Email marketing cost is one of the aspects that should be clearly understood by representatives of companies of any size. Everyone, from a start-up venture to a well-entrenched business, could benefit from a closer look at many of the factors that go into its email marketing cost, in an effort to fine-tune that cost and get the most for the money spent, in terms of ROI. When determining your overall costs, pretty much everything that was involved must be covered; and this includes software fees, sizes of your list, design, copywriting and many more. In this guide, you will find all the information you should be aware of regarding email marketing cost.
Possible Factors for Measuring Email Marketing Costs
There are several elements which make a difference as to the total email marketing cost. Such elements include the kind of email marketing software you employ, the number of subscribers you have, costs of creation of content to be used, the automation tools and whether the process is internal or you hire a marketing agency. If you know all these factors, you can easily develop a flexible budget that fits your business requirements.
1. Let us look at some of the actual cost of the Email Marketing Software
At the center of all that is an email marketing campaign is the, wait for it… email marketing software. For instance, the cost of using email marketing software depends on the number of subscribers and type of features available in the package.
- Free Plans: If you have a short subscribers’ list, you can probably begin with a free level. For instance, Mailchimp and Sendinblue can support free activities for a limited number of users, usually about 2000, and provide limited features. These plans are perfect for small business companies which have just begun and wish to try the Company establishing without owning to upfront expenses.
- Paid Plans: Depending on the size of your mailing list, you may find yourself using the paid version sooner rather than later. The paid areas may cost from $10 to $1,500 per month depending upon the number of payments you want to accept and the available features. For instance, Klaviyo has flexible automation and segmentation functionalities but its prices are expensive when your subscriber list grows. As a rule, people pay amounts ranging from $20 to $100 monthly for a list of 1’000 to 10’000 subscribers.
2. Relationship between sub scriber list size and cost of email marketing
Your email marketing cost is directly proportional to the size of your email list. Almost all the email marketing services provider bases their prices on the number of subscribers, meaning as your list is expanding, so is your cost.
- Small Lists (0-2,000 subscribers): To any small business or new players in the market, controlling the extent of expenditure for interaction through the mail is very easy. There are many providers that allow sending lists of less than 2 000 people for free or cheap, costs are from $10 to $30 a month.
- Medium Lists (2,000-10,000 subscribers): While adding more subscribers, you will require a list that supports this addition and their prices range from $50 – $200 for the month.
- Large Lists (10,000+ subscribers): For companies with many address in their email list, the costs of email marketing may rise steeply. He said the cost of effectively managing a large list depends on the number of features and the volume of mails sent and it can range from few hundred Dollars to as high as $1000 or $1500 a month. Such plans are generally associated with more sophisticated features corresponding to segmentation, automation, and detailed reporting.
3. Email Design and Copywriting Cost We do not incorporate any costs associated with the design and writing, or copywriting, of emails used in this proposal
An effective email is both aesthetically appealing and content wise interesting to the recipient. Depending on your capabilities, it is still possible for you to perform these tasks within the office or hire specialists to draft your emails.
- Email Design: According to those questioned, high-quality email design costs $100-$1000 per email, depending on its complexity and the individual touches it requires. Although most email marketing solutions come equipped with the options and layouts for your messages, unique email design is desirable for its correspondence with your brand.
- Copywriting Costs: The other expense that may accrue from professional copywriting services is your email marketing cost. Standard to complex promotional emails sits at the range of $50 to $150 per send but added variable content personalization could be $300 per mail. Humble bragging aside, great copy is critical for compelling engagement and getting subscribers to buy from their firstborns.
4. Automation and Personalization Features Special thanks to my colleagues: Wren Cox and Ash Dry for their insights about automation and the Angel Langton for her contributions to the examples of personalization features
When your list grows, it is vital for efficient e-mail marketing to be as automatic and as individualized as possible. The automated embedded system reduces time taken in an email through periodic sending of emails at the set time depending on the users’ activities while the personalized message delivery ensures that all the users are provided with emails they are interested in.
