Are you interested in email marketing and looking for ROI statistics on the subject? You came to the right article.
We’ve compiled the ultimate list of email marketing ROI statistics right here. Scroll down to discover 35 statistics gathered from verified sources so you can gain a better understanding of this evolving, yet dominant, pillar of the marketing industry.
These email marketing ROI statistics will answer questions like:
- How effective is email marketing?
- What is the average ROI of email marketing?
- Is email marketing better than other marketing strategies?
- And more!
Enough of an introduction, let’s get into it!
Top Email Marketing ROI Statistics in 2024
- Email generates $42 for every $1 spent
- Mobile devices account for about 60 percent of email opens
- 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers
- 89% of marketers use email as the primary channel for generating leads
- 82% of marketers worldwide use email marketing
- 99% of email users are checking their email daily
- Professional marketers have found a 760% increase in revenue from building email lists and using email campaigns
- Half of the world’s population has an email address resulting in 4.3B accounts globally
- 4 out of 5 marketers said they’d rather give up social media than email marketing
How effective is email marketing?
There is no doubt that email marketing is a powerful strategy for any brand or industry. Email marketing is a form of direct marketing since it requires one’s email address and consent to receive business promotions and communications.
Since email communication began in the 1970s, it has been exploding ever since. 99% of email users check their inbox every single day and the rise of mobile devices has made email even more accessible. It’s no wonder that marketers are leveraging email marketing and with the statistics to back it up, it works.
So, how effective is email marketing? You can find out with one vital metric: ROI.
ROI stands for return on investment. Measuring ROI is an essential metric to determine exactly how successful a campaign is. When comparing email marketing to other common digital strategies, email marketing’s ROI can’t be beaten. Email marketing ROI is so high thanks to email’s easy automation, low barrier to entry, and minimal costs overall.
What is the average ROI for email marketing?
1. For every $1 spent on email marketing, marketers make $42
(Litmus)
That’s a 4,200% ROI! Email marketing is king for one good reason: it has a higher ROI than other marketing strategies. Depending on the industry, this ROI can be even higher. The highest email marketing ROI is within the Retail/eCommerce/Consumer Goods sector at 45:1. Next, ROIs for Marketing/PR Agencies are 42:1 and for Software/Technology are 36:1.
2. For marketing teams of 3-5 employees, email ROI rises from 30:1 to 42:1
(Litmus)
Apparently, the size of your email marketing team may be affecting your ROI. Those with smaller teams (two or fewer) can generate an average email ROI of 30:1. However, once the team grows to three to five full-time employees, this number grows to produce 42:1.
3. In 2021, the average email click-through rate was over 15%
(Barilliance)
Brands default to email marketing because it is very effective at driving purchases. Last year in 2021, the average email conversion click-through rate was 15.2%. This rate peaked in 2018 when it was converting over 18.4% and has slightly been decreasing since then. Despite the slight dip, email is still a strong and reliable form of marketing in 2023.
4. Only 25% of companies think they’re tracking email ROI adequately
(Litmus)
Finding a true average for email ROI may be difficult considering most companies aren’t confident in their email ROI tracking and measuring abilities. Less than 13% claimed to be analyzing their email ROI “well” or “very well.” An astounding 50% admitted to measuring ROI “poorly”, “very poorly,” or “not at all!”
How successful is email marketing?
5. Email marketing is the TOP marketing channel by effectiveness
(Hubspot)
Marketers listed email marketing as the most effective marketing strategy, followed by Paid Search/Ads, Organic Search, Social Media, and Events. 79% of marketers included email within their top three marketing channels.
6. 59% of people say that email marketing affects purchasing decisions
(Sales Cycle)
It turns out that email marketing persuades the purchasing decisions of nearly 6 out of every 10 email subscribers. At least once per month, 50.7% buy something from a marketing email. Meanwhile, 23.8% of people make a purchase via marketing emails several times per month and 3% do it more than once per week!
7. 54.9% of “Email My Cart” triggered email campaigns converted customers
(Barilliance)
The most effective email marketing type was “Email My Cart” offering almost 55% conversion. This was 168% better than the average email sent. The second most successful email type was Cart Abandonment Emails. According to Barilliance, less than 1% of the emails sent were the Email My Cart type, leaving a huge opportunity for eCommerce brands.
8. Marketers who segment email lists increase email marketing revenue by 760%
(Campaign Monitor)
Email marketing works better when it’s personalized, 760% better. This insanely high increase in email revenue is thanks to segmented campaigns and email lists. Similarly, emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. That’s probably why 94% of marketers are investing in abilities to gather customer data for more targeted insights.
9. 82% of marketers worldwide use email marketing
(Statista)
Globally, more than 8 out of every 10 marketers use email marketing in their efforts, so it must be decently successful! A reported 65% of marketers also use automated email marketing. More than two-thirds of these marketers reported that their email campaign success held steady or even improved in 2020, despite a global pandemic.
