80+ Email Marketing Stats (Some of These Might Surprise You)

As new technologies and contact methods continue to emerge, marketers seem to ask the same question every year: “Is email marketing on its way out?” But as the stats in this guide will show, email marketing is not only still going strong, it’s possibly more popular and effective than ever. 

From ROI to automation data, here are more than 80 email marketing stats you need to know for 2021 — including some that might truly surprise you. 

Email Marketing Uses / ROI Stats

As the following stats show, email remains one of the most effective tools in every marketer’s arsenal. If you need help writing emails or ads that work, check out this valuable post on copywriting examples. From generating leads to increasing conversions, email marketing offers a whole slew of benefits.

• This 2019 report from Campaign Monitor shows that email marketing results in an overwhelming 4,200% ROI (which is a profit of $42 for every $1 spent).
• BtoB Magazine recently reported that 59% of marketers prefer email for lead generation over any other medium. 
• Similarly, a Content Marketing Institute benchmark study found that the majority of respondents (85%) reported using email marketing for lead generation. 84% of those surveyed also reported using email marketing for sales, while 78% and 74% utilize email for lead nurturing and customer retention, respectively. 
• DotDigital also released data showing that 37% of respondents identified email as the most effective tool for improving customer loyalty and retention. 
• And in a later Content Institute Benchmark report, 40% of B2B marketers cited email newsletters as the “most important tactic” in their content marketing efforts. 
• SaleCycle also released data showing that 50.7% of customers report having their buying decisions influenced by marketing and advertising emails.
• Finally, this presentation from the Annuitas Group shares findings that email is 40% more effective than Facebook or Twitter when it comes to converting.

Email Frequency & Timing Stats

Now that we know the stats surrounding the importance and usefulness of email marketing, let’s look at how to improve engagement. We’ll start with some statistics on email frequency and timing. 

• According to this Amazon AWS data, 32% of marketers report contacting clients via email 2 to 3 times per month. 19% say they reach out 4 to 6 times per month, while just 17% only get in touch with clients once and 16% send emails to clients more than 6 times monthly. 
• Mailchimp reports that the majority of marketing emails (18%) are sent on Thursdays. 17% are sent on Tuesdays and 16% go out on Wednesdays.
• This CoSchedule report shows that Tuesdays and Thursdays are also the most effective days to send marketing emails. 
• OptInMonster reports that the lowest open and click-through rates occur during the weekends.
• On the same note, GetResponse data suggests that the “best time to send emails” is at 11am in the recipient’s time zone, while 12am actually shows the highest click-through rate.
• Unsurprisingly, thanks to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the days leading up to Christmas, email traffic is the highest during the fall and winter months, as shown by this Yieldify presentation.
• According to data from GetResponse, 21% of emails are opened within the first hour of delivery.
• In a recent DataBox survey, 50% of marketers said they don’t believe there truly is a “best time” to send emails, citing the fact that every person and company is unique.
• Here’s a stat that shows customers enjoy hearing from brands with which they are connected. In a study released by MarketingSherpa, 61% of consumers said they would prefer to receive promotional emails once per week. Another 38% said they were fine with receiving emails even more frequently. 
• Similarly, 28% of respondents to this ConstantContact survey said they’d like to receive promotional offers two or even three times per week. 

Engagement Stats (Subject Lines, Body, Etc.)

Beyond timing, there are a few components that can make all the difference in open and click-through rates. From subject lines to body content, here are some stats related to the most important facets of your email marketing campaigns.

