100+ Email Marketing Statistics You Need to Know in 2023

Email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. It’s a cost-effective way to reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and increase sales.

But to be effective, you need to understand the current state of things and the latest email marketing statistics and trends. 

In this blog post, we’ll explore the most important email marketing statistics for 2021 and beyond, including open and click-through rates, conversion rates, mobile optimization, and more.

General email marketing statistics and trends

These email marketing stats concern all areas of a digital marketing that involve email marketing and email users.

So whether you are looking for the numbers on marketing emails, personalized subject lines, or email marketing ROI, we go you covered.

General email marketing statistics: Worldwide email usage data

Email marketing statistics: Email marketing investment and ROI

  • Email marketing revenue is expected to reach almost 11 billion by the end of 2023. (Statista, Email Marketing Revenue, 2021)
  • The ROI for email marketing in the B2B industry is typically higher than in the B2C industry, with an average ROI of 3800%. 
  • Businesses are allocated more and more money to email marketing.A third of brands are increasing their email budgets, while just one percent are cutting it. (Litmus, Insights From the 2021 State of Email Report 2021)
  • Email marketing has an average return on investment (ROI) of 122%. (eMarketer).

Email marketing stats: Engagement, conversion, and preferability stats

Email frequency

iOS data privacy changes

  • Data privacy changes have forced email marketers to prioritize different KPIs, which has been one of the most significant ways they have adapted. (HubSpot, Apple iOS 15 Impacting Email Marketers, 2021)
  • As a result of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, 43% of marketers are changing how they measure email performance, while 24% aren’t making any changes. (Litmus, Insights From the 2021 State of Email Report, 2021)

Inbox checking

  • 99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking 20 times a day. Of those people, 58% of consumers check their email first thing in the morning. (OptinMonster, Email Marketing Statistics. 2020) 
  • 84.3% of consumers say they check their marketing email at least once a day. (Pathwire, 2021 Email Engagement Report, 2021)
  • Consumers spend an average of 10 seconds reading brand emails. (Statista, Time Spent on Brand Emails Report, 2021)
  • At least 40% of consumers have more than 50 unread emails. (HubSpot, Marketing Statistics, 2020)

Email marketing strategy

Email subject lines statistics

Email usage by generation

  • A majority of Millennials (59%) and Generation Z (67%), respectively, use their smartphones to check their email. (Bluecore, 2021)
  • Among Baby Boomers, 74% think email is the most personal channel for brands to reach out to them, followed by 72% of Generation Xers, 64% of Millennials, and 60% of Generation Zers. (Bluecore, 2021)

B2B email marketing campaign engagement stats and industry benchmarks

Average email open rates by industry

The average email open rate is one of the most important email marketing statistics to track.

It indicates the percentage of people who opened your email marketing campaign out of the total number of people who received it.

Tracking and analyzing your own email open rates over time allows you to get a better understanding of how your campaigns are performing and to identify areas for improvement.

The average open rate for marketing emails is around 20%.

However, this can vary widely depending on your industry, the quality of your email list (email subscribers), the email subject lines, sender reputation, your email marketing software and many other factors.

Here is a general overview of email open rates by industry:

  • Retail: 20-30%
  • Finance: 15-25%
  • Healthcare: 20-30%
  • Technology: 20-30%
  • Nonprofit: 20-30%
  • Travel: 20-30%
  • Education: 20-30%

Keep in mind that these are just rough estimates, and your own open rates may differ significantly. 

To increase your open rate, make sure to segment your email list, use catchy and personalized subject lines, and send emails at the right time.

Make sure to get all the technical stuff (such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.) set up and right. 

Also, always optimize your emails for mobile device (for smartphone users) since most emails are read on those devices.

Or, you can look at your existing customers to see which device they use the most and optimize accordingly.

Average email click-through rates by industry

The click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who clicked on a link in your email out of the total number of people who received it. 

The click-through rate mainly tells you how convincing or compelling your email is and how interested your recipients are in discovering more or simply at taking on your call to action. 

And so, your email CTR may vary based on factors such as the quality and relevance of your content, the effectiveness of your subject line, the segmentation and personalization of your email list, and the frequency of your email sends.

The average CTR for business emails is around 2.5%. Here is the average email click-through rates by business industry:

  • Retail: 3.29%
  • Healthcare: 2.5%
  • Finance: 2.3%
  • Business Services: 2.3%
  • Travel and Hospitality: 2.3%
  • Manufacturing: 2.3%
  • Non-Profit: 2.1%
  • Technology: 1.9%
  • Education: 1.9%

A few tips to increase your CTR, make sure to use clear and compelling calls to action, design eye-catching emails, and segment your email list. 

