Today, marketers are seeing a whole new wave of email trends centered on artificial intelligence (AI), interactive elements, and even user-generated content (UGC). From knowing what types of emails to send to using AI in email marketing, these eye-opening email marketing statistics show you how to improve your marketing strategy to keep up with the times.
General Email Marketing Statistics
Email marketing has been a staple for marketers of all industries for decades. From newsletters and link building to ecommerce and promotions, email is used for marketing in a variety of ways. Find out just how massive emails and email marketing have grown in 2023, as well as understand what this means for your business.
1. There are more than 4 billion email users worldwide
There are over 4.3 billion email users worldwide in 2023—more than half the world’s total population. The number of email users is expected to increase to 4.6 billion by 2025. This number includes areas without dense or widespread technology access, so an even higher percentage of your audience has an email address if you are a marketer in a developed or tech-dense country.
Source: Statista
2. Over 91% of Americans use email
Overall, more than 90% of Americans over the age of 15 used email in 2021:
- Ages of 15-24 = 93.41%
- Ages 25-44 = 95.19%
- Ages 45-64 = 91.12%
- Over 65 = 85.53%
The breakdown by age group of U.S. internet users who also use email
This goes to show that no matter what age group you want to target, email is a channel you can rely on for generational marketing.
Source: Statista
3. Searches for ’email marketing’ have jumped over 46% since 2018
We tapped into Google Trends to chart the interest in the term “email marketing” in online searches. We found that searches increased by 46% over the past five years (from 2018 to 2023).
With ever-increasing interest comes increased adoption of email marketing as a top strategy for small business marketing. And, as more businesses fill up inboxes with marketing, creating an email marketing plan that ensures your messages stand out will be doubly important in the years ahead.
Interest over time in “email marketing” as a search term (Source: Google Trends)
4. 333 billion emails are sent every day
In 2022, an average of 333 billion emails were sent per day. With the sheer number of emails people receive on a daily basis, it is important now more than ever to understand how to do permission-based email marketing. This will allow marketers to connect with their contacts freely and without risking their emails being flagged as spam.
Source: Statista
5. 64% of small businesses use email marketing
Email marketing is the second most popular marketing strategy for small businesses, with 64.1% of small businesses reporting that they use email promotions. Only Facebook marketing beats email in popularity. These numbers validate that email marketing is useful for businesses of all sizes.
Source: Campaign Monitor
The most popular small business marketing tactics
Statistics on Email Marketing ROI
Return on investment (ROI) is a measure of how profitable a campaign is. For email marketing, the ROI may vary depending on the industry, strategy, and business itself. However, these email marketing ROI statistics show a picture of how a maximized email marketing plan can perform.
6. Email marketing has a $36 ROI
Out of all marketing channels, email delivers the biggest bang for the buck. A dollar spent in email marketing generated a $36 return on investment in 2022. This puts email promotions as a low-cost, high-yield marketing channel recommended for even low-budget businesses.
When you consider that many email marketing software platforms offer free plans, the potential ROI for small businesses is even higher. If you’re new to email marketing, we recommend Mailchimp. It’s intuitive and easy to use, and you can send marketing emails completely free until your list size goes over 2,000 contacts.
Source: Litmus
7. Email marketing revenue will hit $11 billion by 2023
According to Statista, the global email marketing revenue is $7.5 billion. With its current rate, it is projected to reach $11 billion by the end of 2023. Although there are new business owners who question the relevance of email marketing in 2023, the numbers strongly suggest that now is an excellent time to invest in this marketing channel to ensure a solid ROI.
Source: Statista
Want a great ROI but not sure how to start? Learn how to use opt-in email marketing to grow your small business in a few simple steps.
8. 37% of businesses are increasing their email marketing budget
A key email marketing trend highlighted by Litmus in 2022 was that the majority of brands increased their email marketing workload for the year. Because of the steady ROI, 37% of businesses also increased their email marketing budget. In fact, only 1.3% of businesses that use email promotions are making cuts.
Source: Litmus
9. The highest ROI is seen in ‘Email My Cart’ campaigns
The ROI for “Email My Cart” campaigns generated 54.9% more revenue per email than the second-highest-converting campaign. This goes to show that although the average ROI in email marketing is at a good rate already, you can boost the return on investment even higher by optimizing the type of campaigns you have according to your product or service.
