Email Marketing Value: The Stats Back It Up

Melanie Balke
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May 20, 2022

Email Marketing Value: The Stats Back It Up

When you’re starting a business, you’re going to be bombarded with information about marketing.

Everyone and their best friend’s goldfish is going to hound you about your marketing strategy. Each person you speak to will have a different opinion, and they’ll all be clamoring for you to try the latest and greatest channel. First, it was the postal system. Then, it was telemarketing.

We’ve come a long way since the door-to-door salesmen, but some marketing channels never change.

A photo of a Los Angeles beach with overlaid header text: “Email Marketing Value: The Stats Back It Up.”

Email marketing remains one of the most effective channels, and there are so many reasons for this.

Today, we’ll be breaking into the vault of statistics! Get your tools ready, because we’re about to examine how effective this classic marketing strategy can be. There are plenty of naysayers out there, but the simple truth is that digital marketing revolves around the inherent value of emails. Few marketing channels can even begin to compare to its reach, and many customers still prefer to receive content through promotional emails.

The Basics: How Many Email Users Are There?

I’ll start with the broad statistics.

A photo of a large crowd. Overlaid header text reads, “The Basics: How Many Email Users Are There?”

Everyone knows that people use social media.

How Does Email Marketing Compare to Other Channels?

Sites like Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized how people communicate, and that’s directly influenced marketing. A social post is often tantamount to an ad of its own, and plenty of businesses commit resources to extensive social media marketing plans.

However, what about just email marketing?

Surely, there can’t be that many people left on this seemingly ancient channel, right?

Wrong!

A shareable graphic. A golden colorized photo of a large crowd with overlaid text. The header reads, “Email Marketing by the Numbers.” Beneath this is smaller body text: “Over half of the world's population has an active email account. That means there are between 3.9–4 billion unique email users out there!”

Over half of the world’s population has an email account. That’s 3.9–4 billion unique email users, and that number is only growing!

That’s a lot of potential customers. Few marketing channels compare to this massive reach, and the right team with the right email marketing tools can create campaigns with the potential to dramatically change the trajectory of any business.

Email Subscribers Are a Central Audience

Now, this is where many people will start their own argument.

“Melanie!” they implore, “Roughly the same amount of people are also using social media platforms! What makes email marketing superior? Why should I divert funds from my social media campaigns to cover ”things like welcome emails?”

The answer is access.

While there may be 4 billion social media users, these customers are spread across the many available platforms. Your target audience will be scattered, which means that you’ll be spening more time and money to create a marketing mix of different image sizes, styles, and messages.

As of 2022, the massive social media pie looks a bit like this:

  • 3 billion on Facebook
  • 1.4 billion on Instagram
  • 433 million on Pinterest
  • 430 million on Reddit
  • 493 million on Snapchat
  • 750 million on TikTok
  • 450 million on Twitter
  • 288 million on Tumblr
  • 2.4 billion on WhatsApp
A shareable graphic with a colorized photo of Los Angeles. The overlaid header reads, “Email's Value: Social Media Spread.” Beneath this is smaller body text, which says, “One of the most common pain points for social media marketing is its massive spread. Right now the market looks a bit like this.” Beneath this is a list of social channels in descending order: 74% Facebook; 60% WhatsApp; 35% Instagram; 12% Snapchat, 11% TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, and Reddit; and 7% on Tumblr.

You can, of course, reach customers on a single platform.

Beauty brands, for example, will likely focus on Instagram or TikTok. Industrial brands will fare better on LinkedIn. However, this marketing strategy ultimately neglects a massive amount of customers, and this limited use of targeted messaging is an inefficient way to spread the word about your brand.

Customers Prefer Email Marketing

Ultimately, the biggest draw of email marketing is preference.

