Look, we get it. It makes sense. Email marketing feels like it should be dead.
With the rise of Slack and messaging platforms, our internal team doesn’t use email much anymore. We work primarily through Slack because it’s so much easier than email.
And the problem is, marketers think because their time spent inside of their inbox has diminished—so has everybody else’s.
But let’s zoom out for a second.
It’s predicted that by the end of 2019, there will be 2.9 billion email users. That’s so many people that it’s more than 1/3 of the world’s population (thank you CampaignMonitor for that comparison)!
While we may not be using email the same way we used to, consumers are certainly still using them to create new accounts, buy products, and sign up for membership services
So we’ll continue to say it loud and proud—email marketing isn’t dead.
And we’ve got the data to back it up.
Here are 10 email marketing statistics from 2018 and 2019 to show that email marketing is alive and well.
Email Marketing Statistic #1: In 2019, 293.6 billion emails were sent and received.
That would equate to 804 million emails sent and received per day. What does this mean? People are spending time in their inbox. Where people spend time is where you can promote the products that will solve their problems.
Email Marketing Statistic #2: Email has an average ROI of $38 for each $1 spent.
The average cost-per-click on Facebook is $1.72. When you pit these statistics against each other, email is the clear-cut winner. But, we have to be fair. ROI and CPC can vary depending on industry and product. While one business may see a huge win with email, another might get more bang for their buck on Facebook or Instagram.
Email Marketing Statistic #3: Emails reach 85% of the people they’re sent to.
Yes, you’re right. Whether they open that email is another story, but knowing that your email has the potential to reach 85% of your list means that you have a lot of leverage over how many conversions you can push. Now, the key is to get your offer right.
Email Marketing Statistic #4: In 2018, Shopify saw $37 million in sales per hour, all from users entering their email address to purchase products.
If you’re asking, what does this have to do with email marketing, here’s what: all of those email addresses just went into an email list that can now be sent through a funnel for upsells and other products.
That’s a lot of upsell potential.
Email Marketing Statistic #5: Welcome and thank you emails with a link to download something have an 88.7% open rate and a 35.07% click-through rate.
While it seems obvious that people are going to open an email that is giving them something (like a download link to a lead magnet), what isn’t obvious is the ways to upsell that email. For example, you can promote a discount to your membership service, an upsell product, or a bundle offer. You can put these promos in the welcome or thank you email, or on the landing page of the lead magnet.
Email Marketing Statistic #6: 58% of people check email before checking social media, company intranet, search, or news.
Thought you were working hard? You’re not alone. Getting a head start on the workday is apparently a bigger thing than we thought. If emails are the first thing a customer looks at when they wake up, that’s your chance to give them some valuable information that’s going to stick with them throughout the day. Show them how much you can give them for free, just through your emails, and you’ll skyrocket your chances of them becoming your customer.
Email Marketing Statistic #7: Segmented campaigns can have as much as a 760% increase in revenue.
Personalizing emails, and any campaign, at this point is a must. Marketers have taken their share of the marketing real estate and it has left consumers feeling starry-eyed and dizzy. We’ve all started to grow our ability to ignore ads and that means marketers have to be smart about grabbing consumers’ attention. Do that through personalization. Personalize email campaigns based off of the customer avatar you’re reaching. For example, is your product being bought for personal use or as a gift? If it’s being used as a gift, that’s an entirely different customer avatar than somebody looking to use it for personal use.
Email Marketing Statistic #8: Sending 3 abandoned cart emails results in 69% more orders versus sending a single email.
Calling all ecommerce and service businesses, this is a crucial stat. While marketers may feel like we’re in overkill mode by creating a 3-email funnel for abandoned carts, the consumer is telling us this is what works.
Email Marketing Statistic #9: Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers over Facebook or Twitter.
While this statistic is awesome, we’d definitely love to know why this is the case. Is it because people transition better from email to landing page vs. Facebook/Twitter to landing page? We don’t know the answer yet, but for now we can let the data drive our marketing efforts. DigitalMarketer is certainly an email heavy marketer, because that’s where we see our results (although, you’ll find us on all social platforms talking about our products, making sure that we’re in the best digital space to meet other marketers).
Email Marketing Statistic #10: Europeans average 26.64% open rates and Americans 19% open rates. Europeans have a 4.35% click-through rate and Americans have a 2.98% click-through rate.
These percentages may look small in comparison to each other, but if you start to run different numbers, you’ll see they’re pretty significant differences. Get Response did a great job of explaining this by showing that even a 1.37% difference means that marketing a product to Europeans could get 46% (or more) clicks than you’d get from Americans.
It’s understandable to think that email is dead. It seems like the platform has exhausted itself as a means of advertising, but the numbers are telling us a different story.
Email marketing isn’t just alive and well, it’s thriving. Marketers realize that giving their customers valuable information inside of email can drive sales and that means email isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
But don’t worry Slack, we still love you.
