25+ Email Marketing Statistics & Trends [2024 Update]

Email marketing is one of the most effective content distribution channels. Studies say that by 2024, more than half of the world’s population will use email. Here’s what you should know about the latest email marketing statistics for 2024 ⇣.

Summary of some of the most interesting email marketing statistics, and trends:

  • Nearly 92% of adult Internet users read their emails.
  • 58% of individuals read their emails before checking social media and news.
  • A whopping 42.3% will delete their emails if the email is not optimized for their mobile phones.
  • Businesses report that email marketing has an average ROI of $44 for each $1 spent.
  • Eight of ten B2B marketing managers cite email marketing as their most successful channel for content distribution.
  • Approximately 42% of Americans subscribe to email newsletters to get discounts and sale offers.
  • Research suggests that 99% of email users check their emails every day.
  • More than 60% of customers returned to purchase a product after getting a retargeting email from the company.
  • According to a Campaign Monitor survey, non-profit organizations achieve the highest email open rate.
  • Emails that use personalized subject lines in the subject get a 26% higher email open rates.

Despite the growth of Google search and social media, email marketing campaigns still get the highest return-on-investment among digital marketing channels.

Email marketing is poised to thrive for many years to come because the number of active email users increases each year.

2024 Email Marketing Statistics & Trends

Here is a collection of the most up-to-date email marketing statistics to give you the current state of what’s happening in 2024 and beyond.

The ROI of an effective email marketing campaign is 4400% – returning $44 for every $1 spent on marketing.

Source: Campaign Monitor ^

When used effectively, email marketing can deliver exceptional results.

According to a study by Campaign Monitor, email marketing is the king of online marketing channels with a 4400% ROI and a $44 return for every $1 spent.

Email marketing is one of the most reliable content distribution channels in 2021.

Source: Kinsta ^

Almost 87% of business-to-business and 79% of business-to-consumer marketers use email as their primary content distribution method. Instead of using their website or a blog, most organizations still prefer email to distribute B2B content.

Research also indicates that email marketing is effective because it can nurture and convert leads to sales better than other methods. Email also stands out as one of the most effective B2C sales funnel channels.

There are more than 4 billion active email users globally.

Source: Statista ^

Email continues to play an integral role in our lives. By 2025, almost half of the world’s population will use email. Recent research indicates that there are approximately 4.15 billion email users globally. This number is likely to grow to 4.6 billion in 2025.

More than 306 billion emails were sent and received in 2021. The number will increase to 376 billion in the next four years. The share of emails sent by mobile phones has also increased.

The average email open rate is 18% and the average click-through rate is 2.6%.

Source: Campaign Monitor ^

Businesses can get an excellent return on investment through email marketing.

While the open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates vary depending on the industry. The average email benchmarks for all industries are:

  • Average open rate: 18.0%
  • Average click-through rate: 2.6%
  • Average click-to-open rate: 14.1%
  • Average unsubscribe rate: 0.1%
email benchmarks by industry
Source: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/

Approximately 35% of email recipients open their emails based on the subject line.

Source: HubSpot ^

Marketers should use attractive headings and catchy headlines to grab the attention of email users.

It is important because almost 58% of users check their emails immediately after they wake up, and 35% of them open their emails based on the subject line.

An attractive subject line also makes sense because one in five email users check their emails five times a day.

A good headline will likely increase the open rate. Research also indicates that emails that include the first name of the recipient have a higher click-through rate.

Personalized emails improve the email open rate by 50%.

Source: Marketing Dive ^

Emails that have a personalized email subject line are bound to get noticed. A comprehensive study by the publishing company, Marketing Dive, indicates that personalized emails offer 21% open rates compared to 14% open rates on non-personalized emails.

Emails offering a personal touch lead to 58% higher click-to-open rates. A personalized subject line will also dramatically increase the campaign’s KPIs.

Emails sent one hour after shopping cart abandonment convert at 6.33%.

Source: Backlinko ^

Retargeting consumers, who leave online shopping carts, can help websites regain lost clients. Considering that the open rate for cart abandonment rate is a staggering 40.14%, you can expect 6.33% of shoppers to buy the product.