- Automation Costs: These basic automation tools; such as the drip campaigns or cart abandonment emails are generally part of the kit in most email marketing solutions. However, other forms of more sophisticated work-flows like the behavioral triggers and segmentations may cost more – starting from $20 to $100+ depending on the platform.
- Personalization Features: autoresponders enable marketers to personalize the messages sent to program subscribers depending on data about them for instance, purchase history, browsing history or their age. Some keys are free in almost all platforms, but others like advanced segmentation and testing could be provided at an added cost. It was also beneficial to analyze these features as primarily designed to increase open rates and conversions, meaning that, despite costing more, they are worthwhile.
5. Comparing between the Internal Management of Email Marketing and Outsourcing it
If you’re to evaluate the total cost that is involved in the email marketing, one of the things that you are likely to set aside is whether, you will manage the email marketing in house or contract a third party marketing firm.
- In-House Management: Even though there’s an option to manage the email marketing campaign in-house, it may look more effective, as you probably already have a marketing department. Despite these, there are costs attached with the time that staffs would spend, as well as the time required to master the correct way of emailing. It is important to note, however, that employing a full time email marketing specialist might go for anywhere between $50 000 and $80 000 per annum.
- Outsourcing to an Agency: Depending on company size, many companies will hire out their email marketing campaigns to agencies. It is common for agencies to cost anything between $500 to $5000 per month, based on the activities to be employed on the campaigns, and the level of services required. Outsourcing can be effective for your campaigns due to the professional ways in which they are executed and the fact that you ‘get what you pay for’;the services are properly costed and this often means lower costs per head.
6. Delivery compliance and Costs.
Another factor which is highly important is deliverability rate – your emails need to reach your subscribers. Also, the total cost of your email marketing is likely to increase if you have to meet other compliance requirements such as GDPR.
- Deliverability Tools: Certain email marketing services come with deliverability features that assist in tracking issues to your sender score and whether or not your emails are being received in the spam folders. Some others may need third party tools such as SendGrid or Litmus, which fall in a range of between $50 to $200 per month.
- Compliance Costs: That is why, before proceeding with sending your contents via email marketing, you must guarantee that all the laws governing data protection including the GDPR are implemented and not violated to avoid being fined. All platforms offer basic features such as double opt-in and unsubscribe management for mailed lists, while a few businesses might require legal advice for full compliance more on the expensive side.
7. Software Testing, Data Analysis and Business Enhancement
To get the highest engagement out of your email, you have to **tweak the content and the overall strategy through A/B testing and analysis. This will mean that you will easily know which aspects of the mail are appealing most to the readers and help you in tweaking your emails to be more effective.
- A/B Testing Costs: When it comes to A/B testing, while simple A/B testing like subject line may already be available in most if not all emarketing tools, multi-variables testing may incur additional charges. It also can go from $20 to $100 per month depending on the platforms the features are being used at.
- Analytics and Reporting Tools: Simple analytical parameters, including the open rate and click-through rate, are usually part of most email marketing solutions. Nonetheless, some versions of Google Analytics offer enhanced reporting features that get down to conversion tracking, revenue by source, and other valuable customer data that might cost between $10 and $100 a month.
Is Email Marketing What It Takes To Achieve?
The total cost of carrying out email marketing will depend on the size of your company, as well as the number of objectives that you want to achieve, as well as the overall complexity of your campaigns. Despite the potential for greater costs on the service or usage of more sophisticated features desired especially by big organizations, the ROI on email marketing is proving to be worth the investment costs added. Email Marketing is still one of the cheapest, relevant, and powerful methods to communicate with customers, build relationships with the leads, and sell.
The evident advantages of properly chosen email marketing software, professional content, and automation tools are worth the investment for your business. In order to properly allocate funds for the purposes of email marketing you should plan for the right tools and resources which will give you the chance to get the best results and thus to maximize the ROI.