Source: Barilliance
“Email my cart” emails generate the most revenue, followed by “browse abandonment” emails.
10. Top performers of email marketing achieve ROI greater than $70
For every dollar invested in email marketing, top performers achieve an ROI greater than $70. Email personalization, utilizing triggered email campaigns and strategies, and automation can help maximize email marketing ROI. Even small businesses can incorporate these email marketing strategies into their campaigns with the right tools.
Source: Barilliance
Average Conversion Rate Stats of Email Marketing
Email stats for conversion rate and other industry standard metrics help determine whether or not an email campaign is performing well. Although there is a wide variety of approaches and strategies to email marketing, it should be able to perform enough to achieve your marketing goals.
11. Email marketing has an average conversion rate of 15.22%
The average conversion rate is 15.22% for email marketing campaigns based on the number of click-throughs. This data was reported by Barilliance, which defined conversions as completed purchases in its study. This type of conversion rate highlights how effective your landing pages are, the strength of your offer, and the appropriateness of your segment audience to your products. Improving these factors will ultimately improve your conversion rate.
Source: Barilliance
12. Email gets you nearly 5x more buyers than social media
Some 60% of customers who purchase products say that they bought because of a marketing email. In contrast, only 12.5% of customers say that they considered clicking the “buy” button on a social media promotion. Email can provide more conversions. In marketing, however, you do not have to choose between one or the other. Social media marketing can still provide valuable leads, engagements, and conversions.
Source: Optinmonster
13. ‘Email My Cart’ emails yield the highest conversion rates
The most effective triggered email type by conversion rate is “Email My Cart.” It triggers after a customer has added an item to their cart and then attempts to abandon the session. These customers have added items to their cart, clearly demonstrating purchase intent. The takeaway here for ecommerce businesses is that they maximize the purchase intent of users through email marketing, such as with Email My Cart or Cart Abandonment.
Source: Barilliance
“Email my cart” and “shopping cart abandonment” emails produce the most conversions.
Email Marketing Research on the Use of AI
With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) for marketing, it’s no surprise that email marketers have also found ways to utilize different AI tools for their campaigns. From effectiveness to trust in AI-generated content, these email marketing statistics in AI can help you decide whether or not to follow suit.
14. 39% of U.S. marketers trust AI to optimize email send time
Optimizing email send time is the third leading use of AI among marketers in 2022. At 39%, it closely follows other AI uses such as AI content marketing (42%) and ad targeting (47%). With that in mind, when searching for email marketing software you can use for your own campaigns, be on the lookout for an AI-powered email distribution feature to strengthen your results.
Source: Statista
15. Over 87% of users trust AI-generated emails
A niche survey by Selzy shows that 63% of its users trust AI in generating emails while a whopping 24.7% fully rely on AI to generate emails. With 87.7% of Selzy users trusting AI-generated emails, only a small percentage shies away from these tools. It would be a good decision to explore AI content tools to find out whether or not they’re a good fit.
Source: Selzy
16. More than half of users find an AI approach more effective for email marketing
Compared to traditional approaches to email marketing, 50.7% of marketers found that using an AI approach is more effective. This includes using AI for personalization, optimal send time, and content generation, leaving marketers more time to focus on strategy and planning.
Source: Selzy
17. 43% of marketers say AI is helpful for writing emails
Generative AI is used by marketers for a number of reasons, including writing email copy by 43%. Marketers also use generative AI for social media posts (60%) and product descriptions (50%). Artificial intelligence exhibits a wide range of content creation abilities that marketers can take advantage of.
Source: HubSpot
B2B Email Marketing Statistics
Email is one of the most used modes of communication in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. We’ve heard of how crucial email is to businesses, but these B2B email marketing statistics are a way to prove just how effective it can be.
18. More than 85% of B2B marketers rely on email marketing
The Content Marketing Institute’s report on B2B content marketing uncovered how vital email marketing was to B2B marketing in 2020. More than 85% of B2B marketers use email for content distribution, while about 85% of B2B organizations use email marketing software to assist them in their overall content marketing strategy. In the same study, email newsletters were found to be the best content type to nurture leads in a B2B setting.
