Email marketing. It’s the tool that lands a message directly in your audience's inbox, the modern-day equivalent of a handwritten note. But how much does it really cost to craft and send emails that actually drive results?
Whether you’re running a small business or managing a booming marketing strategy, understanding the price tag on email campaigns is essential to planning your budget (and avoiding surprises).
This guide dives into the numbers, breaking down the factors that influence email marketing costs — from software and design to the price of a polished strategy. My goal is to give you both a clear picture of the expenses and insights for making every dollar work its hardest. If you’re ready to crunch the numbers and refine your email game, you’re in the right place.
The price of email marketing varies from $0 to tens of thousands every month. With this kind of range, transparency is key — both for crafting a realistic budget and for ensuring that every dollar brings a return on investment (ROI).
Know where and why you’re spending money. Here's how to determine how much email marketing campaigns cost.
In addition to the tools you use, you'll need to factor these costs into your email marketing budget.
Email marketing costs vary based on whether you manage it in-house or outsource to an agency. DIY solutions are usually cheaper, but don't ignore the time cost of doing your own content creation and strategy.
On the other hand, outsourcing email marketing involves upfront costs that can range from hundreds to thousands per month. But you may make back your investment in more polished campaigns, advanced strategies, and higher ROI.
Most email service providers (ESPs) use tiered pricing models, meaning the more subscribers you have, the higher your monthly or annual fees. This is because larger lists require more storage, increased bandwidth, and higher email-sending capacities to ensure smooth delivery.
Think about your goals as well as your current subscribers. Budget for growth so you can scale up your operations easily.
Running multiple email campaigns, like daily promotions, newsletters, and automated flows, can quickly increase costs. Frequent sending to large audiences may raise email service provider fees if you exceed subscriber or sending limits.
Each new type of email may also require some upfront work on design and template creation.
Complexity equals cost.
The more versions of an email you send, the higher the cost. You'll need to spend more time on each email and/or invest in more advanced tools.
A/B testing allows you to experiment with different email elements and send the better email to most of your subscribers. For example, you might test two different email subject lines to see which drives higher open rates or two different CTAs to see which gets more clicks.
Customer segmentation helps you break your audience into smaller, specific groups based on things like demographics, purchase history, or behavior. You can then tailor your emails to each group.
Tailored content performs better. The number one factor influencing whether someone opens your email is relevance. It matters even more than a killer subject line and teaches your recipients to trust your messages.
Personalized emails go one step further. You can send dynamic content that adjusts to user behavior and reflects real-time updates. For example, you can send abandoned cart reminders that include recommendations for similar items.
You won't need to craft each email individually. That would take forever. But dynamic elements require more sophisticated tools, and you'll need some time to set up automations.
The average person receives 121 emails a day. Quality can set you apart from the crowd, but often requires hiring specialized talent or outsourcing to agencies.
Even if you handle everything yourself, you can expect to spend hours creating professional and attractive newsletters. As a point of reference, a survey of successful bloggers found that the highest percentage (35%) spent more than six hours per post.
Today's marketing is largely data-driven. Good decisions require accurate data and strong analytics. How else can you track and improve your ROI?
Some ESPs charge extra for robust analytics and reporting tools or only include them in higher-priced plans. The investment pays off, allowing you to focus your budget on tactics that reliably convert.
Costs can rise if you need to integrate additional tools like customer relationship management (CRM) systems or e-commerce platforms.
These integrations are designed to streamline workflows and improve each customer's experience. But tools cost money, and integrations take time to set up. Consider the rest of your tech stack and integration needs when budgeting for email.
Leverage beehiiv to achieve better results without overspending. Here's how email marketers benefit from joining the hive.
beehiiv's free plan is incredibly generous, and its paid plans are reasonable. We provide the most advanced email tools for a fraction of the price charged by many market heavyweights.
Don't believe me? Check out beehiiv pricing for yourself.
beehiiv's built-in features include the best growth and monetization tools you'll find. The suite is perfect for digital marketers, newsletter creators, and content publishers.
beehiiv users benefit from:
A strong analytics suite: Track key performance metrics with 3D analytics for all aspects of your newsletter. View real-time data about your audience engagement, individual emails, monetization features, and growth.