10. 78% of marketers reported an increase in email engagement
(Hubspot)
This figure was collected in 2019, but it still holds true today. 49.5% of marketers planned on raising their email marketing budgets. Marketers are finding a way to break through the noise via email because they are seeing more and more engagement, and thus, ROI.
11. Email is important to a company’s success according to 73% of marketers
(Hubspot)
Nearly three-fourths of marketers consider email important to their company’s overall success. However, a third of them admit that email is not integrated to the rest of their marketing program. This presents a big opportunity for marketers to become more successful.
12. 89% of marketers use email as the primary channel to generate leads
(SnovIO Labs)
Almost 9 out of every 10 marketers leverage email the most to generate new leads. While it is mostly used for lead generation, 84% is for direct sales, 78% is for lead nurturing and 74% is dedicated to customer retention. No matter what emails are being used for, 29% of marketers rate email marketing as the most effective marketing channel possible.
13. 60% of consumers made a purchase thanks to a marketing email they received
(Constant Contact)
Today, email is more successful than social media marketing. Why? 60% of consumers bought something thanks to a marketing email, while only 12.5% say they would consider buying something directly on social media.
14. 91% of U.S. adults want to receive promotional emails, often
(Marketing Sherpa)
There is no doubt that we like promo emails, but how often? According to a study of 2,057 adults, over 60% of them enjoy receiving weekly promotional emails. 38% would like emails to be delivered even more often and 15% want them daily! Meanwhile, 86% want to get an email at least once per month.
15. 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers
(Hubspot)
Not only large businesses are profiting from email marketing. 65% of small businesses reach their customers through email. Over one-third (35%) of all marketers said that they send their customers 3-5 emails per week.
16. 36% of consumers claim that email is their primary way to learn about changes at a company
(Inside Intelligence)
Brands aren’t just using email marketing for sales or promotions. They’re also using them to alert their customers of product launches or updates and 36% of consumers say email is the top way they learn of such changes. Meanwhile, 19% of U.S. adults say that they use welcome emails to learn about new products.
17. 72% of customers prefer email to be the main channel of communication from a brand
(SnovIO Labs)
Almost three-fourths of customers prefer hearing from a business via email. Considering only half (52%) of brands use email as their main communication tool, there is room for improvement. Of these brands, 37% claim email is the most effective channel for customer loyalty and retention.
Does email marketing have the highest ROI?
18. Larger companies (over 500 employees) have higher ROIs (41:1)
(Litmus)
The larger the company, the higher the email ROI. In 2020, Litmus discovered that companies with 500+ employees had an email ROI of 41:1, down from 2019’s 47:1. Meanwhile, companies of 100-499 employees had an ROI of 40:1 in 2019, but saw a drop in ROI of nearly 28% in 2020. So, why do small companies suffer lower email ROIs? It’s probably because 40% of marketers report they’re under-resourced.
1. Email marketing accounted for 19.8% of ALL transactions
(Bariliance)
According to a cited study, emails were the origin of nearly 20% of all transactions made. Email marketing closely trailed paid search at 19.9% and organic traffic at 21.8%.
19. Sending 9-16 emails per month yielded the highest email ROI
(Litmus)
Sending too many, or too few, emails directly effects your ROI. The sweet spot according to research is 9-16 emails per month. This frequency delivered an astounding ROI of 46:1. The lowest was sending just one email per month, providing an ROI of 13:1. Just sending two to four emails per month almost tripled that ROI bringing it up to 31:1.
| Number of emails/month | Return on investment |
| 9-16 emails | 46:1 |
| 2-4 emails | 31:1 |
| 1 email | 13:1 |
20. 4 out of 5 marketers would sooner give up social media than email
(Hubspot)
Social media may be the most popular marketing platform for brands, but in 2021, 95% of marketers found that an email marketing strategy was effective at meeting their goals. That’s why 80% of marketers would rather give up social meda altogether than lose email marketing.
21. Email marketing is 40x more effective at acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter
(McKinsey)
Email has a higher ROI than popular social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. According to research, email is 40 times more effective when it comes to acquiring real customers. Why? 91% of U.S. adults use email daily and emails encourage purchasing 3x more than social media. Plus, the average order made via email is 17% higher than a purchase made from social media.
State of the Industry: Quick email marketing statistics
22. There is estimated to be 4.3 billion email users worldwide
(Statista)
Since emailing opened a new era of communication in the 1970’s, it has been growing and growing ever since. In 2022, there was an estimated 4.3B email users. That’s half of the world’s population! This number is projected to grow to 4.6B by 2025. From these users, 319.6B emails are sent and receieved each day.
23. Email marketing revenue worldwide is estimated to be $8.49B
(Statista)
Companies are making a lot of money thanks to email marketing—almost $8.5B each year. In 2020, the email marketing software industry was worth a whopping $1.13B, estimated to raise its revenues to over $2B by 2026.
24. 99% of email users check their email daily
(OptIn Monster)
Nearly all email users check their email every single day. Some admit to checking their email as often as 20 times per day, with access through mobile phones to thank. Meanwhile, more than half (58%) of email users check our email before tapping into any other channel like social media (14%) or watching the news (5%).