Source: Content Marketing Institute
19. B2B feature announcements have the highest click-through rate (CTR)
In 2021, B2B marketers stated that their marketing emails for new products or features yielded the highest click-through rate. It can help to improve your campaign’s total CTR by using email promotions for B2B announcements, especially since business email is one of the top channels for communicating between businesses.
Source: HubSpot
20. 64% of B2B marketers achieved their business goals with email marketing
HubSpot Blog Research found that in 2021, 64% of B2B marketers confirmed that their email marketing strategy helped in meeting their business goals. This goes to show that an email marketing campaign can be key in building a strong brand presence, lead generation, conversion, and customer loyalty for B2B organizations.
Source: HubSpot
Strategy-related Email Marketing Statistics
Personalization, segmentation, and other email marketing strategies enable marketers to maximize their campaign performance. Deciding which strategies to incorporate into your own campaign can rely on your business type and goals, as well as these email marketing stats that show the effectiveness of specific strategies.
21. Segmentation makes people more likely to click through
Segmenting your email contact list can massively increase open and click-through rates (CTR). One email marketing statistics study found that a segmented email campaign can get open rates as high as 94% and CTR of 38%, compared with a typical unsegmented email campaign (42% open rate and a 4.5% CTR).
The increase in open rate is the most commonly cited reason marketers use segmented email campaigns, with 82% of marketers touting that benefit.
Source: Super Office
Top reasons that small business marketers like segmenting email lists.
22. Triggered emails perform 3X better than email segmentation/blast
Segmented emails, which are different lists based on different customer attributes, work much better than general email blasts. However, according to research, triggered emails (e.g., welcome, post-sale, cart abandonment, based on website activity, and so on) are three times better and by far the most effective at getting opens and click-throughs.
Source: Marketo
23. 80% are more likely to buy from a brand that personalizes the experience
Segmenting is the key to personalized experiences, and eight out of 10 consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that personalizes the experience. To make it easier, 83% of consumers also say they’re willing to give you more information so you can create a personalized experience.
Source: Litmus
24. The ideal email length is 50 to 125 words
Emails with 25 words have response rates of less than 45%, while 25 to 50 words yield over 50% response rates. Fifty- to 125-word emails yield 51% responsiveness, and then rates decline again over 125 words, according to email marketing stats. Noting that the lowest response rates are to the emails with fewer words, it’s important to make sure your email is substantial and reaches at least 50 words.
Source: Boomerang
Emails containing 50 to 125 words yield the highest response rate.
25. The ideal subject line is 6 to 10 words
Keep subject lines short and sweet! Most mobile devices don’t display many characters, and you want to catch your customers’ attention.
Email marketing statistics show that subject lines between six and 10 words long have an open rate of over 20%, while those with fewer than five words have a 16% open rate. Subject lines with over 10 words will get you an even lower open rate than that. Customer names, song lyrics, or movie titles are good ways to get your customers to click when you don’t have much space.
Source: Retention Science
The best length for an email subject line is six to eight words.
26. The best emails are simple (3rd-grade reading level)
Emails that have a third-grade reading level have the best response rate—at 53%. This is followed by emails written at a kindergarten reading level, which have a 46% response rate. Email marketing statistics show that high school-level emails get a 45% response, while college-reading-level emails only get a 39% response rate. This implies that the best reception to emails is when the writing is simple and concise and doesn’t have any jargon.
Source: Boomerang
Make your email messaging easy enough for a third-grader to understand.
27. Permission-based emails get opened 82% of the time
The overall open rate for emails is only 21%. However, if customers signed up for the emails, that email marketing statistic skyrockets to 82%. This goes to show the importance of adopting a permission-based email marketing strategy for your small business.
If you can get customers to sign up for your mailing list, they are much more likely to open your emails. In addition, if your subject line is personalized with the customer’s name, they are 50% more likely to open it than if it isn’t. For more ways to personalize emails, scroll down to the trends section below.
Source: GetResponse
Marketing Email Design Stats
Not all emails are created equal. These email marketing stats show which formats and designs are used the most by businesses or perform the best. From an increase in opens to improved click-through rates, there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to marketing email design.
