For a small shop that needs email done well and nothing else, a freelancer is usually better value. An agency makes sense when you need several channels managed together, or more capacity than one person has.
With a freelancer, the person you speak to writes the emails, builds the flows and reads the numbers. With an agency, you usually speak to an account manager, and the work is done by a team behind them. That can be excellent, but every handover is a chance for your brief to change shape.
The about page explains how I work as one person.
Agency retainers are usually several times a freelancer’s monthly fee, because they carry more people and more overheads. Freelancers tend to price per item or by a small bundle. My own starts at £50 per item, and bundles from £125 a month on the pricing page.
For a shop whose email revenue is measured in thousands a month rather than hundreds of thousands, that difference decides whether the channel pays back.
Agencies often ask for a minimum term. Freelancers more often work month to month. Either way, check what happens to the work if you stop: the flows, templates and list should stay in your own account and keep running.
Want this checked on your own account? The free audit does it by hand, in five working days.
Get the free auditSee pricingThis is where agencies win. A team can cover holidays and illness and can scale up for a big launch. One person cannot be in two places. A good freelancer plans ahead for that: campaigns drafted weeks in advance, automations running without anyone at a desk.
If none of those apply, you are probably paying for capacity you will not use.
The last one matters. I do not handle customer replies: they stay in your inbox. The getting started page sets out who does what.
Usually, for email alone. You pay for one person doing the work rather than a team managing it.
Up to a point. Most small and mid-sized shops are well within what one person can run.
Automations keep running, and campaigns should be drafted and scheduled ahead. Ask how they handle it.
You should. With me, everything is built in your account and stays there.