Email gives businesses a direct way to nurture leads, engage customers, and encourage repeat purchases, but getting readers to act takes more than sending regular messages. Hiring an email copywriter brings specialized expertise in persuasive messaging, audience targeting, and testing to help you get more value from campaigns, automated sequences, and other customer communications.
What does an email copywriter do?
An email copywriter writes and optimizes email content designed to encourage a specific action, from making a purchase or booking a demo to returning to an abandoned cart. They may work on newsletters, promotional campaigns, welcome flows, nurture sequences, reengagement emails, and cold outreach while adapting each message to your audience, brand voice, and email campaign goals.
Email copywriters typically apply email best practices to:
- Write subject lines, preview text, body copy, and calls to action
- Tailor messaging to different audiences, customer segments, and stages of the buyer journey
- Maintain a consistent brand voice across campaigns and automated sequences
- Develop copy variations for A/B testing and use performance data to refine messaging
- Collaborate with marketers on campaign strategy, segmentation, offers, and automation flows
- Apply email best practices that support readability, engagement, and deliverability
Many email copywriters also work with platforms such as Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Klaviyo and may collaborate with marketing automation specialists to build and optimize email campaigns.
How to hire an email copywriter on Upwork
Upwork connects you with experienced email copywriters. On Upwork, 89% of first-time clients complete a contract. Follow these four steps to find the right writer and start your project.
Step 1: Post the job
A clear job post helps email copywriters understand your audience, campaign goals, and the type of messaging you need.
- Describe your goals, such as promoting a product, nurturing leads, re-engaging customers, or supporting retention
- Define the deliverables, including the number of emails, sequence length, calls to action, and any related landing page copy
- Explain your target audience, offer, brand voice, and where the emails fit in the customer journey
- Specify any relevant email platforms, such as Klaviyo, HubSpot, or Mailchimp
- Share your expected budget, timeline, and key campaign dates
- Review this copywriter job description and adjust for your email application
To draft a tailored post quickly, try the Job Post Generator powered by Uma™, Upwork's Mindful AI. Describe what you need in a few sentences and Uma will draft a job post for email copywriters in seconds. Then review, refine, and publish. On Upwork, the average time between job post and first proposal is just three hours.
Step 2: Evaluate candidates
As proposals arrive, focus on candidates whose samples demonstrate persuasive writing, audience awareness, and experience with email campaigns similar to yours.
- Examine portfolio samples for welcome flows, promotional campaigns, nurture sequences, re-engagement emails, or other relevant work
- Look for case studies that connect copy changes with campaign performance while considering factors beyond the copy itself
- Assess how well candidates adapt messaging to different audiences, offers, and stages of the customer journey
- Confirm familiarity with the email and marketing automation platforms your team uses
- Read client feedback for communication, responsiveness, and reliable delivery
Let Uma run instant video interviews and provide side-by-side candidate comparisons
Step 3: Interview your top choices
Use interviews to understand how candidates approach messaging, testing, and collaboration.
- Ask how they plan an email sequence around a specific audience and conversion goal
- Discuss how they develop subject lines, hooks, calls to action, and copy variations for testing
- Explore how they use campaign data to refine messaging without attributing performance to copy alone
- Ask how they learn and maintain a client's brand voice across multiple emails
- Consider a small paid writing exercise based on a realistic email brief
- Review these copywriter interview questions and adapt them to your email project
Schedule and conduct interviews within Upwork Messages, with an instant transcript and summary from Uma after each conversation
Step 4: Agree on scope and begin work
Before work begins, align on deliverables, approvals, revisions, and campaign responsibilities so everyone shares the same expectations.
- Define deliverables such as subject lines, email copy, automated sequences, copy variations, or related landing page content
- Set milestones for briefs, first drafts, revisions, approvals, and final copy
- Provide access to brand guidelines, audience research, product information, past campaign data, and email platforms as needed
- Agree on revision rounds, approval responsibilities, testing plans, and who will implement and send the emails
- Choose a fixed-price contract for defined campaigns or an hourly contract for ongoing email optimization
Use Upwork's contract workroom and Messages to keep feedback, files, and approvals organized. Identity verification, payment protection, hourly tracking, and project funds help keep the engagement secure.
Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.
The rates and information provided in this article are based on current data and industry sources available at the time of publication. Freelance rates can vary depending on factors such as experience, location, project scope, and market conditions. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research to confirm current rates and trends, as this information may change over time.