28. Newsletters & welcome emails are the most-used formats
Litmus’ 2021 State of Email report shows that the most-used forms of email marketing are:
- 81% Newsletters
- 79% Welcome emails
- 75% Products
- 72% Sales or promotions
- 71% Events
- 62% Onboarding or post-purchase
- 45% Customer winback
- 43% Blog
- 41% Subscriber re-engagement
- 35% Cart or browse abandonment
- 31% Birthday, anniversary, or other milestones
- 29% Customer satisfaction (ratings, reviews, or net promoter score/NPS)
- 27% Replenishment or subscriber renewal reminder
- 14% Back in stock or waitlist emails
Newsletters and welcome emails are the top two email formats used by businesses. Newsletters allow consistent communication to your customers while a welcome email sets the tone for all future communications. If applicable to your business, try to incorporate these formats into your campaign.
Source: Litmus
29. Emails with graphics have more than twice as many clicks
Emails with graphics perform significantly better than those without, all across the board. An email with a graphic has an average open rate of 30.27%, and this drops down to 21.9% for no graphics. Click-through rates follow the same trend, with graphics gaining a 2.78% click-through rate compared to just 1.13% for no graphics. The key takeaway here is that adding a graphic to your email can help it perform better, no matter what measure you’re looking into.
Source: GetResponse
30. Yellow-colored emails get the most opens at 52.80%
An article by Moshe Zviran and his fellow researchers found that color helps create a message context that makes people more inclined to positively respond to an email. This translates to an increase in open rate. Based on the research, a yellow-colored email yields the highest open rate at 52.80%. This is followed by green (52.77%) and blue (51.98%), with the lowest open rate associated with the color pink (50.81%).
In the same study, the standard white email has an open rate of 51.08%. This means that using blue, green, and yellow can help improve emails that aren’t using additional colors yet.
Source: Research Gate
31. A welcome email format is opened by 8 out of 10 people
People like to feel acknowledged, and this is evident in email marketing data that shows that 80% of people open a welcome email. This is four times as many opens as other email types, showing just how much a welcome email can achieve. Additionally, welcome emails can have up to 10x as many clicks as other email formats.
Source: GetResponse
Best Times to Send Marketing Emails
Although businesses have shown massive interest in email marketing tools that help determine optimal send times, it’s still good practice to look into the stats to find the best times for your specific email marketing goals.
32. Friday is the best day for click-throughs
To make sales from your email campaigns, you need customers to open your emails and click through to your site. Overall, the industry rate for click-throughs from emails is just 2.13%. However, if you send your emails on Fridays, that email marketing statistics rate increases to 2.7%.
Source: HubSpot
33. Tuesdays are the best days for email opens
Email statistics show that Tuesdays had the highest open rates of the whole week in 2022. On the other hand, sending emails on Thursday yields the highest revenue per recipient.
Source: Mail Munch
34. 8 a.m.-10 a.m. & 1 p.m.-3 p.m. are the peak times for email opens
Most people open emails in the morning, when they are getting ready to work or in the middle of getting things done, specifically at 10 a.m. Although previous studies showed that emails after business hours were effective (7 p.m. and onward), recent surveys find that these yield the lowest open and engagement rates.
Source: Coschedule
35. Abandoned cart emails are most effective within 20 minutes
Customers abandon online carts all the time—77% of online shoppers who put items in their cart will then click away from the website without checking out. That is a huge loss of sales, and it can mess up your inventory by making stock appear lower than it actually is.
Fortunately, following up by email is highly effective at getting customers to come back and check out their carts. Sending an abandoned cart email within 20 minutes has a 5.2% conversion rate, and that email marketing stat goes down the longer you take to send out your triggered email.
Source: Barilliance
Mobile Email Marketing Stats
Email marketing and mobile devices go hand in hand. In fact, most email is read from mobile devices today. The email marketing stats below showcase how to increase the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns being read on tablets, smartphones, and even watches.
36. More than 61% of people read emails on their phones
While the number of people reading emails on mobile devices was less than 50% in 2019, that number is now 61.9%, according to a global survey by Adestra. In this same survey, it found that the email client on the iPhone is the top email client.