An intuitive interface: beehiiv publishers get up and running within minutes with a user-friendly dashboard and editor. This saves hours on setup and editing without sacrificing professionalism.
A/B testing: Run A/B tests and automatically send the winning email to your audience.
Growth tools: Connect with other beehiiv users with cross-recommendations, set up a referral program, and collect subscriber information with pop-ups and gated content.
Monetization tools: Add your newsletter to a successful line of products, earning money with premium subscriptions, sponsorships, and paid advertisements.
Surveys and polls: Ask your audience about their interests and needs, letting them guide your content strategy through surveys and one-click polls.
Automations: Put your strategy on autopilot with customizable automations that guide subscribers toward purchases.
Around 50% of marketers use AI assistance for brainstorming ideas and creating rough drafts or outlines. beehiiv builds newsletter-optimized AI right into your editor. Time is money. Spend less of yours with a little help from AI.
beehiiv comes with stunning templates for your website and newsletter, and gives you the power to tweak these or start from scratch.
You have control over every aspect of your design with full customization of your brand's materials. Use beehiiv to create stunning campaigns without breaking the bank or spending endless hours on design.
The platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface simplifies campaign creation, letting you focus on messaging rather than wrestling with clunky tools. It's also easy to create and save templates for future use.
Each template is optimized for mobile and desktop, ensuring your emails look professional on any device. For example, check out Time's elegant beehiiv-powered newsletter below.
By skipping expensive design resources, you can allocate your budget toward other areas of your marketing strategy.
beehiiv consolidates tools you’d otherwise have to purchase a la carte, making it a game-changer for creators and businesses.
Instead of juggling multiple platforms, access everything from your referral program to your website to your marketing automations in one place. There's also no need to create both a newsletter and a blog. SEO features and simultaneous publication let you centralize your content.
This integration not only streamlines workflows but also eliminates tool fatigue, where teams spend more time switching between apps than focusing on their core goals.
For anything that beehiiv doesn't provide, seamless integrations let you sync beehiiv with your other favorite tools.
With few exceptions, email marketing campaign costs don't come as lump sums. I covered the general factors influencing cost above. Here, I break down the costs into different elements, but remember that there's a range of prices for each.
What tech stack do you want to use for email marketing? Software subscriptions can quickly add up, so think carefully about your goals and how to meet them.
Dedicated email marketing platforms excel at advanced segmentation, automation, and personalization, making them ideal for businesses that rely heavily on email. Tailored features and a focus on driving higher ROI help you deliver results with measurable impact.
Some email marketing platforms — like beehiiv — include tools for other channels. beehiiv comes with a great web builder, letting you combine your site and newsletter. Other platforms may let you create landing pages or add on SMS marketing. But email remains the main focus.
All-in-one marketing suites like Hubspot or Salesforce often include email as part of a larger package that may also cover social media, CRM, or search advertising. While convenient, email features in these suites sometimes lack depth. The platforms also tend to be more expensive.
That said, all-in-one platforms can be cost-effective if email is a secondary priority and you need other features more.
The cost of email marketing depends on the platform, subscriber count, and the features included. Most services restrict some of their tools to premium plans.
Free or bargain-basement plans are great for beginners but often come with limitations such as reduced functionality or limitations on audience size, or email frequency.
Premium email marketing plans may cost more but offer advanced features that save time and improve performance.
Take your time to compare email services. The top platforms will give you a free trial (ranging from 14-30 days). Make the most of this opportunity. It doesn't matter how highly rated a service is if it doesn't work for you.
Once you start to grow, prices will rise. As mentioned, most platforms operate on tiered pricing models based on subscriber counts. Examine pricing charts carefully and screen out those with price hikes that don't match true brand growth.
Another factor to consider when choosing an email marketing platform is the level of customer support offered. Read reviews and look for those that mention customer service. Issues may inevitably arise.. You want a service that provides resources for when things go wrong.
