Email marketers build strategic marketing campaigns that drive revenue, nurture leads, and strengthen customer relationships across the entire customer lifecycle. From crafting high-converting subject lines to designing sophisticated automation workflows, skilled email marketers combine creative copywriting with data-driven optimization to maximize engagement and ROI.
Whether you need someone to launch a welcome series, rebuild your abandoned cart sequence, or develop a complete email marketing strategy, hiring a professional brings both technical expertise and strategic thinking. They understand deliverability best practices, segmentation strategies, compliance requirements, and how to turn analytics into actionable improvements.
What does an email marketer do?
An email marketer is a content marketer who designs, writes, and optimizes email marketing campaigns that engage subscribers, drive conversions, and strengthen customer relationships. Beyond writing emails, they align campaign goals with broader business objectives to generate revenue and retain customers.
Their work often includes:
Campaign strategy. Planning targeted emails for promotions, onboarding, product updates, or newsletters.
Copywriting and design. Crafting subject lines, writing persuasive content with email copywriting specialists, and ensuring mobile-friendly design.
Technical implementation. Using ESPs like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, or ActiveCampaign to build, send, and track campaigns.
Segmentation and personalization. Tailoring messages based on user behavior, preferences, or past purchases.
Automation workflows. Building triggered email sequences with workflow specialists for onboarding, reengagement, or post-purchase journeys.
Testing and optimization. Running A/B tests on subject lines, CTAs, and layouts to improve performance.
Deliverability and compliance. Working with deliverability consultants to ensure emails land in inboxes while staying compliant with GDPR and CAN-SPAM.
Analytics and reporting. Tracking campaign performance and making data-driven improvements.
Companies hire email marketing specialists to increase the ROI from one of their most cost-effective marketing channels. Whether it's an abandoned cart series or a nurture sequence, email marketers help businesses turn messages into measurable outcomes.
How to hire an email marketer on Upwork
Finding the right email marketer for your project starts with a clear project scope and understanding what success looks like. Follow these steps to hire confidently on Upwork.
Step 1: Craft a targeted job post
A well-crafted job post attracts qualified email marketers who match your project needs. In your post:
Outline your goals, industry context, and technical requirements
Specify the tools in your workflow, such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, or ConvertKit
Define the project scope and expected deliverables like email copy, template design, or segmentation strategy
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 in seconds. You can also review email marketer job description templates for inspiration.
Step 2: Filter and evaluate candidates
Taking a systematic approach to evaluating your candidates can help you identify email marketers whose skills match your project requirements.
Have Uma give instant interviews and side-by-side comparisons
Use Upwork’s filters to find candidates by rate, location, and experience
Read proposals to verify that candidates understand your needs
Check portfolios for industry expertise relevant to your business
Check for technical skills with specific CRMs, automation tools, and deliverability protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
Step 3: Interview your top choices
Quick video interviews give you the chance to ask any questions you have left for your top candidates, and to get a feel for what a collaboration with them might be like.
Schedule and conduct interviews within Upwork messaging to get instant transcripts and summaries from Uma
Use interview questions to assess technical skills and strategic thinking
Ask about their segmentation approach
Have them walk you through examples of A/B tests they've run
Discuss their process for troubleshooting deliverability issues
If you’re unfamiliar with interviewing or working with freelancers, you can review common interview questions for freelancers.
Step 4: Agree on scope and begin work
Before the person you choose can begin work, you’ll need to have a clear contract in place. Contracts protect both parties and help collaborations be successful from beginning to end.
Use Upwork’s tools and services for creating and managing contracts, and processing payments
Choose fixed-price contracts for projects with clear deliverables, such as a single newsletter template or welcome series
Break large projects into milestones, such as creating email variations, running an A/B test, and then optimizing based on the results
Choose hourly contracts for ongoing work, such as supporting an ongoing campaign or drafting periodic newsletters