Source: Adestra
37. The device matters for your subject line
Only the first 30 characters of your subject line are visible on the iPhone email app, so make sure the first 30 characters count. You don’t have to get the whole message across in that short space, but you need to catch their attention so they’ll click on it.
Source: Yola
38. Emojis in email marketing subject lines are good
Gone are the days when emojis were considered unprofessional. Nowadays, including emojis in your subject line can increase your open rates by as much as 56%, per email marketing statistics posted by Mailchimp. Emojis can grab readers’ attention, set the tone of the email, and convey a sense of fun.
Source: Mailchimp
The emojis and symbols used most in email subject lines
Industry-specific Email Marketing Statistics
Email marketing performance varies depending on the industry, as it affects open rates, click-through rates, and even unsubscribe rates. Find out the email marketing industry standard for your business through these stats.
39. Media & entertainment have better stats than most other industries
When you divide the email marketing statistics up by industry, media and entertainment have strong open rates (22.49%) and click-through rates (4.98%), and the lowest unsubscribe rates (0.18%). These numbers are a compilation of data from Mailchimp, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, and GetResponse, via Kinsta.
Source: Kinsta
Email open rates by industry
40. Government-related emails have the highest open rates
The highest open rates of all industries in 2022 are for government organizations. In fact, government-related emails have an open rate of 28.77%, followed by hobby brands with a 27.74% open rate. This points to the importance of building brand credibility and authority and finding ways to stand out in your industry.
Source: Mail Munch
41. Emails from media brands yield the highest click rates
New email marketing average rates reported in 2022 show that emails from businesses in media have the highest click rates at 6.33%. This is closely followed by bloggers at 5.98%, which is only a recent addition to the top industries for email marketing.
Source: MailerLite
Stats Point to Email Marketing Trends
Understanding email marketing trends is crucial to marketers. Adapting to trends can produce significant and, more often than not, quantifiable effects in email campaigns, such as changes in open, click, or unsubscribe rates or even the frequency of emails.
42. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed email marketing
Over half (55.5%) of marketers send more emails now than before the pandemic, and 49.1% increased the frequency of marketing email sends. This compares to 14.9% who say they send fewer emails and 29.6% who said they send the same number. The pandemic also impacted the effectiveness of marketing emails:
- Email open rates for March/April 2020 were 4% higher year over year
- Email click rates grew even more, increasing from near 0 to 20% from February to March 2020
- During the same two-month time period, the click rates for restaurant emails went through the roof, increasing from about 8% to over 70%
- The growth rate of direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce increased with the onset of the pandemic, and with that, a massive uptick in DTC email marketing
Source: Mailgun
43. 45% of marketers say keeping lists engaged is a top challenge
With an ever-increasing reliance on email marketing for brand communication, 45% of marketers say their biggest challenge is maintaining an engaged list. Among the other priorities marketing professionals are working on now are:
- 37% Reducing spam complaints
- 34% Increasing email contact list size
- 33% Achieving measurable ROI
- 29% Integrating email data with other software and systems
- 28% Successfully leveraging email personalization
- 22% Mobile optimization
Source: Marketing Charts
44. Using an identifier is the top factor in email personalization
Nine out of 10 marketers surveyed in Litmus’ 2021 State of Email report said personalization is a must-have rather than a “nice to have.” Email personalization is known to increase open, click, and conversion rates, but what personalization tactics are on the rise?
The tactic with the largest percentage of increased use is customer or prospect segmenting, which rose from 49% to 64% from 2020 to 2021. The most used personalization tactic for email marketing is an identifier, such as a name, company name, or other profile data.
Source: Marketing Charts
45. Email marketing is essential to brand success for 41.5% of marketers
In 2019, just over 32% of marketers said email was a must-have for company success. That number rose to 39.8% in 2020 and 41.5% in 2021, per Litmus’ 2021 State of Email report. Although new online platforms became more popular in the past few years, email remains an ever-growing channel for marketers to connect with their audience.
Source: Litmus
Bottom Line
Email marketing is a profitable investment that can help you grow your business. Consider these email marketing stats as you build your small business email marketing strategy or to improve future campaigns.
