Email facts
There are over 4.371 billion email users. This figure is predicted to reach 4.84 billion by 2027 which is a growth of more than 4% yearly. - Radicati Group (2023)
There are 4,481 billion email users worldwide who send and receive 361.6 billion emails per day. - Radicatti Group (2023)
961.697 legitimate emails are sent every second, making 3.462.108.804 legitimate emails per hour. - Internetlivestats (2023)
The number of email users is still growing. 78.72% of EU individuals aged 16 to 78 use internet to send / receive emails in 2023. Compare this to only 48% in 2007. – Eurostat “Individuals using the internet for sending/receiving e-mails” (2024)People prefer email for commercial communications
94% of consumers check their email every day. - DMA Consumer Tracker (2023)
81% of US online shoppers are more likely to make additional purchases, either online or in a store, as a result of emails based on previous shopping behaviors and preferences. - Harris Interactive
More than 60% of customers would prefer to be contacted by brands via email. 86% of consumers want to communicate with businesses they frequent. Square & Wakefield - "Future of Commerce report" (2023)
70% of Consumers believe email is the best channel for company contact, preferring it almost twice as much as any other channel: 46% compared to text messages, 34% for social, and 16% for phonecall. Latona (2023)
32% find brand messages they receive via email useful. This is on the rise from 15% two years earlier. DMA Consumer Tracker (2023)
Email is the most popular place to save important information from brands over half of consumers (56%) currently use their inbox in this way. DMA Consumer Tracker (2023)
86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes. (HubSpot, 2017)
73% of consumers say email is their preferred marketing channel 73% of consumers named email in their top two (out of eight) in terms of preference. DMA “Acquisition and the consumer mindset 2018” (2018)
83% of consumers say email is one of their preferred methods brand communication, with Facebook as far second with 38%, postal mail 27%.Email Addiction study, EmailMonday
70% of consumers find email to be their #1 preferred channel for recieving commercial messages - CG Selections "Nationaal Email Onderzoek" (2017)
35% of consumers estimate they open 75% or more of all the marketing mails they receive. 14% of consumers open all their emails. – DMA “consumer email tracker” (2017).
66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a direct result of an email marketing message - Direct Marketing Association (2013)
One in five (19%) of consumers said they read every email newsletter they receive just to see if something’s on offer. - Forrester Research "North american technographics survey" (2014)
In 2014 consumers delete less promo emails without looking, down 25,4% relative to 2010. - Forrester Research "North american technographics survey" (2014)
More users ages 12–17 are using email than are using either Snapchat or Facebook. Even as monthly Snapchat usage among 12–17-year-olds jumped from 39% in 2014 to 67% in 2017, email adoption grew from 69% to 82% over the same period. - Forrester Analytics "Email Marketing Forecast, 2018 To 2023" (2019)
Email is mobile
Mobile email will account for 24 to 77% of email opens, depending on your target audience, product and email type. - eMailmonday “the Ultimate mobile email stats” (2023)
More useful mobile email marketing statistics here.
Email marketing is The Hot New Channel, according to the Wall Street Journal. Here is the ten year challenge to prove it:
And email marketing?
87% of B2B content marketers use email marketing for lead nurturing - CMI "B2B Content Marketing Research" (2019)
78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months - Hubspot "State of Marketing" (2020) 35% of marketers send their customers 3-5 emails per week. - Hubspot "State of Marketing" (2020)61% of companies generate more than 10 percent of sales from email - Econsultancy "Emailmarketing census"(2018)
Marketers consistently ranked email as the single-most-effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention. - Gigaom Research "Workhorses and dark horses: digital tactics for customer acquisition"
The worldwide market for email marketing will reach US $22.16 Bn in 2025. The industry has an expected annual growth rate of 19.60%. - Transparency market research “Email Marketing Global Industry Analysis” (2017)
Email is almost 40x better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter - McKinsey & Company
DMA research puts the ROI of email marketing in 2018 at US$ 32.28, better than any other direct marketing channel and up from 30.03 the year before. - DMA UK "Marketer email tracker 2018" (2018).