Partnering with an agency can be a game-changer. Agencies offer expertise and resources that you may not have in-house.
But like any investment, it’s important to know what you’re getting and whether it’s worth the cost. Do your research and find the best email marketing agency for your needs.
Email marketing agencies offer comprehensive, end-to-end campaign management designed to help businesses drive results and save time. Their services typically cover every stage of the email marketing process.
Some agencies allow you to purchase services individually, while others offer full-service packages exclusively.
What should you expect from a comprehensive email marketing agency?
A good agency leads the process as a partner. It digs into your brand and allows for feedback, but freely offers the expertise for which you pay.
The work starts with email strategy development and planning. This involves understanding your target audience, defining clear goals, and crafting a roadmap to achieve them.
Agencies may also handle your account set up, email design, and content creation. They should help you segment your audience and establish basic automations for welcome emails and other trigger campaigns.
Agencies also manage the technical aspects of deployment, ensuring your emails are delivered to their recipients. Execution may include A/B testing or the continual refinement of automated campaigns.
Finally, agencies handle performance tracking and reporting, analyzing key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. They distill this information into regular client reports and use it to fine-tune future strategies.
Businesses may hire agencies for one-off projects or consultations. For example, a small business may invest in a killer automated sequence they can set and forget, but handle their monthly newsletters.
An automated email flow that includes around three separate emails runs anywhere from $3,000-$25,000 when handled by an agency.
Other businesses want input on strategy, an audit of their analytics, or another more specific service. Here's how much you should expect to pay when purchasing these services individually from an agency:
Long-term strategy and planning: $600-$3,000
Design and development: $500-$1,000
Copywriting and content creation: $500-$2,000
Campaign deployment: $75-$300
Analytics and strategy: $700-$1,200
Pay-As-You-Go vs. Subscription Plans:
With Pay-As-You-Go options, you’re billed per project or campaign, offering flexibility and control over your budget. This model is ideal for businesses with occasional or seasonal marketing needs. You can scale your marketing efforts up or down without a long-term commitment.
On the other hand, subscription plans involve a fixed monthly fee, providing continuous support and predictable costs. With a subscription plan, you often gain access to added perks like priority support and bundled services that can streamline your operations and maximize your budget.
Monthly retainer fees vary from $500 on the extreme low end to as much as $50,000. The average appears to be about $7,000.
An agency should be upfront about both the costs and what is included in your plan. How many emails are they sending per month? How many ongoing automated campaigns will they run? You should expect to pay more for greater experience and greater amounts of work.
Freelancers can be a budget-friendly way to outsource jobs like writing copy or designing templates. You can often pay by the specific task or by the hour, and the average rate for freelance email marketing ranges from $50-$150/hour.
Agencies, on the other hand, bring a team of specialists to the table. From strategists and designers to data analysts, they offer a one-stop shop for comprehensive support. However, this tends to come at a higher cost.
Your best option depends on your priorities. If you need help with only specific aspects of email marketing, you might save some money by hiring a freelancer.
Small businesses tend to need simpler email marketing services like pre-built templates, automated sequences, and basic reporting. They should be able to find more affordable agencies or freelancers that offer quick, impactful solutions.
Enterprise-level businesses require advanced analytics, complex automation, large-scale email deployment, and custom CRM integrations. Agencies serving these needs charge higher fees but offer the specialized expertise these larger brands need.
Should you do it all yourself or spend more for expert assistance? This ultimately comes down to your budget and assessment of your team's capacity.
Outsourcing might make sense when you need to:
Focus on Core Business Activities
If dedicating resources to email marketing detracts from big-picture initiatives like growing your brand or developing new products, outsourcing can free up internal bandwidth. Delegating campaign management to an outside expert allows your team to focus on tasks that can’t be handed off.
Scale Operations Rapidly
If your business is expanding or experiencing a spike in activity, your in-house team might struggle to keep pace. Outsourcing ensures your email campaigns are managed professionally without overwhelming your team.
Launch a Major Campaign
Big projects, like product launches or rebranding initiatives, often require complex email sequences. These campaigns involve coordinated efforts and multiple areas of expertise.
