If there were ever any doubts about email marketing’s prowess, 2020 successfully squashed them. The Covid-19 pandemic forced us to forget all physical interactions and rely on digital exchanges. As such, businesses and individuals alike resorted to using online channels, especially emails. In 2020, a whopping 306.4 billion emails were sent and received daily, and that number is set to reach 319.6 billion by the end of 2021!
Despite social media’s popularity spreading like wildfire, email marketing is still prevalent, and rightfully so. Emails offer unmatched reach for both B2B and B2C marketers that know how to use them. Plus, it’s a digital channel with ROIs unheard-of, proving bold claims wrong that outright deny the benefits of purchasing email lists.
Let’s skip the small talk and dive deep into the current email marketing statistics and benchmarks:
Email: One of the Top Distribution Channels for B2B and B2C Marketers
B2B and B2C marketers may have different requirements. Nonetheless, emails continue to be the most reliable channel to boost their content marketing. Today, 87% of B2B marketers rely on an email marketing database for product/service distribution, which has proved to be more common than using company blogs.
Furthermore, 79% of B2C content marketers use targeted email lists and databases to distribute their blog posts, articles, and other content. This ranks above influencer/media relations (39%), third-party published articles (31%), and events/public speaking (37%), proving why emails are still a go-to.
Additionally, email marketing has also stood out as the most reliable conduit to secure and nurture leads within a sales funnel. Here are the numbers to prove it: –
Securing leads: Email newsletters (16%), social media content (13%), and in-person interactions/events (13%).
Nurturing leads: Email newsletters (24%) and social media content (17%).
Emails also rank second in the list of popular channels for distributing business-related content. An enormous 70% of professionals use mailing leads to share company or industry-related information. Here’s the full list: –
● LinkedIn – 81%
● Email – 70%
● Twitter – 43%
● Facebook – 40%
● Internal collaboration platforms like Trello, Slack, Google Chat, Microsoft Teams, etc. – 35%
2021 Benchmarks
Here are the average email benchmarks across all industries in 2021: –
● An average open rate of 18%
● An average click-through rate (CTR) of 2.6%
● An average click-to-open rate of 14.1%
● An average unsubscribe rate of 0.1%
Average benchmarks can be further broken down day-wise to see how mailing campaigns perform every day of the week.
● Open rates – 18% (Sunday), 18.30% (Monday), 18% (Tuesday), 18.10 (Wednesday), 17.90% (Thursday), 18.90% (Friday), and 17.30% (Saturday).
● Click-to-open rates – 13.90% (Sunday), 13.70% (Monday), 13.50% (Tuesday), 14.50% (Wednesday), 14.10% (Thursday), 14.50% (Friday), and 14% (Saturday).
● Click-through rates – 2.50% (Sunday), 2.50% (Monday), 2.50% (Tuesday). 2.60% (Wednesday), 2.50% (Thursday), 2.70% (Friday), and 2.40% (Saturday).
● Unsubscribe rates – 0.10% (Sunday), 0.10% (Monday), 0.10% (Tuesday), 0.10% (Wednesday), 0.10% (Thursday), 0.10% (Friday), and 0.10% (Saturday).
When breaking down these KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) region-wise, here are the average benchmarks: –
● Open rates – Global (18%), UK (16.40%), USA (17.60%), AUS (20.60%), EMEA (19%)
● Click-through rates – Global (2.60%), UK (1.60%), USA (2.60%), AUS (3.10%), EMEA (2.70%)
● Click-to-open rates – Global (14.10%), UK (9.90%), USA (14.90%), AUS (14.80%), EMEA (14.30%)
● Unsubscribe rates – Global (0.10%), UK (0.10%), USA (0.10%), AUS (0.20%) EMEA (0.10%)
2021 Statistics
Here are some of the most impressive 2021 metrics that show why email marketing prevails: –
● Users
Over 50% of the world’s population are email users In 2020, there were approximately 4 billion email users, and by 2025, that will reach 4.6 billion (a 600,000 increase in the number of users).
● Daily emails
In 2021, daily emails sent and received are set to reach 319.6 billion, and by 2025, they’ll approximately increase to over 376 billion.
● Open-rates by environment
Mobile reigns supreme as the most popular email-reading environment, with 42% open-rate, followed by webmails (40%), and desktop (18.2%).
● Top email clients
Given the smartphone dominance, the iPhone email app is inevitably the most popular email client (29% of all email opens). Gmail ranks second, with 27% email open share.
● Top industries in the US
- By open rates: Government and politics (25.5%), financial services (24.)%), and education (23.9%)
- By click-through rates: Government and politics (6.2%), education (4.4%), and non-profit (4.4%)
- By click-to-open rates: Government and politics (24.2%), real estate (21.5%), and non-profit (19.3%)
Parting Thoughts
“Email marketing is not dead. If you’re not using it, you’re losing.” – Powerfully said by the digital marketing phenomenon, Gary Vaynerchuk, statistics prove why this statement rings true. Emails continue to be the pillar that successful businesses rely on, and there’s good reason to do so. An email quickly grabs attention and includes an upfront promise which typically leads to the desired action. Hence, the astounding ROIs, and why email marketing is still king.
