Updated May 2019
Nowadays, one of the biggest challenges people face in the email marketing world is proving how effective email marketing can really be to clients and bosses.
It seems that, with social media marketing, mobile advertising, growth hacking, and all these other newer marketing tactics, email isn’t getting the attention it deserves as a marketing channel.
So, to prove how effective email can be, here’s a list of 20 email marketing statistics you can use to convince your boss or your clients that email marketing is a highly effective channel they should invest in.
Why email?
With so many new and advanced methods of communicating with your prospects and clients available, why choose email?
Read on to discover a few of the reasons why email is still king of all marketing channels.
Email is personal
Being allowed access to someone’s inbox is as great an honor as it is to be invited into their home. People don’t just dish out their email addresses to everyone. They only share them with those they have chosen to trust.
Being able to interact with your subscribers on a personal level is what makes email so effective. Not only can you have frequent interaction with them, but you can also deliver messages that are tailored specifically to their needs.
Email allows you to segment and personalize your messages so that each individual feels like you’re addressing them individually. This can be based off of purchase history, past emails opened, engagement levels, and more.
Other channels, like social media, don’t afford you that ability.
Higher ROI than other channels
Email produces pretty good returns on your investment. With as much as $44 for every $1 you spend on email marketing, neglecting email is depriving your business of high returns.
Easy to track and measure results
Nothing is as important as being able to track a campaign’s performance, and this is another area in which email shines. Considering how easily you can track and measure your engagement rates, it’s clearly worth it to invest in email. After all, it’s these metrics that’ll help you determine your ROI.
You can easily track open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and more. By utilizing these metrics, you can improve future campaigns for increased future ROI.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Read on for some more tangible email marketing statistics to prove those claims above.
Email reach statistics
Keep a few of these stats in mind for the next time someone asks you if people still use and read email:
- The total number of worldwide email accounts is expected to increase to over 5.94 billion accounts by the end of 2019. (Statista)
- It’s projected that, in 2019, 264 billion emails will be sent and received each day, with about 124.5 billion of those being from the business sector. (Radicati Group)
- There are 3x more email accounts than Twitter and Facebook accounts combined. (Radicati Group)
- Knowledge workers, on average, spend 13 of their working hours each week in their email inbox. (McKinsey & Company)
- 92% of online adults use email, with 61% using it on an average day. Those who were most likely to use email on a daily basis were those with a college degree or an income of less than $75,000. (Pew Research)
- One survey found that 90% of business people use email as much or more than they did last year. (Osterman Research)
Email preference & usage statistics
So email has an incredible reach. But how are people using it and what are their preferences?
- When asked to opt in to receive updates from a company, only 10% elected to do so through Facebook, while 90% chose to receive email newsletters. (Nielsen Norman Group)
- Mobile matters: 53% of emails are opened on a mobile device. (Campaign Monitor)
- Email triage is a growing trend. 23% of readers who open an email on a mobile device open it again later. (Campaign Monitor)
- 72% of people cited email as their preferred medium for receiving promotional content. Only 17% cited social media as their preferred medium. (MarketingSherpa)
Email effectiveness statistics
Email is a great way for people to communicate. But is it also effective for sales and marketing? The following statistics say that it is.
Source: Campaign Monitor
- 70% of email readers open emails from a brand or company in search of a deal, discount, or coupon. (The Social Habit)
- Email is 40x more successful at acquiring new clients than either Facebook or Twitter. (McKinsey & Company)
- You are 6x more likely to get a click-through from an email campaign than you are from a tweet. (Campaign Monitor)
- 81% of online shoppers who receive emails based on previous shopping habits were at least somewhat likely to make a purchase as a result of targeted email. (eMarketer)
- 42% of B2B organizations say email is one of their most effective lead generators for targeting new clients. (Circle Research)
- Companies sending over 100,000 emails each month see a 94% return on investment. (MECLabs)
- Newsletters are still considered to be a great way to grow or maintain relationships, even during times when people aren’t actively making purchasing decisions. (Nielsen Norman Group)
Source: Really Good Emails
- When it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail, and more. (The DMA)
- One study showed that email is the second most used marketing tool (after a company website) for B2B companies. (eMarketer)
- 73% of marketers cite email marketing as their number one digital marketing channel when it comes to ROI. (Econsultancy)
Updated statistics for 2019
Email marketing’s engagement and influence isn’t going to be decreasing any time soon. If anything, the effectiveness and relevance of email in marketing are only increasing. Here are some of the latest email marketing statistics to prove it:
- 49% of consumers want to receive promotional emails from their favorite brands at least once a week. (Statista)
- More than 80% of B2SMBs believe email marketing helps with customer retention. (Emarys)
- Running segmented email marketing campaigns can increase your revenue by as much as 760%. (Campaign Monitor)
- Email newsletter marketing plays an integral part of content marketing success for over 40% of B2B marketers. (Content Marketing Institute)
- A survey conducted by SaleCycle showed that 59% of people are influenced by email marketing when it comes to making purchase decisions (SaleCycle)
- 90% of emails reach their intended destination, but only 2% of a business’ Facebook followers see the particular company’s post in their news feed. (The Manifest)
Is email marketing still relevant?
In light of all these email statistics, is email marketing still relevant today? The numbers speak for themselves: Email marketing is here to stay. Here’s a summary of what all these email marketing stats mean:
Email is still the best way to distribute content
Content plays a big role in ensuring marketing success. Whether it’s promotions or informative content to help customers make a buying decision, email will help you deliver your message more efficiently than other marketing channels.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Has a wider reach
Effective marketing is about reaching as many people as possible. Of all the channels available to marketers, email has the largest number of users, and those users check their inboxes regularly. This makes email the go-to channel for reaching a wider audience.
Email is here to stay
A simple trip down memory lane will reveal an interesting trend in technology: What may be cause for hype today will be tomorrow’s old news. Many apps and tools have come and gone, with many of them leaving their users in limbo. Email, however, continues to grow. If you’re looking for a marketing tool that won’t let you down, then email is the one for you.
Need some email marketing statistics to disprove the “email marketing is dead” myth? Check out this data-packed post that proves the relevance of email.
Although email marketing might not get as much time in the limelight anymore, it has a far wider reach than all social networks combined and generates a significantly higher click-through rate and total ROI.
So use these statistics in your next presentation, pitch, or conversation so that email marketing gets the credit it deserves. For more eye-opening information and email marketing statistics, check out this article that highlights 7 reasons every business should be using email in their marketing.