experience, track record, industry, email volume, the area you operate in, and your competitors' pricing.

If you want to learn more about productized service models, this article has some examples that you can use for guidance and inspiration.

FAQ section

How do I work out the hourly rate for my email marketing service?

Some of the things that you need to factor into your prices are your experience, overheads, and skillset. Then, you need to calculate the profit margin you need. Finally, it’s worth looking at other email marketing service prices so that you can adjust based on your go-to-market strategy.

Is value-based pricing a good idea for email marketing services?

Yes, but if you want to get clients onboard, you must demonstrate ROI. If you can prove you get results, premier pricing is a great option.

How do I show clients the value of my email marketing services?

Track popular metrics like open and click-through rates, conversions, and what revenue your campaigns generate. Use these facts and figures to sell your client on the quality of your service.

How does email list size affect the prices I can charge?

The bigger the email list, the more resources and management required. You can break your prices into tiers based on list size to reflect the extra labor involved.