25. 60% of emails are opened on a mobile device
(Constant Contact)
Since 2011, email open rates on mobile devices have increased more than 100%. Today, about 60% of all emails are opened first on a mobile device. In fact, about 21% of all emails are opened within the first hour of receiving them, leaning into the convenience of mobile devices.
26. Designing mobile-responsive emails increase mobile clicks by 15%
(Mailchimp)
According to Mailchimp, the world’s leading email software platform, email readers click the most while on their computers accounting for 72% of total clicks while mobile emails only attract 18% of them. However, mobile-friendly emails do increase this CTR by 15%.
Email marketing open rate statistics
27. The average email marketing open rate worldwide is 18%
(Statista)
Almost 20% of all receivers are opening up an email that lands in their inbox. This attracts an average click-through rate (CTR) of 2.6%. Marketing emails specifically maintain an average open rate of 14.1%, with only 0.1% unsubscribing.
28. “Welcome” emails have the highest open rate of 82%
(Oberlo & Barilliance)
The second highest reported email for open rates are “Back in Stock” alerts, notifying consumers when a sold out item has been restocked. This triggers over 65% of people to view the email, performing almost 70% better than the lowest performing email campaign type (post-purchase emails). Another impressive email marketing statistic proves that companies shouldn’t skip “Abandoned Cart” emails. Research shows that sending three Abandoned Cart emails results in 69% more orders.
29. Cold outreach emails have a higher open rate than opt-in marketing emails
(Kinsta)
If you hesitate to send cold emails, think again. The open rate of cold outreach emails is an impressive 27%. That’s almost 10% higher than the average overall email open rate. To further improve open rates, segmented campaigns help. By segmenting who gets what emails, click-through rates are over 100% higher than non-segmented ones.
30. Just the word “video” in a subject line increases open rates by 19%
(Wordstream)
People love emails, but even more when they incorporate video content. 54% of email subscribers prefer emails with videos, increasing open rates by 19% and click-through rates by a whopping 65%. Meanwhile, attaching a video within an email increases click-through rates by 200-300%.
| Action | Percentage (increase) |
| Click-through rates | 65% |
| Open rates | 19% |
31. 47% of email subscribers open an email because of the subject line
(OptInMonster)
Subject lines are more important than one might think considering almost half of people only open emails with a subject line that attracts them. One way to improve an email’s subject line is to add an emoji! Adding an emoji increases open rates as much as 56% than text-only lines.
32. Fridays yield the highest open rates of almost 19%
(Hubspot)
The last day of the work week is a successful day to schedule your email blasts since they result in higher open rates. However, running an A/B test is worth it to determine the best day and time for your unique audience. Companies that A/B test emails generate an ROI of 48:1.
B2B email marketing statistics
33. 93% of B2B marketers use an email application to share content
(Hubspot)
Of these B2B marketers, 81% report emails as the most used form of content marketing while 87% claim it is their top free organic channel. Email applications help track statistics, which is important to test the success of email campaigns for B2B brands. 90% of these marketers think email engagement is the most important metric for measuring content performance.
34. 80% of B2B marketers use email marketing to retain customers
(Hubspot)
Of thes
Nearly 8 in 10 B2B marketers’ email marketing efforts help retain customers. Although, the average B2B company only sends one marketing email every 25 days even though 31% claim email newsletters are the best way to nurture leads.
35. Mailchimp, a B2B email marketing software earned $800M in 2020
(Statista)
The most popular B2B email marketing software (SAAS) is by far Mailchimp. In 2020, they earned over $800M in recurring revenue. The second place company, ActiveCampaign, earned just $165M. However, in 2021, Salesforce Marketing Cloud reportedly took the lead.
How do you calculate ROI for email marketing?
Now that you know the statistics about it, how do you calculate the ROI of email marketing yourself? It’s easy with a simple formula.
First, figure out your “Net Email Gain,” then divide that number by “Email Marketing Costs.”
Net Email Gain [(Profits Derived from Email Marketing) – (Email Marketing Costs)] / Email Marketing Costs
The number remaining is your ROI percentage. This percentage proves how successful (or not) your email marketing efforts are. As the above email marketing ROI statistics show, ROI percentages in the thousands are possible!
Over to you!
There you have it. That was a robust round up of the top email marketing ROI statistics.
Email marketing can be a powerful marketing strategy.
Want more strategies to market your business?
Read more:
How to Build an Evergreen Sales Funnel
Sources:
One Response
Hi Luisa, many insightful email statistics here.
I’d say my favorite email statistic is the 31st about email subject lines.
The subject line is the most important part of an email. Because without an enticing subject line, subscribers won’t click your email in the midst of the hundred they scroll through daily.
As David Ogilvy (and other top copywriters) have stressed, marketers need to spend more time on the subject line (or headline) and show benefits for subscribers.
Your advice about using emojis is also effective in attracting attention.
Great post!