It’s a well-known fact that email marketing is effective in engaging subscribers as well as generating and nurturing leads. It can make or break your promotional campaigns, and hence it is necessary to hit the right nail with your emails all the time.

When it comes to email marketing, most business owners are faced with three options- hire the right talent, expand the responsibility to existing staff, or outsource to an agency.

Many companies have it very clear that hiring an agency is necessary for certain tasks because they do not have the right talent or enough time to manage email campaigns internally. Others are hesitant to outsource due to the lack of trust and control and prefer to hire HTML email developers in-house.

Making the right choice whether to get the job done in-house or outsource it to an expert agency can help you win the game of email marketing and drive conversions. Take a look at the pros and cons of outsourcing to get some clarity.

Pros of Outsourcing Email Campaigns

Get Domain Experts to Work on your Campaigns

Email marketing agencies are staffed with experts who specialize in various aspects such as design, coding, campaign management, strategy, etc. They are well aware of what sort of design works best, what content needs to be added, what is the recommended frequency to send emails, and how the emails perform across various devices and email clients. Hence, when you outsource your email marketing to a good agency, you need not worry about these aspects.

Save Costs in a Multitude of Ways

When you hire resources of varied expertise and experience for your email marketing needs, the cost also goes up. On the other hand, if you outsource, the number of employees reduces, and the resources your business needs will also reduce, thereby saving a lot of costs on office supplies, computers, software, coding tests, tools, etc. Outsourcing can also lower your real estate costs and reduce overheads.

Save a Lot of Time

One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your email marketing is that it is time-saving. It takes hours of dedication to strategize your email campaigns, build email lists, segment the lists, create personalized content, design and code the emails, test the campaigns, set up automation, and finally send the emails. Outsourcing your campaigns to a trusted email marketing agency can save you considerable time on a daily basis.

Guaranteed Return on Investment

A professional email marketing agency will develop the expected ROI for your campaigns. They will analyze the campaigns and provide you with a detailed analysis of how well your emails are doing. They provide you with details of where all your marketing funds are being allocated and help you achieve your desired email marketing goals.

Fresh Perspective for your Business

As a business owner, you have your goals and contributing factors clear, but the email marketing agency knows how to convey that to your email subscribers in the best possible way and get maximum conversions. The agency will be able to position your brand in a way that the emails reach the right inboxes and get the subscribers to engage with the brand better.

Cons of Outsourcing Email Campaigns

Hiring the Wrong Firm

If you end up hiring an agency that is not suited to fit your needs, or able to give you the desired results, it might put you in trouble. Hiring the wrong agency can hamper your brand’s reputation and the relationship you have with your subscribers and customers. It is therefore important to do thorough research and look for an agency that has enough experience in your area of business and can help in supporting your business goals.

Loss of Control on Campaigns

Giving up an entire section of the business to an email marketing agency can be the biggest nightmare for companies. When you outsource, the agency takes control of everything related to your email campaigns, and hence you do not have a say in the day to day operations. Although you have the final say, you cannot monitor how the agency is managing the tasks you have assigned them and preparing the deliverables. However, as long as you trust your agency with their expertise and experience, giving control to them should not be a challenge.

Privacy Concerns

When you hire an email marketing agency to take care of your brand’s emails, you might have to share your goals and intricate details about your business for creating successful campaigns. This is often a major privacy concern for the majority of businesses. To ensure your sensitive information is safe with the email marketing firm, conduct a background check on them and sign a non-disclosure agreement or contract to add a layer of protection.

Immediate Action or Service

When you have in-house resources to work on your email campaigns, it is easy to get last moment changes done or any urgent actions can be taken as your resource works dedicatedly for you. However, in case of outsourcing, this might not be possible, as the agency you have hired works with multiple clients and schedules, and therefore may not result in the timely action you desire. The best way to avoid alterations in your campaigns is to have clear outlining and expectations at the beginning of the project.

Conflict of Interest

The agency that you hire might be already working with your competitors, which can give rise to a conflict of interest. Hence, before you hire them, make sure they do not serve your immediate competition.

Final Thoughts

If you are confused about whether or not you should outsource your email marketing campaign, consider the above pros and cons and make the right decision for your business. However, it is best to have a mixed version of both that allows your in-house team to be involved in the campaigns and also take advantage of the experience and expertise of the professional agency.

Author Bio

Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uppers, one of the fastest growing full service email marketing agency that specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and free HTML email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.

Outsourcing Email Campaign Management - The Pros and Cons