When You Should Fire Your Email Marketing Agency

Hey it's Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

Today, I’m talking about when it is a good idea to hire an in-house email team vs when it is definitely is not a good idea to hire an in-house email team.

I've seen brands at $500K/month try to hire internally, and it's almost always a disaster.

Here's when you should actually fire your agency and when you're better off keeping them.

Key Takeaways:

• In-house email requires 3 specialized roles minimum: Account Lead, Copywriter, Designer, Klaviyo Tech

• Cost: $10K/month+ in salary alone, plus management overhead

• Under $2M/month: Work with an agency for full execution

• $2-5M/month: Hire in-house retention manager, keep agency for execution

• $5M+/month: Build internal capabilities, use agency for overflow

Why Building In-House Too Early Fails

To do email marketing right, you need four specialized roles minimum:

Account Lead reviewing numbers, creating calendars, optimizing flows, running tests, etc

Copywriters who understand direct response and can write emails that convert.

Designers who can create branded, conversion-optimized layouts.

Klaviyo techs who know how to build flows, segment lists, and optimize deliverability.

That's $10K per month in salary MINIMUM. And that's just the cost of bodies.

You also need management overhead. Someone has to train them, QA their work, etc

Then there's the learning curve. Even experienced email marketers need 2-3 months to understand your brand, your customers, and what actually works for your specific audience.

Brands at $500K/month trying to hire internally end up with:

• Junior marketers who don't know what they're doing

• Expensive senior hires who get bored and leave after 6 months

• Frankenstein systems cobbled together by people learning on the job

It's expensive. It's slow. And it underperforms.

Why a Good Agency Is Better (Until You're Big Enough)

A good agency has already built the systems.

They know what works because they've tested it across dozens of brands in your niche.

They can turn interested prospects into paying customers because they have copywriters / designers who understand e-commerce and email marketing specifically.

They can spot blind spots in your email strategy because they have an entire team that lives and breathes email.

And they're cheaper than hiring three full-time employees.

More importantly, there's no learning curve. You're not training someone from scratch. You're plugging into an existing team that's already executing at a high level.

This is why agencies win at the $500K-$2M/month stage. They're faster, cheaper, and better than trying to build internally.

Keep in mind… I say a GOOD agency is worth it.

Bad agencies will stall out fast, get comfortable, and fizzle out after 6 months.

The Progression That Actually Makes Sense

Here's how you should think about the transition from agency to in-house:

Under $50k/month: Manage Yourself

You don’t quite have the cash flow to hire an agency yet. At this stage, I recommend watching YT videos and implementing email yourself in the most efficient way possible.

As a business owner, you need to know email. Don’t outsource completely too early.

Work with an agency potentially, to help rebuild all your flows and make sure they’re done right.

You can also join a mentorship program like mine here, where we’ll walk you through the full process of setting up and building your email system.

Under $2M/month: Full Email Agency

Work with an agency that treats your brand like their own. They handle strategy, execution, design, copywriting, flow optimization, everything.

You focus on running the business. They focus on email.

$2-5M/month: Hybrid Model

Hire an in-house retention manager to own the relationship with the agency and set strategic direction.

This person becomes your internal email expert. They know your brand, they know your customers, and they work with the agency to execute the strategy.

The agency still handles the heavy lifting (design, copy, flow builds), but your in-house person owns the vision.

$5M+/month: Internal Team with Agency Support

Now you can start building internal capabilities.

Hire a full email team (copywriter, designer, Klaviyo tech).

Use an agency for overflow, specialized projects, and strategic support.

At this scale, the math makes sense. You have enough volume to justify the overhead. And you can afford to hire senior people who actually know what they're doing.

What a Good Agency Relationship Looks Like

The agencies that win at a high level embed themselves so deeply into your business that the line between internal and external disappears.

You shouldn't feel like you're managing a contractor. It should feel like they're just your email team that happens to work remotely.

That's exactly what we strive for at Well Copy.

We're responsive in Slack. We know your product strategy. We're on strategy calls. We respond like we're part of your team because we are.

When an agency operates like this, there's no reason to fire them and hire internally. You're getting better execution for less money.

Final Thoughts

Don't hire in-house because you think you "should."

Hire in-house when the math makes sense and you have the revenue to support three specialized roles plus management overhead.

Until then, a good agency will outperform and cost a lot less.

Most brands waste 6-12 months trying to build internal email teams too early. They burn cash, underperform, and eventually come back to an agency anyway.

Skip the pain. Work with an agency until you're doing $5M+ per month. Then build internal if it makes sense.

If you want an agency that operates like your internal team (without the overhead), my team has generated $200M+ in email revenue for clients. Book a call here.

PS - Something big is coming back…

In October, we quietly dropped a 90-day email marketing mentorship program for 10 brands to help them generate 30-50% of their store revenue from email.

And it sold out in 48 hours before we closed it off.

90 days later… and we’re re-opening it up.

The results have been awesome.

It is an exclusive, invite-only group to maintain the quality of brands.

The waitlist is now open, and we will be launching in early January… inviting only the brands we believe we can help the most that fill out the application below.

(It takes 60 seconds to fill out the application)

Learn More & Join The Waitlist Now →

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand: Feetures

Email Design: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15BSdOCluKAnO6X_BGmqO7tHBsjJ_MHBt/view?usp=sharing

Notes: Solid copy that highlights their product’s unique benefits (foot pain relief) with banger product imagery all laid out in one sexy email that flows very well.

Template of The Day

If you want access to a bank of 134 mix and match templates like this equating to over 5,000+ possible email designs, click here » 

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max | Well Copy Email & SMS Marketing
If you want to join our team, fill out this form»

PS - If you run a 7-9 figure ecommerce brand and you want to have a free email strategy consultation, book a call here » 

PPS - I have a few different products you can buy. If you purchase any one of these products you get access to my private community of 1500+ members with daily posts from me, access to me for support 24/7, and private calls.

• Ecommerce Email Mastery: A 60 lesson course breaking down everything you need to know about ecommerce email marketing in the most concise and organized manner. learn more »

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