• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 25, 2018

Email specialists better love their work: Their salaries are flat, and far from the highest in marketing, according to a study by the Creative Group, a Robert Half company.

Still, email pros are more in demand than they were last year, and thus fit into the reported national pattern: hiring is up, but wages are stagnant.

The salaries for email marketing specialists range from $44,750 in the 25th percentile — the area with the least complex jobs — to $81,250. That doesn’t include bonuses and other types of compensation.

Last year, if these comparisons are correct, email pay averaged $44,000 on the low end and $84,750 on the high. So higher-level salaries have actually gone down.

In contrast, an e-commerce marketing manager pulls $70,000 on the low end of the curve this year, and $126,250 at the high end. 

And a marketing analytics specialist starts even higher — at $81,750 — and rises to $145,250 over the course of a career.

A user experience director can hit $107,000 in the lower percentile, and $190,000 in the highest. Creative directors start at$90,000 and run to $186,000. 

But email pros out-earn social media specialists: Those in the lowest social percentile earn $41,250, and those in the highest rank $78,750. And, of course, emailers take home more than lowly production assistants, who earn $31,750 for starters, and can rise $55000 if stuck in that job.

Despite their flat pay, email marketers are now rated among the hires most in demand, rating fourth on this year’s list:

• Content strategist
• Digital marketing manager
• Digital strategist
• Email marketing specialist
• Front-end web developer Hybrid designer
• Hybrid designer
• Marketing analytics manager Project manager
• Project manager

Last year, email talent didn’t even make the top eight, let alone the top four:   

• Content strategist
• Digital marketing manager
• Digital project manager
• Digital strategist 

And email experts who can’t land a job here should go to Canada, where their specialty is now the hottest job, followed by front-end web developer, UI designer, UX designer, and web designer. But they won’t get rich: salaries range from $42,600 to $75,750. We assume that’s in Canadian dollars. 

What are employers looking for? They expect new hires to: 

Leverage new technology to improve marketing capabilities and campaign performance

Employ data to deliver personalized experiences throughout the customer journey

Use rapid prototyping to deliver superior products and services

HR people agree that finding people with those assets can be “a tall order,” the study states.

Here are a couple of other findings:

• 71% of creative and marketing pros say it’s challenging to find talent with up-to-date digital skills.
• 54% of workers feel comfortable about negotiating salary at a new job.