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How much does email marketing cost for a small business?

For most small shops, email marketing costs a platform fee of somewhere between nothing and a few hundred pounds a month, plus whoever does the work. That work is the real cost. Here is what each option buys, in pounds.

What goes into the cost of email marketing

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There are two separate bills, and people often only budget for one.

The platform

Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend, Brevo and the rest charge monthly, usually by the number of contacts or emails. Most have a free or very cheap tier for small lists. Prices climb as the list grows, which is one reason a clean list matters: you pay for every address, including the ones that never open.

The work

Someone has to plan the calendar, write the emails, build the templates and automations, check deliverability and read the numbers. That is either your time, a freelancer’s or an agency’s. It is almost always the bigger number.

Doing it yourself

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The cheapest option in pounds and the most expensive in time. A realistic month for a small shop is two or four campaigns, plus keeping an eye on the automations. Each campaign takes a few hours to plan, write, build and check if you are not doing it every week.

DIY works when you enjoy it and are consistent. It usually fails on consistency: the newsletter goes out when things are quiet, which is exactly when there is least to say. The small business guide covers a rhythm you can keep up with alone.

Hiring a freelancer

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A freelancer charges either per item or a monthly fee. As a reference point, my own pricing starts at £50 for a single campaign email or template, £150 to build one automated flow, and bundles from £125 a month plus a one-off setup. That buys one person doing the writing, building and reporting inside your own account.

The trade-off is capacity. One person can do a lot for a small shop, but will not run your ads, your social and your website as well. For email alone, it is usually the best value.

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Hiring an agency

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Agencies usually charge monthly retainers that are several times a freelancer’s, often with a minimum term. You get a team, which helps if you need design, paid media and email under one roof. You also pay for the account management and internal handovers that come with a team.

For a shop turning over a few hundred thousand pounds a year, the maths rarely works for email alone. The freelancer versus agency guide goes into the difference in detail.

How to tell whether it pays for itself

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Look at revenue attributed to email in your platform, then split it into flows and campaigns. Flows are the part that keeps earning without anyone writing anything, which is why they are the first thing worth paying for.

A rough test: if email revenue in a month is several times what you spent on it (platform plus work), it is paying back. If it is not, the problem is usually a missing or broken abandoned cart flow, a welcome series nobody finished, or a list full of addresses that stopped opening a year ago.

Where the money is usually wasted

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  • Paying for a platform tier because of contacts who never open
  • Campaigns designed for a desktop screen that most people read on a phone
  • Flows built at launch and never checked since
  • A discount in every email, which teaches the list to wait

None of these need a bigger budget. They need somebody to look.

Questions people ask

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How much does email marketing cost per month for a small business?

Usually a platform fee between free and a few hundred pounds, plus the cost of the work. A freelancer typically costs from around £125 a month on a bundle; agencies cost several times that.

Is email marketing cheaper than social media ads?

Usually, per sale. You pay once to capture an address and can email it for years. Paid social charges every time you reach someone.

What is the cheapest way to start?

A free or low-cost platform tier, one welcome series and one abandoned cart flow. The new to email page walks through it.

Do I pay the platform or you?

You pay the platform directly, in your name. My fees cover the work only.

Read next

GuideKlaviyo vs Mailchimp for Shopify shopsWhich suits a small Shopify shop, where each one wins, and when to switch.GuideHow often should a small shop send marketing emails?A sending frequency you can keep, how to tell if it is too much, and what to cut.GuideEmail marketing for ecommerceThe flows that earn and the order to build them in.
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