Email Marketing is the biggest marketing channel on Black Friday, driving 28% of revenue. Email marketing was the biggest in sales on Black Friday. While sometimes behind online search (free and paid), on Black Friday email marketing was the primary channel. - Ometria (2017)
75% of marketeers say emailmarketing is bringing them a good to excellent ROI. - Econsultancy "Emailmarketing census"(2018)
... but why not calculate your own email marketing ROI
Useful reading
Media hype often leads to "email is dead" headlines, followed by praise for whichever new technology killed email this time.
Numerous authors have addressed this issue of email's longevity and use. Here a selection:
"Email is not dead because people want to write to one another, using their email accounts, in more than 140-character bursts," - Neil Schwartzman, Executive Director, CAUCE
"Email is not going to disappear. Possibly ever. Until the robots kill us all," says Paul Buchheit, a founder of FriendFeed
- Why Email is Still the Original Killer App at Rolling Stone Magazine
- The Internet’s Unkillable App at The Atlantic
- As consumers migrate to e-commerce, email marketing efforts increase at Digiday
- Why newsletters are so wonderful, but also frustrating by Robin Rendle
- Why we’re entering the golden age of email at Fastcompany
- Email Is Not Dead -- Here's Why at Forbes
- The Hot New Channel for Reaching Real People: Email at The Wall Street Journal
- You’ve Still Got Mail by Brandon Verblow, Forecast Analyst Forrester
- Generation Z Holds The Key To Email: Study
- Newsletters are immortal by Dave Pell
The Historical email alive archives
People who predicted email wasn't dead a long time ago.- Even GDPR Can't Kill Email by Kath Pay and Tim Waton
- Why no one has 're-invented' email yet
- Why email is like Schrödinger’s cat. by dotmagazine
- Is email marketing dead among younger demographics? by David Kirkpatrick at MarketingDive
- The Triumph of Email at Netatlantic
- 4 data points to help you build the case for a bigger email marketing budget
- Email isn’t dead, but your strategy might be by Elliot Ross.
- Putting up a fight: 7 reasons email survives
- Consumers: Keep Those Emails Comin'!
- Why email marketing is still the leader of the pack by Skip Fidura
- Work Horse Vs. Show Horse — Is Email Marketing Being Undermined by the Lure of Social Media? by Louis Foong.
- Email relevancy in Marketing - Still mailing after all these years
- Brands are wasting time and money on facebook and twitter, report says by Chris Gayomali
- Americans Have Had A Huge Change of Heart: Starting To *Like* Email by Lara O'Reilly
- Email Is Still the Best Thing on the Internet by Alexis C. Madrigal
- What do teens think of email? by AWeber
- The Bandwagon Has Room by Simms Jenkins at ClickZ
- The death of email as we know it? Not so fast by Jesse Singal at the Boston Globe
- Is Social Media Going to Kill Email? by Andrew Spoeth of Marketo
- Social not a threat to e-mail by eMarketer
- Is Social Media Impacting How Much We Email? by Jon Gibs, Nielsen
- Email and Texting Top Social Media in Gen Y by Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable
- Email is Social, and it's not Going Anywhere by MarketingSherpa
- Why Facebook and Twitter Won't Kill E-Mail by Anna Maria Virzi, ClickZ
- Email isn't dying, it's just turning into social media glue by Chris Lake, Econsultancy
- Teens Don't Drink Red Wine, Red Wine Will Probably Go Away by Loren McDonald
- Don't ask "Is email dead?" ask this instead... by Mark Brownlow, Email Marketing Reports
- A Deluge is Underway; is Email Waterproof? by J.D. Falk, Return Path
- Why Social, Mobile, and Email Are BFFs (Not Archenemies) by Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget
- Email: In Transition, Not Fading Away by Loren McDonald, Silverpop
- Email is dead... by Laura Atkins, Deliverability Consultant
- Why Everything is Better than Email by Jordan Cohen, Food for Naught
- Email marketing still works by Gail Goodman, Constant Contact
- The threat of social media? by Jerry Flay, All About Email