Carrier pigeons had their time in the spotlight, but these days, nothing beats email marketing.
Email marketing has entrenched itself as a cornerstone of business growth and communication—and rightfully so.
After all, this powerful channel enables companies to connect with their audience in a personalized way, fosters customer engagement, and drives sales. Its versatility and efficiency make it an indispensable tool—both for new and seasoned marketers, and for sales teams seeking to maximize their outreach and impact.
And, with two out of every three marketers currently using email marketing to distribute content, we wanted to dig into why.
In this post, we’ll do just that. We’ll also examine how email marketing is such a driver for success and share key statistics about email all successful sales and marketing folks should know.
Is email marketing still relevant in 2023?
Our short answer? Absolutely.
As for the longer version, that can be found in our definitive list of top email trends in 2023. There, we explore how new technology, evolving privacy laws, economic headwinds, changing societal norms, and the relentless march of artificial intelligence (AI) impact daily sales and marketing activities.
That said, the true magic of email marketing lies in its surefire ability to deliver significant benefits for businesses, big and small, even as the digital landscape evolves.
These benefits include the following:
1. Email is cost-effective
Email is a great way to reach your audience, even when times are lean and budgets tight.
If you’re in the business of selling, your email program should be paying for itself and more. Luckily, email is known for having a high return on investment (ROI) of $36-40 per $1 spent.
2. Email helps build brand awareness
A great way to grow brand awareness is by growing your email list.
Common ways to do so include offering a coupon for new subscribers or asking for opt-in information within a contest entry form. First–time subscribers might not know much about your brand. Even if they do, email is a great story-building tool to help subscribers connect more deeply with your brand.
Pro tip: Find more in-depth insights on the pros (and pitfalls) of email in our blog post on the benefits of email marketing for small businesses.
3. Email helps build and maintain relationships with loyal customers
Again, email is a great platform to nurture ongoing relationships with customers. When they subscribe to your list, they’re giving you direct access to connect with them.
Email can also be a way to quickly get information out to your subscribers. Not everyone thinks to check a brand’s social channels or website for ongoing news––but you can use the relationship you’ve fostered with your subscribers to reach them quickly.
4. Email helps support other marketing channels
Your digital channels should all work together—where one succeeds, they all succeed.
You can promote contests on social media and give people an option to subscribe for email when they’re registering to win. You can also promote social channels in your newsletters with content areas that showcase how customers are using your products, which you can track with hashtags.
5. Email makes it easy to test (and measure results)
Testing is a highly effective way to see what resonates with your audience, from subject lines and copy to buttons in emails and other considerations. By segmenting your subscriber list and performing A/B tests, you can learn what works and what doesn’t. You can also apply the findings to your other digital channels.
24 email marketing statistics you should know
At this point, we’ve espoused the many different benefits of email marketing—and you may already be sold—but you don’t have to take our word for it!
Instead, let these numbers and statistics for email marketing speak for themselves.
Vital general email marketing statistics
- Despite the ubiquity of mobile messengers and chat apps, email continues to be an integral part of daily online life. In 2022, the number of global email users amounted to 4.26 billion and is set to grow to 4.73 billion users in 2026. (Statista)
- The value subscribers see from email is increasing. In 2021, just 15 percent of subscribers agreed that their emails were useful. Now, this figure has more than doubled to 32 percent. (DMA)
- Global average inbox placement rates (IPRs) are only 85 percent—meaning one in six emails never reaches the inbox. (Validity)
- The average email read time is now 11 seconds. This is much higher than the 1.7 seconds reported for digital ad impressions, and also above the 7.5 seconds a TV ad typically receives! (DMA)
- Click-through rates have also increased significantly. In 2023, 40 percent of consumers responded to interesting emails by clicking through. (DMA)
Personalization email marketing stats
- Emails with personalized subject lines generate 50 percent higher open rates. (Oberlo)
- 71 percent of subscribers say their interaction with an email is directly influenced by the level of personalization offered. (Dynamic Yield)
- Segmented email campaigns generate 50 percent higher click-through rates than generic ones. (Help Scout)
- 71 percent of subscribers will decide whether to engage with an email depending upon the level of personalization offered. (Dynamic Yield)
Ecommerce email marketing figures
- Sending three abandoned cart emails results in 69 percent more orders than a single email. (Oberlo)
- Over half (52 percent) of consumers surveyed said they prefer to get marketing messages from their favorite brands via email over other communication channels. (Validity)
B2B email marketing in numbers
- 81 percent of small businesses rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel, and 80 percent rely on it for retention. (Oberlo)
- B2B marketers say that new product and feature announcement marketing emails have the highest click-through rate. (HubSpot)
- 15.8 percent of all emails go missing or get caught by spam filters. (Email Tool Tester)
- Ninety-five percent of all B2B marketing emails sent go to addresses hosted by either Google Workspace or Microsoft Office 365. (Validity)
B2C email marketing statistics
- 34 percent of consumers say they often wonder how brands obtained their email addresses. This directly impacts list churn, because two major reasons for unsubscribing are “don’t remember signing up” (36 percent), and “don’t recognize sender” (31 percent). (DMA)
- 64 percent of B2C marketers consider accessibility when creating their emails. (Pathwire)
- In a recent survey, 59 percent of consumers said that marketing emails have influenced their purchases. (Salecycle)
Stats about email marketing trends
- 43 percent of marketers who use generative AI say that it’s most helpful for creating emails. (HubSpot)
- 21 percent of sales pros who use AI say it’s useful for writing messages to prospects. 32 percent say it’s useful for repurposing messages to adapt to different segments. (HubSpot)
- Videos added to your email increase click rates by 300 percent. (Oberlo)
- 38 percent of marketers who use AI use it to write emails. (HubSpot)
Email marketing ROI stats
- Email is regularly celebrated for its exceptional return on investment—an astounding 38:1 according to the most recent research. (Validity)
- In 2023, email marketing revenue was estimated at more than $10 billion. (Statista)
- An “email insurance policy” like Sender Certification can have a massive revenue impact. When we analyzed 10 Certified senders we learned their average IPRs are a phenomenal 99.3 percent––almost 15 percentage points higher than the global benchmark, not to mention generating millions of dollars more revenue. (Validity)
Next step: Overcoming email marketing challenges with data-driven approaches
Despite a digital ecosystem known for evolving at breakneck speed, email has proven itself to be an enduring and dynamic tool, offering exciting opportunities for marketers to connect with their audiences in meaningful ways. Whether it’s through AI-driven personalization, enhanced cross-channel experiences, or targeted, value-driven messaging, email marketing remains a vital part of the digital marketing mix.
As such, it bears repeating that the unending power of email marketing lies in its ability to adapt, innovate, and resonate with consumers on a personal level. As we navigate the future, those who embrace these evolving trends and technologies will not only survive but thrive.
To that end, taking the time to optimize your email program and plan your campaign strategy is a crucial step that will help you catch roadblocks early on and ensure your email program is performing at an optimal level.
Not sure where to begin (and want to finish peak sales season strong)? Download our five-point Email Tune-Up Guide for step-by-step instructions to kick your program into high gear.