A shareable graphic with a colorized image of a large crowd. Overlaid header text reads, “Customers Prefer Email Marketing.” Beneath this are two paragraphs of smaller body text. The first paragraph reads, “Customers prefer email marketing. That's a fact!” The second paragraph is, “A whopping 72% of customers informed surveyors that they prefer email marketing. In contrast. only 17% indicated that they had a preference for social media marketing.”

When surveyed, a whopping 72% of customers informed marketers that they prefer email marketing.

When the audience speaks, you listen.

Money Talks: The Dollars and Cents of Email Marketing

I’ve demonstrated the vast reach of this approach, but what about the numbers that really matter?

A photo of many $100 bills. Overlaid header text reads, “Money Talks: The Dollars and Cents of Email Marketing.”

Small businesses don’t really care about how many people are using a platform. They want to know how valuable email marketing is. How much money can be made with this powerful marketing tool, and how can it be harnessed to its full potential?

Well, here’s the good news for you: I’m about to share all of those juice email marketing stats with you, so buckle up and get ready to have your mind blown!

Email Campaigns Generate More Money

I’ll start with what everyone is here for: money.

Purchases made through an email campaign generate three times more profit than similar social media advertisements. For small business owners, this revenue boost can make a huge difference.

And that’s the key message of this blog post. Everyone can benefit from email campaigns, Targeted messaging is a powerful tool, and it has the potential to rake in massive returns. In fact, speaking of returns…

Email Marketing Campaigns Have a 4,400% ROI

Yes, you read that right!

A colorized and shareable photo of a partially open laptop. Overlaid header text reads, “The Value of Email: 4,400% ROI.” Below this are two paragraphs of smaller body text. The first paragraph is, “It may sound too good to be true, but the email marketing statistics don't lie! This amazing marketing channel has the potential to yield a 4,400% ROI!” The second paragraph reads, “For every dollar you invest, you have the opportunity to make $44 in return.”

A good email marketing strategy can generate a 4,400% ROI. In other words, for every dollar invested in your email marketing, you can recoup $44!

This is one of the most stunning email marketing statistics, and it’s why I’m constantly surprised that more companies aren’t investing in this marketing channel. Even a basic email marketing software package can do wonders for your campaigns, making this outlet one of the best and most accommodating for extremely small businesses.

Quick Tips to Maximize Your Email Marketing Strategy

Now that I’ve established the immense utility of email marketing, why don’t we have a quick chat about strategy?

A photo of an ATM. Overlaid header text is centered on the image, which reads, “Quick Tips to Maximize Your Email Marketing Strategy.”

At the center of any good email marketing strategy is flexibility. Every campaign should be based on new information, and your email marketing campaigns should have its own goal.

Now is just the right time to take a moment and learn some new things, so join me!

Choose the Right Email Service Provider for Your eCommerce Business

When you’re starting your digital marketing journey, you need to spend some time researching the best providers. There are umpteen different email marketing services out there, but very few of these services are worth the price tag. A good email service provider integrates all of the features you need.

Small business owners will want to investigate every option.

A shareable graphic. The colorized photo of a circuit board is covered with overlaid text. The header reads, “Email Marketing Tips and Tricks.” Beneath this are two paragraphs of smaller body text, opening: “Hoping to capture leads and rope in new customers with your email marketing?” The second paragraph reads, “If you do, then your first step will be choosing the right email marketing software. This essential tool will be your hub for creating new campaigns, reviewing and tweaking your email marketing stats, and perfecting the tone of your brand emails.”

Regardless of which service you opt to use, the final product should offer you the following capabilities:

  • A/B testing
  • Comprehensive statistics and email metrics
  • Constant contact email marketing tools
  • Email engagement metrics
  • Integration with your e-commerce platform
  • Mobile device compatibility and testing
  • Simple email automation
  • Sorting and the ability to create audience segments

Don’t Forget Your Mobile Users

Regardless of how carefully you’re watching your data points, your email campaigns will ultimately fail if you forget about mobile device compatibility.