Emails sent one hour after cart abandonment offer better returns. Sending three cart abandonment emails yields 67% better results than a single cart abandonment email.

Retargeting potential customers makes sense because more than 50% of consumers will purchase something following a marketing email at least once a month.

One-third of email marketers are using or planning to use interactive emails.

Source: Hubspot ^

Interactive emails are gaining popularity because they offer a positive experience inside the email message.

Almost 23% of brands are using interactive emails as part of their marketing campaigns. Nearly 32% of email marketers are also planning to use interactive emails in future email campaigns.

The email interactive can vary significantly. It may include small interactive elements such as hover effects or a more streamlined experience such as allowing email subscribers to add products to the virtual shopping cart.

63% of companies use third-party tools to analyze their email marketing results.

Source: Litmus ^

An increasing number of email marketers are using advanced tools to analyze the results of their marketing campaigns.

Only 37% of companies use the dashboard provided by their email service provider. The remaining companies integrate third-party tools to get more information about the performance of their emails.

Adding a video to your email can increase the email click-through rate by 300%.

Source: AB Tasty ^

Experts are using videos in their email campaigns to boost conversion rates. You can increase the open rate of your emails to 80% by including the word “video” in the email. Results suggest that videos in the email can also decrease the unsubscribe rate by 75%.

A lot of organizations use video emails to develop trust among their audiences. Email marketing companies also prefer videos in their email because it boosts SEO and social media share.

Almost 42% of users open emails on their mobile phones.

Source: EmailMonday ^

Mobile phone is the most widely used environment to check emails. More than 80% of smartphone users regularly check their emails.

While smartphones are the most commonly used medium, mature audiences also prefer using tablets. Compared to men, women spend more time interacting with email on their mobile phones.

Using an emoji in the email subject line will increase CTR by 93%.

Source: Outreach & Swiftpage ^

Emojis can produce a positive impact on the email campaign. A Swiftpage study found that using emojis can increase the unique open rates by 29%.

Similarly, an Experian survey concluded that using an airplane or an umbrella emoji in the email subject line will increase the open rate by almost 56%. Marketers should also use other methods to improve the quality of the content.

When using proper targeting and customer segmentation, marketers can generate 3 times more revenue compared to broadcast emails.

Source: Backlinko ^

Targeting customers through email segmentation can bring positive results. Segmented email earns 100.95% higher clickthrough rates compared to non-segmented emails.

Research also reveals that email personalization offers six times higher revenue and transaction rates. Using targeted emails, you can also increase your revenue up to 760%.

Nearly 34% of email subscribers click on their emails within one hour of receiving them.

Source: GetResponse ^

Email subscribers always wait for new offers and flash sales. If you’re running a time-sensitive offer, it’s essential to know that the first hour of sending the email is critical because one-third of users will likely open the email within one hour. As time passes, the rate of opening an email drops gradually.

After six hours of sending the email, almost half of your customers would have opened their emails. Therefore, you’re likely to get a much better response by retargeting your customers after few hours of sending the initial email.

Apple iPhone and Gmail are the two most popular email clients.

Source: Litmus Analytics ^

Apple iPhone has a 37% email client market share. Gmail, on the other hand, is at 34%. The calculations are based on 1.2 billion of opens tracked by Litmus Email Analytics in August 2021.

74% of Baby Boomers think email is the most personal channel to receive communications from brands, followed by 72% of Gen X, 64% of Millennials, and 60% of Gen Z.

Source: Bluecore, 2021 ^

According to research, email is still the most preferred and the most personal way for consumers of all demographics to engage in their favorite brands. This further implies that altough Millennials are known to spend most of their time on social media, this doesn’t mean that those are the best channels for brands to drive sales.

On average, the highest email click-through rate goes to the Consulting services industry at 25%.

Source: Constant Contact ^

As the Consulting service industry tops the list in e-mail click-through rate, the Administrative and Business Support services got the second rank at 20%. The Home and Building services follow closely on the third rank at 19%.

