It could be one of the most important decisions you make for your business: hiring a Klaviyo email agency vs. in-house marketing team. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, and you may already have an idea in mind based on your business objectives and your marketing budget.
Klaviyo is by far the most popular and effective email platform. If you’re using it, you’re already on the right track to making your emails work for you. The question is, will your internal marketing team be able to do a better job than a digital marketing agency with specialized expertise in Klaviyo? Let’s dive into the key differences of a Klaviyo email agency vs. in-house team.
As a business owner, outsourcing your email marketing to a Klaviyo agency doesn’t just take email off your already-loaded plate. It’s also a big step towards growing your email marketing revenue. Klaviyo agencies are packed with qualified, experienced professionals who KNOW what works and will use it to get you real results.
An agency is the fastest way to get your email on track, whether you’re starting from scratch or building on a foundation. From creating personalized email experience to deep data analytics, they’ll get on with it and start increasing your email revenue while you can focus on the other things you need to do within the business.
Klaviyo email agencies usually offer a full suite of email services. They work autonomously and don’t need (or want) to be micromanaged, so you can sit back and trust the professionals to get results for you. Here are some of the services offered by Klaviyo agencies:
Managing Klaviyo in-house means your team handles all aspects of email marketing. This approach gives you direct control over your campaigns, but it means your team needs to have a deep understanding of Klaviyo, email marketing, and consumer psychology.
In-house email management is convenient in one way, especially for businesses with the resources to invest in training and keeping their team up to speed with best practices. The downside is that in-house marketing can present challenges that you wouldn’t encounter with an agency team in your corner.
Building an in-house marketing department (with knowledge of Klaviyo) can take time and cost thousands of dollars. It involves recruiting suitably qualified and experienced people, interviewing, making offers, hiring, allowing them some time to get a handle on your brand and your marketing goals, and possibly even investing in training.
It’s definitely doable—and it might be a handy option if you’d like to have complete control over all your marketing efforts. With your whole team in-house, it presents opportunities for team-building, brainstorming, and internal collaboration, keeping everything internal.
When deciding between a Klaviyo email marketing agency vs in-house marketing team, comparing the benefits and costs of each approach will help you make an informed decision that works for your business and your bank account.
Building an in-house marketing team gives you control over your campaigns, but costs can quickly add up. You’ll need a minimum of an email marketing specialist (with Klaviyo experience), a copywriter, and a designer. Plus, software costs add even more to the overhead cost.
Outsourcing to a Klaviyo agency can be a cost-effective option, especially for small to mid-sized businesses that don’t have the resources to build an in-house team. Here are some cost considerations:
Managing Klaviyo in-house means building a dedicated team with specific roles and skills. You’ll need 4 to 7 employees with specific skills to cover every aspect of your email marketing—an email marketing specialist, a copywriter, a designer, a data analyst, a marketing manager, and possibly others.
If you’ve already got a content or marketing team, don’t assume it’s simple to just get them to do your email. Your copywriter might be great at social media and SEO-friendly blog posts, but email copy is a whole different psychological game.
In the same way, a designer may be excellent at creating social media posts and website pages, but email design for Klaviyo is on a bit of a different level. Plus, Klaviyo has a bit of a learning curve—it’s not something a general marketing manager can pick up on a dime.
You’ll either need to hire new team members or invest in training for your existing team. An inexperienced team won’t do justice to your emails and won’t have the desired effect.
Hiring a Klaviyo marketing agency gives you easy access to a full group of experienced professionals for the same cost as hiring one or two in-house team members. That’s a single monthly fee for up to 7 professionals—all the skills your emails need.
Klaviyo agency team members also tend to be quite well qualified, especially if the agency is a Klaviyo partner (like YOCTO is). Partners get trained and endorsed by Klaviyo, so you know you’re getting a highly skilled team dedicated to making sales for your business, and you don’t need to spend time or money on training any of them.
If you’re planning on scaling at some point, in-house teams could present some challenges. Upgrading tools (like Klaviyo) as you scale is inevitable, because you need to accommodate your email list as it grows and keep your employee’s tools up to date.
You’ll end up paying a couple hundred more on software as your business grows, which means you don’t want unnecessary expenses elsewhere, like in your team.
In-house teams often consist of a few specialists who might already be stretched thin across multiple projects. This can limit the team’s ability to quickly scale up unless you hire someone new, which costs precious time and money.
Scaling is simple with a Klaviyo agency. You’ll still have to upgrade your tools, but there’s no need to spend money on new team members. Agencies have the resources and personnel to handle your growth without compromising on quality.
It’s up to you if you want to scale up your email frequency or strategy, which may incur extra agency costs. But it’ll still cost you vastly less than trying to scale an in-house team without burning your employees out.
Marketing budgets have dropped 1.4% from 2023 (9.1%) to 2024 (7.7%). Why spend money on scaling your team along with your email, when you can save and still grow by hiring an agency?
Building and managing an in-house marketing team for Klaviyo doesn’t just take money, it takes time too. You can’t just hire anyone—finding suitably qualified people is the first time-consuming process. Job postings, sifting through CVs, interviewing, and hiring can take anything from a few weeks to a few months.
Once you’ve hired a new team member, you or another team member needs to take time to onboard them properly and train them if necessary. And if an employee leaves or you need to scale your business and team, the whole process needs to begin all over again.
None of the above problems matter if an agency is doing your emails for you. You find a suitable agency, sign a contract, give them access, and from there… Someone on your side may need to have bi-weekly or monthly meetings with them.
If an agency team member leaves, it doesn’t affect the quality of your emails at all. If a team member needs to be trained, it doesn’t come out of your time. Very little of your team’s time is required, unless you have a dedicated team member working with the agency. Even then, it’s much less work than a full in-house team would have to do.