When you’re using the right digital marketing platform, determining whether or not a message is mobile-friendly is just a matter of one or two clicks. Rich editors will show you what your message looks like on desktops and mobile devices.

Find Your Pain Points

As you begin your journey to increase the average purchase amount of your customers, you’ll need to do some thinking.

What kind of messaging appeals to your target audience? What sort of things do your customers have in common? What shared interests does your target audience have?

All of the questions (and more!) are super important, and they’ll lead you to know is known as a “pain point” in the industry — a common problem that your product solves.

What Is a Pain Point?

Let me explain this with an example.

I present Hypothetical Gel, which is a serum made to reduce the appearance and frequency of wrinkles. Hypothetical Gen is one of many small businesses looking for that random factor to launch itself into stratospheric success. but it needs to understand its own marketing first!

Through research and data gathered from survey respondents, Hypothetical Gel has found its pain point: aging. This means that Hypothetical Gel’s future email marketing campaigns can focus on this concern, and personalized subject lines can be crafted to cater to this shared worry.

Now, speaking of subject lines…

Invest in the Subject Line

No matter what the topic or goal of your email marketing may be, — whether it’s a standalone promotional email or part of a constant contact series — you need to hone the subject line.

A shareable graphic featuring a colorized photo of the front door for an ivy-covered brick house. There is overlaid text. The header reads, “Tips & Tricks: Subject Lines.” Beneath this is smaller body text: “To get the most out of your email marketing, you need to master the art of engaging subject lines. Every campaign you create will need a subject line, and that opening catch is the difference between an effective welcome email and a disinterested customer.”

If you want to see your email marketing statistics thrive, then you need to take the time to come up with eye-catching subjects. These titles will be the first thing customers see when they receive your email message, and a good subject can be the difference between an opt-out and a boom in click-through rates.

However!

You should never lie in your subject. Instead, you’ll want to rely on delivering relevant emails and packing your messages with valuable content.

Don’t Neglect Your Other Content Marketing

Finally, my biggest tip is to remember your other marketing channels.

For all of the benefits of email marketing, it still has a few drawbacks. You cannot create a truly effective marketing campaign without taking this into account, which means that your marketing emails should be backed by content in other channels.

Your online store should have an established web presence, which incorporates and encourages users to engage with various social media accounts.

Integration Is Your Friend

There are also ways to integrate your email marketing strategy into other outlets. Both direct mail and SMS marketing are amazing customer acquisition strategies, and ecommerce businesses can take full advantage of these marketing channels by linking them with their email campaigns.

The Perks of a Marketing Partner

If all of this is a bit much, that’s okay!

A photo of skyscrapers, as viewed from the ground, with overlaid header text: “The Perks of a Marketing Partner.”

Gaining more subscribers and reaping actual purchases from those new customers is hard! It’s a delicate balancing game, and mastering the numbers means knowing the business.

Fortunately, there are ways to alleviate the stress of content marketing.

When you pair with a skilled email marketing agency, — such as The Email Marketers — you gain a strategic partner. Your business can forget about its email marketing woes and focus its efforts on developing its online store.

How to Start Your Own Email Marketing Campaigns

If your small business is ready to grow, then it might be time to consider expanding your reach! Boosting your click-through rates and gathering more social followers can be simple; all you need to do is take the first step. Get in touch with me, and let’s see what we can do together!

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the rest of my blog. I’m constantly updating this site with new content, and all of it is aimed at making sure your email marketing is amazing! Regardless of your business’ industry, there are so many ways that you can utilize this simple marketing channel.

Where to Learn Even More

This blog post isn’t the end of your marketing journey. In fact, it’s just the beginning! There are so many other things that you can learn about, and every new topic is an opportunity to turn a random factor into an insightful morsel of data. From re-engagement emails and retention email campaigns to generalized and management-focused tips and tricks, there’s always something new to learn!

Your business needs your attention and care to grow, so give it what it needs! Start your email marketing journey today, and you might just be amazed by the results.