Implement Advanced Features
Advanced tactics like dynamic personalization or AI-powered recommendations may fall outside your team’s knowledge base. If so, you can take advantage of an agency or freelancer with the right tools and experience.
On the other hand, outsourcing means higher costs. It also requires you to let go of some control and trust in partners that may need time and help to understand your brand and business.
If you decide to outsource, maintain close collaboration with this external team. Share your brand guidelines, audience insights, and campaign objectives early on. Regular communication will keep you both on the same page and help avoid costly missteps.
Platforms like beehiiv make it easy for anyone to add "creator" to their resume, but a seasoned writer or elegant design is still a smart investment for many brands.
Even if you want to do it all yourself, additional tools can enhance your native skills.
Hiring an email design agency can improve your aesthetics and increase click-through rate by up to 14%.
A well-designed email is visually clean, easy to read, and purpose-driven. It's faithful to your brand but interesting in its own right. It should be mobile responsive and make effective use of elements like headlines and images to guide the reader's attention and reinforce your message.
You can also invest in premium visual elements such as better stock photography or animations to help your emails stand out. These give emails a polished and professional look while building trust with your audience.
It’s important to balance costs. Hiring skilled designers or purchasing additional software might require extra budget, but the return on investment can be substantial if done strategically. But never fall into the trap of thinking that more is better.
Free resources for high-quality visuals:
Unsplash: A vast collection of high-quality, royalty-free images suitable for various email designs.
Pexels: Beautiful stock photos and videos, all free to use without attribution.
Canva Free Plan: Access to a library of free templates, graphics, and other design resources perfect for creating custom visuals.
VistaCreate: A beginner-friendly design platform with free creative assets like templates and stock images.
Strong email copy grabs attention, resonates with the audience, and drives action. It balances clarity, brevity, and creativity to keep readers engaged.
While AI tools can assist by generating ideas or variations, thoughtful human writers bring storytelling, empathy, and a tailored brand voice to the table.
Email copywriting also requires a specific skill set beyond general writing. For instance, screen reading often involves skim-scanning, so sentences need to be short, paragraphs brief, and the main message front-loaded.
Effective email writers also focus on storytelling to build connections, include strategic calls-to-action (CTAs) to guide behavior, and personalize the content to make readers feel seen and valued.
Freelance writers or full content creation services can be a worthwhile investment for brands that need help generating powerful copy or keeping up with heavy demand.
There are also tools to help you improve your writing. Several of these come with both free and paid plans.
Freemium resources to improve your writing:
Grammarly: The popular writing tool offers a free plan that includes basic grammar and spelling checks, as well as advanced features such as tone detection and suggestions to improve clarity. The premium plans include additional features like plagiarism detection and style recommendations.
Hemingway App: This writing app focuses on improving readability by highlighting long or complex sentences, unnecessary adverbs, and passive voice usage. It also suggests simpler alternatives to improve clarity.
ProWritingAid: My personal favorite. It provides an in-depth analysis of writing with suggestions for improvement in areas such as repetitive words, sentence structure, and overused cliches.
Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule: This tool is specifically designed for improving headlines and titles of articles or blog posts. It analyzes the overall sentiment, word balance, length, and keywords used in a headline to increase click-through rates.
In addition to your email marketing service and agency/freelancer fees, these items might add to your price tag.
Integrating your email marketing platform with tools like CRMs boosts efficiency and improves marketing results. These integrations enable better data sharing, targeted campaigns, automated workflows, and personalized support.
While services like beehiiv are easily integrated with many common tools, specialized software may require custom integrations. This initial setup may require an upfront investment.
If you find that your ESP doesn't dig deep enough into email performance, you may want a specialized tool for more detailed reports and granular insights into each subscriber.
You might even invest in predictive analytics tools, which use past data to forecast future trends. For example, you can identify which customers are most likely to convert or which campaigns are likely to drive the most engagement.
Optimizing email performance is all about finding what resonates best with your audience. beehiiv offers built-in testing, but your platform of choice might not.
