Email isn’t the flashiest tool in a marketer’s kit, but it continues to deliver results that most channels can’t match. While social media trends come and go, email has quietly stayed one of the strongest ways to reach people and drive revenue. Recent studies make it clear that the numbers are still impressive.
Email’s ROI: Why It Still Leads
The return on investment from email is hard to ignore.
- Most reports estimate the average return to be somewhere between $36 and $42 earned for every $1 spent.
- Some businesses even report hitting $68 for each dollar, depending on how advanced their campaigns are.
- And about one in five companies say they’ve seen ROI above $70.
What really stands out is automation. Automated campaigns — like welcome emails or cart reminders — are bringing in over three times more revenue than standard one-off blasts.
Engagement Benchmarks: Opens, Clicks, Conversions
So, are people still paying attention to emails? The short answer is yes.
- Open rates across industries hover in the 32–38% range.
- Click-through rates are smaller, usually 2% to 2.6%, but automated or triggered emails perform much better, with opens close to 48% and CTRs around 4.7%.
- Even better, conversions after someone clicks an email link have climbed by 27.6% year-on-year.
That means email isn’t just getting attention it’s actually driving action.
Why Personalization Matters
Generic email blasts are fading out. Personalization is where the real lift comes from:
- A subject line with the reader’s name or a tailored reference can bump open rates by 35%.
- Segmenting lists by behavior has been shown to raise click-throughs by about 41%.
- Automated flows, though they make up only 2% of total emails sent, are responsible for 37% of all email-driven sales.
Deliverability: The Part Nobody Talks About Enough
A polished email won’t do much if it lands in spam. Keeping lists clean, removing inactive subscribers, and setting up proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are all essential. Sending to people who never engage drags down performance and increases spam complaints, which hurts overall deliverability.
Industry Differences
Not all industries perform the same. For example:
- Non-profits and hobby groups often see open rates above 50%.
- Education usually falls in the 35–45% range.
- Healthcare and fitness emails tend to open around 30–45%.
- Retail and e-commerce are on the lower side, around 29–32%.
That’s why comparing yourself only to “average” email stats can be misleading.
What’s Next for Email
Trends suggest email effectiveness isn’t slowing down. Interactive content, like live product availability or price updates, is gaining traction. AI tools are helping marketers test subject lines and personalize at scale, though human oversight is still needed. With more than 60% of emails being opened on mobile, designing that works well on a phone is no longer optional.
Conclusion
The evidence is consistent: email remains one of the most cost-effective and high-performing marketing tools available. It’s profitable, it drives engagement, and it adapts well to new technology. The brands that will see the best results are the ones paying attention to list health, personalization, and automation, not just chasing larger subscriber counts.
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