Average email conversion rates by industry

Conversion rate is the percentage of people who took a desired action (such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter) out of the total number of people who received your email. 

Tracking and analyzing your conversion rate can tell you what works best for your business.

You can easily understand whether or not your email marketing strategy is working and improve it. 

The average conversion rate for business emails is around 1%.

Some industries may have higher conversion rates due to the nature of their products or services and the target, while others may have lower conversion rates. 

For example, selling to B2B professionals is more complex and takes longer as it requires multi-stage marketing strategies and involves multiple decision makers. 

Here are some general conversion rates by industry:

  • E-commerce: 2-3%
  • Healthcare: 2%
  • Finance: 1-2%
  • Technology: 1-2%
  • Retail: 1-2%
  • Travel: 1-2%
  • Education: 1-2%

Note that actual conversion rates may vary significantly. 

A few of the best practices you can follow to increase your conversion rate include making sure to use targeted and personalized emails, offering incentives and promotions, and optimizing your landing pages for conversions.

Average email bounce rate by industry

Email bounce rate is a measure of the percentage of emails that are not delivered to the intended recipient’s mailbox. 

There are two types of email bounces: hard bounces and soft bounces. 

  • Hard bounces are permanent failures, meaning that the email cannot be delivered because the email address is invalid or the recipient’s mailbox is permanently unavailable. 
  • Soft bounces are temporary failures, which can occur for a variety of reasons, such as the recipient’s mailbox being full or the email server being down.

Here are some general statistics on email bounce rates by industry:

IndustryHard BounceSoft Bounce
Business and Finance0.43%0.55%
E-Commerce0.19%0.26%
Education and Training0.32%0.51%
Health and Fitness0.30%0.40%
Marketing and Advertising0.44%0.68%
Non-Profit0.33%0.49%
Real Estate0.38%0.56%
Retail0.22%0.32%
Travel and Transportation0.31%0.51%

Source: MailChimp

If you need to troubleshoot a high bounce, you can regularly clean and update your email list, use double opt-in to confirm email addresses, and ensure that your emails are properly formatted and adhere to best practices for email deliverability.

Average unsubscribe rate

The unsubscribe rate refers to the percentage of recipients who request to or opt out of your mailing list after receiving your emails.

A high unsubscribe rate generally means that people are not interested in what you send them or that you need to improve your email copy. 

The average unsubscribe rate for business emails is around 0.1%.

 Here are some general statistics on email unsubscribe rates by industry:

  • E-commerce: 0.1%.
  • B2B: 0.2%.
  • Nonprofits: 0.1%.
  • Media and publishing: 0.2%.
  • Education: 0.1%.
  • Healthcare: 0.1%.
  • Financial services: 0.2%.
  • Travel and hospitality: 0.1%.
  • Retail: 0.2%.
  • Real estate: 0.1%.

To reduce your unsubscribe rate, make sure to send targeted and relevant emails, and give subscribers the option to customize their email preferences.

Also, segment your audience and improve the quality of your offers. 

Average email spam rates by industry

Spam rates are the percentage of emails that are marked as spam out of the total number of emails sent. 

It’s difficult to provide specific spam rate statistics by industry. However, in general, spam rates for email campaigns tend to range from 0.1% to 2%.

Also, spam rates in the financial, service, marketing industries tend to be high. 

It’s important to note that spam rates above 2% can be a red flag for ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and may result in the sender’s emails being flagged as spam or blocked. 

So always practice email list hygiene, follow best practices for email marketing, such as obtaining permission from recipients before sending emails, and avoiding spam language and tactics.

Key takeaways

  • From promotional emails, transactional emails, or triggered emails, there are many ways you can successfully use email marketing for effective customer engagement. Email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes.
  • It’s the most effective marketing channel and digital marketing strategy when it comes to customer acquisition and customer retention. Many marketers and small business owners have grown their business and online store on the back of email marketing.
  • Remember that while these email marketing statistics provide valuable insights, they’re not one-size-fits-all. Different industries and businesses will have different average open, click-through, and conversion rates. It’s important to track your own email marketing metrics and use them to optimize your campaigns and improve your results.
  • The main factors that will impact your email marketing statistics include the quality of your email list, the relevance of your content, your segmentation and personalization efforts, the design and layout of your emails, and more.
  • Make sure to focus on building a targeted email list, creating high-quality content, and optimizing your emails for conversions. With the right strategy, you can use email marketing to effectively reach and engage your audience and drive sales.

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