Subject Lines

• According to OptinMonster data, 47% of readers open emails because of the subject line.
• Likewise, Snov.io Labs reports that a whopping 69% of users will report emails as spam based on subject line alone.
• Here’s an email marketing stat that might surprise you. In 2019, Omnicore Agency released findings that emails without subject lines were apparently so interesting to recipients that they resulted in an 8% higher open rate than their subject-line-containing counterparts.
• Additional data shared by Snov.io Labs showed that subject lines containing 6 to 10 words remitted the highest open rate on average (21%). 
• As a testament to the fact that readers have become savvy to the old tricks used by more “spammy” marketers, subject lines containing the letters “fw” are 17% less likely to be opened.
• However, using personalization in a subject line — the recipient’s name, “you / your,” etc. — increases the odds your email will be opened by 22%. 
• As shown by multiple sources, smartphones tend to cut off subject lines at around the 32 character mark.
• The aforementioned SaleCycle data reports that the three most common pieces of info included in marketing email subject lines are the recipient’s name (46.21%), product name / details (44.01%) and the company’s name (42.88%). These three pieces of information also lead to the highest conversion rates, at 3.71%, 3.18% and 3.58%, respectively.

Body & Signature Content

• According to this summation of recent Shopify data shared at a 2017 showcase, emails that contain working discount codes are 8 times more likely to make a sale than those that don’t.
• The statistics in this AWeber blog show that the average marketing email is just over 434 words and takes around 3.3 minutes to read. 
• However, the collection of studies linked to previously on Snov.io proves that the most recipients (19%) respond to emails containing 200 to 250 words. Another 17% respond to messages of under 50 words, while emails of 150 to 200 words engage 15% of users.
• This data published by the Huffington Post shows that 33% of adults report a preference for using an informal style in their email communications. 17% said they prefer a formal style, while a full 49% said it depends on the sender / recipient. 
• According to this MarketingLand infographic, 52% of business managers add a signature to their emails.
• Additionally, Wise Stamp reports that emails with signatures containing a picture receive 32% more replies than emails with non-picture-including signatures.
• Meanwhile, Uplers says that 7 lines is the ideal length for an email signature. They go on to explain that 75% of marketers include contact info in their email signatures.
• The previously mentioned Huffington Post article shared data that the “least annoying” sign-off for a marketing email is “Thanks.” Apparently, only 3% of users report a dislike for this sign-off, while a full 21% dislike “Peace.” 
• And finally, 40% of respondents to a recent survey said they preferred for emails to be more informational than promotional.

Visual Content Stats (Emojis, Videos…)

While visual content is still a component of engagement with regard to email marketing, there are enough stats on this factor to warrant its own separate section in this guide. 

• Emails with emojis in the subject line result in a 59% higher open rate.
• Inc.com reports that 68% of millennials like seeing gifs, emojis and stickers in their emails, while just 37% of people over 65 said the same.
• 76% of respondents to the Inc.com survey said they have added an emoji to their business email at least once.
• Return Path reports that using the appropriate emojis in a holiday email campaign can reduce the complaint rate all the way to 0%.
• Including video in your emails can increase click-through rates by as much as 96%, according to WordStream.
• Data from HubSpot also states that 54% of recipients prefer emails that contain video content.
• The same information shows that 84% of users watch videos via desktops, while 14% watch on mobile devices.
• 90% of those surveyed said video content helps them make buying decisions.
• And Syndacast data shows that simply using the word “video” in your subject line can increase open and click-through rates by 19% and 65%, respectively. This practice can also reduce unsubscribes by 26%.
• Meanwhile, this Forrester research states that attaching a video to an email can increase click-through rates by an incredible 200% to 300%.
• WyzOwl reports that 78% of marketers say they use video as a marketing tool, and 78% of them believe it increases ROI.

Mobile Email Stats

It’s no surprise that there are tons of stats on mobile email. After all, devices such as smartphones and tablets allow users to check their email from anywhere at any time. Let’s take a look at some of the most important statistics from a marketing perspective.

• ConstantContact reports that 88% of users check their email on mobile devices.
• According to a recent report from Litmus, mobile clients accounted for 41.9% of all email opens during Q1 of 2019.
• The aforementioned OptInMonster collection of data showed that mobile devices account for 50% of all read emails. 
• This CampaignMonitor report also states that 40% of users 18 years old and younger will always open emails on their mobile device first.
• And when it comes to the specific devices people generally use to open emails, 81% open on smartphones, while 21% use tablets.
• Additionally, 23% of recipients who first open an email on a mobile device report later opening the same email on their desktop.
• And when users open an email on a mobile device, CampaignMonitor’s data shows a 65% higher chance that they will click through it.
• This Brafton report shows that 42.3% of users will delete an email if it isn’t optimized for mobile.
• CampaignMonitor’s data also says that, in 70% of cases, if an email doesn’t display correctly within 3 seconds, it will be deleted.

