25 Statistics That Prove The Importance of Email Marketing
When it comes to communicating online there are loads of bells and whistles to try and forget - but not email. Email was one of the first tools born from the Internet before Google, before Yahoo, before FaceBook... before everything.
Despite being around for decades email continues to be one of the best tools for communication and has yet to be replaced.
For business owners email marketing is a crucial channel to communicate directly with current or prospective customers. Social media and content marketing are all great tools for communicating but email is personal. Email can be tailored to each individual lead to meet their specific needs. Instagram can’t do that. Facebook can’t do that.
While email has been around for decades, email marketing has certainly changed over the years. Now email marketing is more personal than ever before with half the effort. Automated campaigns can keep customers interested without taking up a huge chunk of your time. As our tools get smarter that will only grow more important.
The importance of email cannot be overstated. Not sure about it? Check out these email marketing stats to learn just how important email marketing is for a small business.
Email is Everywhere - Literally
What would you say is your primary method of communication? Email is probably in your top three - maybe even number one. Email is used by just about everyone for a myriad of reasons; maintaining business relationships, talking to your friends and relatives, managing receipts and finances and learning about deals and sales.
Think about how many emails you send and receive each day. It’s probably a lot. To manage them you probably spend time every single day looking at your inbox. What place could be more powerful for your business?
Nearly half of the world’s population uses email daily to communicate. That is roughly 3.9 billion daily email users. (Statista)
By 2023 it is estimated that daily email users will grow to around 4.3 billion daily users. (Statista)
What does that kind of usage look like? It looks like 293.6 billion emails are being sent each and every day. (Statista)
In total we send 102.6 trillion emails per year. (Statista)
And by 2022 that figure is only going to grow. It is estimated by then that 347.3 billion emails will be sent each and every day. (Statista)
In 2019 active email accounts reached 5.9 billion. (Statista)
The Relationship Between Email and Mobile
The rise of email directly correlates with the rise of smartphones and mobile devices. Digital communication has only expanded over the last decade and will only continue to become more of a part of our lives. With that comes the need to make communication on mobile a priority.
If you open and email and it cuts off on the sides and doesn’t align correctly how quickly do you delete it? Probably pretty fast. That’s why email and mobile are so entwined together. If email grows that’s almost entirely due to mobile usage.
Emails are opened on a variety of different devices but up to 46 percent of emails are opened on a mobile device. (Litmus)
Email is business. In fact an estimated 35 percent of business professionals check email on their mobile device. (Convince & Convert)
Mobile optimization is important. More than 42 percent of people will delete an email on their mobile device if it isn’t mobile-optimized. (Backlinko)
Open rates on mobile devices have increased more than 100 percent since 2011 and will keep growing. (Superoffice)
As far as mobile goes, the most popular device to read emails on is the Apple iPhone with 29 percent of opens coming from the iOs mail component. Gmail is a close second with 27 percent of opens. (Campaign Monitor)
How Email Can Work For Small Businesses
Communicating with customers has never been so easy and so confusing. Which platform do I need to be on? What’s the best tool to use to get my message out there?
Email has been a reliable way for small business owners to acquire customers and an even bigger tool to retain them. A lot of this has to do with the ability to automate and personalize emails for each customer. This can mean sending out automated abandoned cart reminders, automated campaigns based on their product clicks on your website, or campaigns targeting specific demographics. If you can nurture their interest you can turn lookers into buyers.
When you can get personal you can make relationships. And oftentimes those relationships can lead to sales.
Email marketing has one of the highest returns on investments of any form of marketing with an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent. (Litmus)
Conversion rates for email are higher than any other marketing tool including SEO, social media and content marketing. Though many of these can work to enhance each other. (Smart Insights)
Despite social media, email is still a huge driver of customer acquisition and retention. More than 80 percent of small businesses rely on email marketing for both. (Emarsys)
Email is influential with 59 percent of people saying that emails have influenced their purchasing decisions. (SaleCycle)
59 percent of marketers say that email marketing is still their biggest source for ROI. (Emma)
Customers want you in their inbox! Around 49 percent of customers say they would like to receive emails from their favorite brands about new sales and promotions on a weekly basis. (Statista)
What About Email Marketing Works?
An effective email marketing campaign is all about relevance. This doesn’t mean you have to create a new email for each and every person on your list - that would be exhausting. This means that you can use automated tools to segment your list based on things like location, age, gender, and interests to send prospective customers content that is more relevant to their life. The more relevant an email is, the more it is interacted with.
Relevance doesn’t just apply to general sales and promotional sends. It also includes on-site activity like abandoned cart reminders, notifications if a product they like is back in stock or on sale and so on.
Abandoned cart automated emails are effective at converting leads. Sending 3 abandoned cart reminder emails has 69 percent more orders than sending a single reminder. (Ominsend)
Welcome emails are well received and average an 82 percent open rate. All other emails generally average a 21 percent open rate. (MailChimp)
Make it personal! Email subject lines with personalization see 50 percent higher open rates. (Yes Lifecycle Marketing)
Personalization doesn’t end at the subject line. You can personalize sends by segmenting campaigns, which marketers have noted a 760 percent increase in revenue over one-note mass sends. (Campaign Monitor)
If it meets their needs they will click. Customized automations generally have the highest click through rates. (Omnisend)
Highly personalized automated emails generate real money. Personalized emails can generate a transaction 6x higher than regular email sends. (Business2Community)
60 percent of people prefer to sign up to an email list when there is an incentive, like a sale or promotion attached. (OptInMonster)
This is a weird one. Did you know that 56 percent of brands see higher open rates when they use emojis in the subject line?! (Disruptive Advertising)
Final Thoughts
Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. When used effectively email can grow your business and create lasting relationships with customers. Always keep in mind that email is a tool of communication, not just a way to send out a notification for a sale. Creating emails that have content that is relevant to your audience is how you nurture those relationships through a sale and beyond.
Sources:
Statista
HubSpot
MailChimp
Litmus
Campaign Monitor
Oberlo
Omnisend