You can supplement your platform with external A/B testing tools that let you experiment and tweak as necessary. Some even work in real-time, continually optimizing email elements based on audience engagement.
Adhering to legal standards like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the E.U. or CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act) in the U.S. is non-negotiable.
Compliance doesn’t just protect your business from hefty fines — it also builds trust with your audience by showing you respect their data and privacy. If you operate in a space with complicated regulations, you may need to consider whether to invest in additional compliance software.
Security is another area to prioritize. Protecting your customer data with encryption is essential to prevent data breaches, which can damage your reputation and lead to costly legal issues.
If you deal in sensitive financial or health data, you can purchase additional protection with email security software.
If you suspect that some of your customers' addresses aren't legit, email verification tools will audit your lists for you. These tools ensure that your emails are reaching valid addresses and not bouncing back due to typos or inactive accounts.
Services may offer features like real-time email validation, spam trap detection, and automatic list cleaning. You can improve deliverability and save money with a lean subscriber list. Don't pay for invalid contacts.
Before purchasing a plan, you might also consider whether free verification tools can meet your needs.
For in-house teams managing email campaigns, staying up-to-date on trends, tools, and best practices is critical for success. This means investing in continuous learning, such as training courses or industry events. These initiatives sharpen skills, giving you a competitive edge.
On the other hand, if you outsource your email marketing, agencies often build professional development costs into their fees. You're paying a premium for the latest knowledge as well as their previous experience.
Transactional emails, such as order confirmations, password resets, and account notifications, are often operationally critical and time-sensitive. Your ESP can probably handle some of these tasks, but businesses that rely heavily on transactional email might need a specialized platform.
The best transactional email platforms give growing businesses the ability to send large volumes of automated, personalized emails. Optimized for speed and reliability, these platforms are ideal for industries where real-time communication is critical.
Needs, budgets, and costs vary depending on the size of your business and your industry.
Small teams often begin with entry-level plans on platforms like Mailchimp or beehiiv. These plans typically cost between $10 and $50 per month. They offer essential features and allow for modest subscriber lists.
As the business grows, so will email marketing costs. Brands should expect to level up to higher plan tiers. They may also start considering more advanced plans or sophisticated tools.
If you have more than 100,000 subscribers, you'll need to invest in a customized enterprise plan on beehiiv. This will let you send higher volumes of email, create multiple publications, and meet complex brand needs.
Global corporations may run campaigns that require additional workflows, like multilingual content for international audiences or region-specific emails. You may spend extra on tasks such as hiring translation services or coordinating compliance efforts.
Tasks such as hiring translation services and adapting marketing messages for cultural relevance, and coordinating across multiple teams can drive up costs.
Your industry probably lends itself to certain types of email campaigns more than others. A nonprofit rarely needs to send an appointment reminder, for example.
Here are a few examples of how your industry might impact how much email marketing campaigns cost.
Customers expect to receive order and delivery notifications. These might require either an e-commerce platform with email capability or a dedicated transactional email platform.
In addition, abandoned cart and product recommendation emails often involve advanced personalization features, which may add to subscription fees or design costs.
For SaaS brands, email campaigns promoting free trials or helping with user onboarding often utilize custom templates and multi-step automation.
A campaign like this may require you to hire an agency to set up the perfect flow for your customers with step-by-step instructions and personalized follow-ups.
Community outreach campaigns require messaging that emotionally resonates with donors or participants. Costs may include high-impact visuals or storytelling copy.
From booking reminders to promotional packages or post-visit feedback surveys, hospitality campaigns often rely on integration with booking systems and CRM tools. You'll need to budget for these extra integrations and tools.
This sector lends itself to both transactional email and regular newsletters. Appointment reminders, wellness tips, or introductions to new services often require integration with scheduling tools.
Here are some best practices to help you determine how much email marketing campaigns will cost your brand, and how to keep prices reasonable.
Before committing to an ESP, take a closer look at your business growth potential and campaign volume. If you're expecting significant expansion or plan to run frequent, high-volume campaigns, make sure to choose a plan that accommodates this expansion.
