The Cost Of Email Marketing: Is It Expensive? [+ Free Plans]

There are several methods of marketing and some may be a little more expensive than others. Email marketing is one of the cheapest marketing methods; if used efficiently, you can generate plenty of revenue after just spending a few dollars. 

HubSpot says you can generate up to $36 off of every $1 spent through email marketing. But how much do you have to spend? What exactly is the cost of email marketing?

Whether you are doing simple text B2B email marketing to set up appointments or sending full-fledged email newsletters and drip campaigns, there are a few factors that will determine the cost of email marketing campaigns for you.

Also Read: What is Email Automation? All you need to know!

Factors Determining the Cost of Email Marketing

• Email Marketing Software and Automation Tools

Are you using email marketing software and automation tools for your campaigns? Which ones are you using? Mailchimp has a free version but you need to upgrade your plan in order to access more features and send more emails in a day. 

Some email marketing software tools are cheaper and others are more expensive. Your plan can vary from $10 a month to a few hundred dollars a month based on the features you choose. 

It is recommended to use an email marketing service, as Gmail and Hotmail may make you seem unauthentic and lead to a high spam and unsubscribe rate, harming your sender reputation. 

• Email Volume + Frequency

The cost of email marketing services depends on the volume of emails you plan to send. Some services offer unlimited emails while others cap the number of emails you can send in a month. The more emails you send, the higher the cost is likely to be. 

Email frequency affects the volume of emails sent in a month. Therefore, how often you plan to send emails will affect your email campaign cost. Buy email marketing plans that suffice for your email marketing frequency.

• Features Used in Email Marketing Software

You will need to use different features in your email marketing campaigns such as email segmentation, design templates, advanced editors, tracking tools, content optimizers, AI tools, integrations, reports, etc. Usually, the more features you opt for, the more expensive your package is. 

Sometimes you may want very advanced emails with complex templates and many flashy features while other times you may want to keep it simple. However, segmentation and reporting tools are important and you should consider ensuring these are in your package, even if it does add a little to your cost of email marketing.

• Subscribers

Some email service providers charge you based on the number of subscribers you have. A longer email list with 50,000+ subscribers means you have to purchase a more expensive package. Let’s look at MailChimp’s packages below:

If you have more than 50,000 contacts, you have to move up to the Standard package from the Essentials package. 

The Cost of Email Marketing for Businesses

There are different estimates of how much businesses tend to spend on email marketing per month. These estimates do not include extra services such as hiring an email marketing expert. This estimate is for simply using email marketing automation software with some extra features. 

If you are a small business, your cost of email marketing may be anything from $0 to the cost of two coffees ($10) for a basic lite package without extra features. This is if your email cadence is not as frequent and you do not have a long list of subscribers yet. This can also be great for B2B businesses that operate in small niches. 

Small to medium-sized businesses can expect to spend anywhere from $9 to $1000 a month on email marketing, according to SendX. 

According to Tech.co, larger businesses may spend anywhere from $2000 to $12000 a month on email marketing. What’s important is managing your cost effectively and ensuring you make the most of your resources. 

Here is a list of things you should consider when determining the cost of email marketing: 

Before you choose an email service provider, you can check out several with their free plans. Here are a few popular ESPs with free subscriptions. 

1. Mailchimp

Mailchimp has an amazing free plan that lets you send up to 2,500 free emails monthly with a maximum of 500 contacts list. If you operate in a small niche or want to test Mailchimp out, their free plan can help you get started. 

2. SendinBlue

SendinBlue has a free plan that gives you unlimited contacts and a limit of sending 300 emails a day. To remove SendinBlue branding, find optimal send time, or do A/B testing, you will have to upgrade to the Starter pack. 

3. AWeber

AWeber also limits your email subscribers to 500. It allows you to build landing pages, and provides some of the same features that Mailchimp and SendinBlue do, such as the drag and drop builder, sign-up forms, etc. Aweber’s starter package is pretty low priced though. However, you must also account for ease of use. So try the free package and see if you get the hang of it before you move on to a paid subscription. 

4. GetResponse 

GetResponse offers a full suite of marketing tools including an email marketing package. They give you a website, room for an email list of 500+ contacts, 1 landing page, and you can send unlimited newsletters. With your free plan, you also get 30-day free access to the Starter plan with advanced features to try out. 

5. OmniSend 

Omnisend’s free plan has a limit of 250 contacts but 500 emails/day. You can also do A/B testing, unlimited segmentation, customer support, and automations and workflows. Omnisend offers many features in their free plan and their starter pack also provides a customer success manager for those with over 60k contacts. 

Do try out these great email marketing service providers and choose one that gives you everything mentioned on the checklist! You can minimize your cost of email marketing, but spending a little never hurts. 

Having said that, you won’t get anywhere with email marketing if your emails don’t end up in the recipient’s Priority Inbox or always land in spam. That’s where GoCustomer comes in to warm up your email domain and improve your sender reputation. 

Get started with the Starter Pack to improve your email deliverability.