Remember you may -- and should -- receive some information that does not paint your email program as high achieving as you had thought. Be prepared to receive some tough love and accept much constructive criticism. If you and your team are not in a position to handle that, your money would be better spent elsewhere.

Know what you are getting/paying for
Both parties should be very clear on what deliverables will be due as well as a timeline for the project. Email strategy projects vary in time, usually based on scope and availability of client resources (for investigative interviews and document coordination).

Email strategy projects generally shouldn’t run more than three months, unless the scope of deliverables and email program components audited are extensive.

Pricing is usually based on an agreed upon hourly rate or a fixed fee based on the projected time and deliverables agreed upon in advance by both parties.