The Short Version
Email marketing pricing makes most new freelancers nervous. They pick a number by copying someone else, then hope it holds.
This primer shows you how to build a price from your own costs and the result your client gets. You will see the common models and a simple rate formula before you quote your first real client.
Why a £1,700 Monthly Fee Tells You Almost Nothing
The Reddit thread behind this article mentioned one marketer charging £1,700 a month for two emails a week plus management. Copy only. No design.
That figure scares beginners. It can also be cheap.
Two emails a week is eight sends a month. At £1,700 that is £212 per email. A decent copywriter can spend four hours on research and revisions for one conversion-focused send. So the effective rate sits near £53 an hour.
For a UK freelancer carrying software and tax costs, that is workable. For someone with no other clients, one lost account wipes out the month. What sits behind the number is the real story.
The Four Ways Freelancers Price Email Marketing Work
Nearly every quote you see fits one of four shapes. Learn them and the market stops feeling random.
- Per email. One flat fee for each send. Easy to track. It gets messy when a client wants endless edits.
- Per project. A one-off build or campaign gets one price. Great for setup work. Weak for steady income.
- Monthly retainer. A set fee each month for a set number of emails and management hours. Predictable for both sides.
- Percentage of revenue. Part of your fee tracks the sales your emails drive. High upside. It needs clean tracking to work.
Which shape fits a beginner
Start with per-email or per-project pricing. Retainers arrive once a client trusts your results. Asking for a monthly commitment from a stranger is the fastest way to hear no.
Find Your Hourly Floor Before You Quote Anything
You cannot price a package if you do not know what your time is worth. This takes ten minutes.
Add up your monthly costs. Rent, software, insurance, tax set-aside and the income you need to live. Say that total lands at £2,500.
You want to work 100 billable hours a month. The rest goes to admin and sales. Divide £2,500 by 100. Your floor is £25 an hour.
Every quote must clear that line. Most freelancers skip this step, then wonder why a busy month still leaves the bank account flat.
What a Full-Service Package Really Contains
When you offer Klaviyo setup plus ongoing emails, you are selling several jobs bundled together. Name each one so the client sees the work.
- Account setup, flow building, list cleaning and deliverability checks.
- Copywriting and design for each campaign.
- Segmentation and A/B testing.
- Monthly reporting on opens and revenue.
Price each part. A Klaviyo setup for a small store often runs £400 to £900 as a one-off. Ongoing management is the retainer that follows.
Questions to Ask Before You Send a Quote
Scope decides price more than anything else. Get answers to these first.
- How many emails do you want each month?
- Who writes the copy, me or your team?
- How many rounds of revisions are included in your head?
- Who owns the Klaviyo account and the data inside it?
Each answer changes the number. Unlimited revisions alone can double your real hours.
Setting a Price With No Track Record
You have only done jobs for friends. That is normal.
Charge a founding-client rate for your first two or three outside clients. Say so openly. You are trading a lower price for a testimonial and permission to share their numbers.
Then raise the rate for the next client. Keep the old price for the founding clients if you want goodwill.
A useful figure for the sales pitch: the DMA has reported UK email marketing returns near £35 for every £1 spent. If your campaign adds £3,500 in revenue, a £500 fee looks small. Lead with that math. Your hours matter far less to the client than the return.
What to Do Next
Pick one model. Build a single package with a clear scope and a fixed number of emails.
Then send that package to one real prospect this week. A price only becomes real when someone reads it and replies.
Charge from your floor and the value you deliver.