While monthly payment plans are convenient, many email service providers offer discounts for annual subscriptions. Committing to a yearly plan can result in significant savings, especially for businesses with consistent email marketing needs.
While the ROI on email marketing is still the best of any channel, a lot of brands have seen a recent decline in their gains. But don't worry — brands are reaping the rewards of smart email marketing.
Here's how to join them and maximize your ROI.
Sending personalized content through segmentation helps increase engagement and drive conversions. By splitting your subscriber list into groups based on behavior, preferences, or location, you can send more relevant emails that connect with your audience and deliver better ROI.
Automation saves time and money. Don't neglect your automated workflows in favor of monthly sends. They require an upfront setup but reduce the need for ongoing manual intervention and help you reach prospects when they're more likely to commit.
You don’t have to break the bank for great design. Numerous free tools can elevate your campaigns without additional costs.
Analyze performance data from past email campaigns to figure out when your audience is most likely to engage. By fine-tuning your delivery schedules, you can boost open rates and conversions.
Proper hygiene is important in the digital space, too. Maintaining a healthy email list is crucial for reaching your target audience and avoiding spam complaints or bounce backs. Regularly unload inactive or invalid email addresses.
Purchasing email lists may seem like a quick and easy way to grow your subscriber base, but it can actually do more harm than good. These contacts have not given consent to receive emails from you. They're more likely to mark your emails as spam and less likely to engage.
Instead, focus on growing your list organically through opt-in forms and lead magnets that attract genuinely interested subscribers.
Improve your subject lines. They're the first interaction that recipients have with your email, making it a key factor in determining whether they open or delete it. A/B testing different subject lines can give you insights into what resonates best with your audience, helping you craft more effective ones in the future.
Boost conversions with a strong CTA. Don't leave your recipients wondering what to do next. Make it clear and easy for them by including a call-to-action (CTA) in your email. Whether it's to make a purchase, sign up for an event, or simply click through to read more, a CTA helps guide your audience towards taking action and achieving your desired outcome.
More and more people are accessing emails on their mobile devices. If your email is not easily readable on a phone or tablet, likely, your audience will likely quickly delete or ignore it. Make sure to use a responsive design and test your email on different devices.
Managing a tight budget doesn’t mean sacrificing the success of your email campaigns; it’s about making smart, strategic decisions. Avoiding common mistakes can help you stretch your resources further while still achieving your goals. Below are some frequent pitfalls to watch out for and tips to steer clear of them.
It’s tempting to pick the lowest-cost option, but these plans sometimes include limits that hinder growth. If your email list expands or you increase campaign frequency, such plans may become restrictive and cost more to upgrade later.
Plan for scalability from the start to avoid future headaches.
Without solid analytics tools, it’s difficult to know what’s working and what isn’t. Poor oversight can result in wasted spending on ineffective campaigns. Investing in tools that offer clear insights and actionable data ensures your budget is directed where it has the most impact.
It’s easy to get carried away with bells and whistles, but not all features will be relevant to your goals. Focus on tools and functionalities that align with your core strategy, such as automation or segmentation, rather than paying for options you won’t use.
Thoughtful prioritization can help you create effective campaigns without overspending.
Failing to allocate time and resources for testing can lead to missed opportunities and wasted budget. Identify what resonates most with your audience.
Without optimization, you risk repeatedly investing in underperforming strategies, which can drain your resources and limit your overall ROI. Make testing a regular part of your email marketing process.
Why Trust Me
I've managed the email marketing campaigns for multiple brands as a freelancer. I also regularly write and publish on the latest email tools and trends for beehiiv and other industry blogs.
Email marketing is a proven powerhouse when it comes to growing your business without breaking the bank. It’s one of the most cost-effective tools available, offering a direct line to your audience with measurable impact.
By understanding the costs involved —from software to design to strategy — you can confidently make smarter decisions and stretch your budget further. The key is to optimize your approach, focusing on strategies that deliver sustainable growth.
Now it’s your turn. Take what you’ve learned, align it with your goals, and start putting those cost-optimized strategies into action.
Get started for $0 with a full month of beehiiv's most popular plan. Sign up for your free trial today.
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