This suggests that in sending e-mails to a segmented list, make your e-mails short with a clear call to action. This will keep unsubscribes down while increasing click-through rates.

99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking 20 times a day. Of those people, 58% of consumers check their email first thing in the morning.

Source: OptinMonster ^

The results show that email remains a great way to reach your audience. This is not dependent on any age group. The availability and accessibility of emails from mobile devices even makes email more popular to people in various industries.

40% of consumers say they have at least 50 unread emails in their inbox.

Source: Sinch ^

Sinch’s research shows that while consumers are unlikely to leave unread mobile messages, 40% of consumers say they have at least 50 unread emails. Furthermore, nearly 1 in 10 admitted to have more than 1000 unread emails.

Saving time is the biggest marketing automation benefit, at 30%.

Source: Amazon AWS ^

According to the report, while saving time is the biggest marketing automation benefit, there are many other benefits that comes next in line. This is followed by lead generation at 22%. Higher revenue comes next at 17%.

Customer retention hits 11%. Other benefits include monitoring marketing campaigns at 8% and shortening the sales cycle at 2%.

The best time to send a marketing email is between 6 am and 2 pm.

Source: Kinsta ^

Email marketing campaigns receive the highest email open rate in the morning and during office work hours.

A comprehensive study by GetResponse suggests that most users check their emails between 6 am and 2 pm. During these eight hours, the email open rate remains consistent.

After 2 pm, the email open rate starts to decline at a steady pace. These statistics suggest that email marketers should send their emails in the morning to get a better response rate.

18% of emails are sent on Thursdays, 17% on Tuesdays, 16% on Wednesdays.

Source: Kinsta ^

Out of 14 studies, all got the same results that the best day of the week to send emails with the highest open rate is on Thursday at 18%. If you are sending emails twice a week, the second-best day is Tuesday at 17%. Wednesday comes next. While Saturday is another favorite day, sending e-mail marketing campaigns on a Saturday will not have the same impact like that on the top three days mentioned.

61% of subscribers/customers would like to receive promotional emails every week, 38% – more frequently.

Source: Kinsta ^

People subscribe to your email list because they want to receive promotional offers from your company, whether on a weekly or even daily basis. In the US, 91% of Americans want to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with.

Email subject lines that have six or seven words receive maximum clicks.

Source: Marketo ^

Email subject lines are critical to the success of an email marketing campaign. Research suggests that marketing teams should focus on creating an attractive header comprising of six or seven words.

The click-to-open rate for these types of emails is almost 40% better than emails that use eight or more than eight words in the subject line. The average character count for the most successful campaign type is approximately 40 words.

A call-to-action button at the end of the email subject line leads to a 28% higher click-through rate.

Source: Campaign Monitor ^

Most people scan their emails instead of reading them. Therefore, using a button at the end of the email subject line is a great way to attract attention.

Buttons have unique attributes, which make them stand out from the text. You can change the size, color, and design of the button to suit your email campaign. Some experts have reported an increase of over 100% in CTR when using a button in the email header.

Sources:

You should also check out or post here with all the latest web hosting statistics.

Mathias Ahlgren is the CEO and founder of Website Rating, steering a global team of editors and writers. He holds a master's in information science and management. His career pivoted to SEO after early web development experiences during university. With over 15 years in SEO, digital marketing, and web developmens. His focus also includes website security, evidenced by a certificate in Cyber Security. This diverse expertise underpins his leadership at Website Rating.

The "WSR Team" is the collective group of expert editors and writers specializing in technology, internet security, digital marketing, and web development. Passionate about the digital realm, they produce well-researched, insightful, and accessible content. Their commitment to accuracy and clarity makes Website Rating a trusted resource for staying informed in the dynamic digital world.

Lindsay Liedke

Lindsay is the Chief Editor at Website Rating, she plays a pivotal role in shaping the site's content. She leads a dedicated team of editors and technical writers, focusing on areas such as productivity, online learning, and AI writing. Her expertise ensures the delivery of insightful and authoritative content in these evolving fields.

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