Email Segmentation & Personalization Stats

Segmentation and personalization are crucial to the success of your email marketing strategies. We’ve already touched on this before in our guide to email list building, but here are some more stats on the subject… 

• According to HelpScout and reported by Snov.io, segmented email campaigns boast a 50% higher click-through rate than non-segmented ones.
• SaleCycle reports that the top reason for using personalization in your email marketing campaigns is to improve open rate (82%). This benefit is followed by higher click-through rate at 75% and better customer satisfaction at 58%. 
• SuperOffice recently conducted an email marketing experiment in which a segmented email campaign resulted in a 94% open rate and a 38% click-through rate. In the same experiment, a non-segmented email led to a 42% open rate and a 4.5% click-through rate.
• Marketers who send segmented campaigns also recently reported a 760% increase in revenue.
• CampaignMonitor reports that 62% of emails are opened because they have personalized subject lines.
• And SuperOffice data shows that you can increase open and click-through rates by 35% by addressing recipients by name. 

Email Automation Stats

Automation is an essential tool for any email marketer. As these stats show, automating certain processes can save you time and dramatically increase ROI.

• The CampaignMonitor report states that automated emails bring in 320% more revenue than non-automated emails.
• 51% of companies use marketing automation.
• 64% of B2B marketers say they utilize email automation techniques.
• According to Amazon AWS and GetResponse, saving time is the biggest benefit of email automation, at 30%. Lead generation came in second at 22%, followed by higher revenue at 17%. Customer retention also scored highly at 11%, while monitoring marketing campaigns (8%) and shortening the sales cycle (2%) also ranked as automation benefits.
• VentureBeat reports that 47% of marketers say automation is “worth the price.”
• And Liana Technologies released a study in which 68.5% of respondents shared a belief that automation improved the targeting of messages.
• Experian reports that “triggered emails” lead to 8 times higher open rates than bulk emails.
• Likewise, GetResponse data shows that triggered emails have very low unsubscribe and spam report rates, at 0.58% and 0.06%, respectively. 
• According to the Amazon AWS and GetResponse release, marketers report using automation for a variety of message types. They are as follows: Welcome emails (47%), promotional emails (46%), transactional emails (28%), invitations & reminders (27%), blog updates (26%), upsell messages (23%) and event-triggered / customer lifecycle-related emails (15%). 
• GetResponse also reports that the average open rate of triggered emails is 46%, while the click-through rate is 11%. 

General Email Marketing Stats

Finally, let’s take a look at some general email marketing statistics. 

• These numbers show that, in 2018, over 293 billion emails on average were sent each day.
• Data released by Mailigen states that 89% of marketers utilize email as their primary channel for generating leads. 
• According to GetResponse, in 2019, the average open rate was 22.15%.
• The average click-through rate during the same year was 3.43%.
• The average unsubscribe rate was 0.2%. 
• And finally, the average spam rate was 0.02%. 
• This HubSpot study shows that 86% of professionals surveyed “give priority” to email connection. 
• The earlier mentioned DotDigital release shows that email marketing is the mostly widely used technology for customer engagement (77.6%) in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
• According to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of B2B marketers use email for sharing content. 
• Likewise, ConstantContact reports that 72% of customers prefer email as the main channel for business communications. 

Final Thoughts

With email communication proving more important than ever, taking control of your inbox could lead to major success for 2021. But if you’re a multi-channel eCommerce seller who receives tons of customer inquiries every day, this may seem easier said than done. That’s where Replyco comes into play. 

We offer the ability to centralize your messages into one organized inbox, smart automation options and much more. Let us help you get a handle on your customer messaging by starting your free trial today. Or, feel free to take a tour of our features. 

Have questions? Reach out to us any time! We are always happy to assist however we can.