According to Klaviyo, the full hiring process can take 12+ weeks. Agencies are typically available immediately, with a week to a month of setting up your account and creating a strategy before going all in with your email marketing.
The quality of the emails you’re putting out can vary based on the experience and expertise of your team members. Generally, the more experienced and qualified a candidate is, the more you’ll end up paying, which means it’s tempting to trade off some experience for a lower salary. It may save you some cash, but it may cost you some quality.
Of course, there’s also the chance to hire the best of the best, which means your email quality will always be top-notch. If you’ve got funds to spare, you might be able to put together a high-quality, hand-picked team, but at a cost.
Klaviyo agencies, on the other hand, bring a wealth of experience and specialized knowledge to the table. Agencies run off of high-quality work—their business depends on it.
Plus, their teams are constantly updated on email marketing best practices and Klaviyo’s advanced features. Agencies live and breathe analytics, segmentation, personalization, and more, so you can trust that they’ll be delivering top-quality work every time.
In-house marketing teams work on only 1 client (you) so they should be fairly consistent in terms of branding, tone of voice, timing, and so on. Depending on the scope of each team member’s work, they may also be quite efficient.
There’s some potential for creativity to be stifled when the team’s working on marketing campaigns for the same products and services again and again. But they also have the chance to dive deep into the psychology of your target market and get to know your products and services very well, which could be a benefit.
Klaviyo agencies work for multiple clients, so if you’re thinking of hiring one, you might be worried about consistency. Keep in mind that agencies understand this worry and are committed to maintaining high quality, consistent work for each client.
There may also be an advantage to this way of working. Klaviyo agency strategists, writers, and designers need to stay sharp in order to keep all their clients happy, so you can expect high levels of creativity, fresh ideas, out-of-the-box thinking, and excellent communication.
Deciding between a Klaviyo email agency vs. in-house marketers for your email campaigns is more than just a case of convenience. Think carefully—your budget and goals will both influence your decision and be affected by it.
Smaller businesses with limited resources might benefit more from outsourcing to an external agency. Agencies can scale their services according to your needs, so you don’t pay for anything you aren’t actually getting. Plus, your emails will be making a decent ROI, so you should be making a profit even after agency fees.
Hiring an agency also means you don’t have to invest in tools outside of your Klaviyo account (or other email software). While you may end up spending a few hundred dollars on software, you’ll also be getting the benefit of the agency’s tools, for free.
Larger businesses with bigger budgets might prefer an in-house team, for greater control over email marketing strategies and better integration with the overall marketing plan. While costs might be higher, an in-house team can provide more peace of mind and quicker adjustments based on your immediate business needs.
Your marketing goals will also influence your decision. If your focus is on rapidly scaling your email marketing, an agency might be the better choice. They generally have a deeper understanding of the data behind your email flows and campaigns and how to leverage it to get you better results.
If your goals are to align your marketing more closely with your brand values and cultivate a deeper, more intimate connection with your audience, an in-house team might be the more logical choice. Your email department can collaborate closely with other marketing departments, making sure your online presence stays uniform everywhere.
Think about your long-term and short-term needs when deciding between a Klaviyo email agency vs. in-house marketing team. Agencies are often more flexible for short-term projects or when you need to scale up quickly for peak periods, like holiday seasons. They can handle sudden increases in workload and often have specialized skills that your in-house team might lack.
For long-term needs, an in-house team might be more stable. Building an in-house team isn’t an overnight thing, but it can pay off in the long run as your team gains more Klaviyo expertise and gets to know your business in more detail.
That being said, it might be worthwhile to start with an agency, even if you’re thinking of building an in-house email department. They can fill the gap until such time as you find suitable employees, and if you see good results, you may even consider using them long-term.
Not all Klaviyo agencies operate quite the same way. Spend some time researching before you reach out, and when you do, be ready with questions.
You’re well within your rights to “interview” an agency before deciding if you want to work with them. Here are some questions that are worth asking.
Agencies with industry-specific expertise can tailor their strategies to better meet your specific business needs. However, this shouldn’t be the final deciding factor.
Look for metrics like increased open rates, click-through rates, and revenue growth driven by their Klaviyo campaigns. This information can help you gauge their ability to deliver results.
Whether you need full-service management or specific support like automation setup or email design, the agency should be able to cater to your needs effectively.
Effective communication is key to a successful partnership. You want an agency that values collaboration and keeps you informed throughout the process.
While cost is a factor, it’s important to consider the value provided. Cheaper options may not offer the same level of expertise or quality services that your business requires. Double-check for hidden fees.
Ask about their strategies for creating targeted segments and personalized content to enhance customer engagement and drive conversions.
Make sure the agency is proficient in analyzing performance metrics to continually improve your email marketing efforts.
Yes, you can hire a Klaviyo agency even if you’re not currently using Klaviyo. Many Klaviyo agencies offer services that go beyond the Klaviyo platform itself, and they can help you migrate from other email marketing platforms to Klaviyo (which is a good idea). Agencies specialize in setting up and optimizing Klaviyo accounts, which includes migrating your email lists, designing email templates, and setting up automated workflows.
Not always. Some Klaviyo agencies are dedicated to Klaviyo email success, while others expand their offerings to include a wide range of digital strategies like social media marketing, search engine optimization, ads, and more. If you need more than just email, consider a full-service agency with multiple offerings but we recommend sticking to Klaviyo-approved digital marketing companies.
As a Klaviyo Master Platinum Partner, working with YOCTO gives you access to in-depth expertise, proven-to-work strategies, and an on-demand team of specialists. Here’s why we’re heads and shoulders above others:
Ready to see what an email marketing agency can do for your business? Book a free discovery call today and watch your email success double!
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