Email Marketing Strategy47 statistics35 sources#Email Trends#Statistics#Industry Benchmarks#Email Performance
47 Email Marketing Trends and Statistics (2023-2024)
Latest email marketing data on open rates, ROI, automation, and trends from 2023-2024. Industry benchmarks and insights for marketers.
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Key Takeaways
- 4.48 billion people worldwide used email in 2024
- 42.35% average email open rate recorded across all industries in 2024
- $36 returned for every $1 spent: email marketing's average ROI across all industries
- 63% of marketers now use AI tools in their email marketing campaigns
- 50-60% of all email opens come from mobile devices in 2024
Email Volume, Users, and Market Growth
Email remains one of the largest communication channels globally, with billions of users sending and receiving messages daily. Understanding email scale helps marketers appreciate the channel's reach and competitive landscape. These metrics show sustained growth in both user base and message volume year over year.
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4.48 billion people worldwide used email in 2024
As of 2024, email reached more than half the global population, making it the single largest direct communication channel available to marketers. That user base is projected to grow to 4.89 billion by 2027, meaning the addressable audience for email marketing continues to expand year over year.
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361.6 billion emails were sent and received every day in 2024
Global daily email volume reached 361.6 billion in 2024, a 4.1% increase from the previous year. That consistent single-digit annual growth rate signals a stable, maturing channel rather than a declining one, giving marketers a reliable infrastructure to build on.
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Daily email volume is forecast to hit 408.2 billion by 2027
From 361.6 billion daily emails in 2024, global volume is projected to grow by roughly 12.9% to reach 408.2 billion by 2027. For email marketers, this means inbox competition will intensify, placing greater importance on relevance, timing, and deliverability.
4
Global email marketing revenue surpassed $9.5 billion in 2024
The email marketing industry crossed the $9.5 billion revenue mark in 2024 and is on track to reach $17.9 billion by 2027, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 13.3%. This level of investment underscores how central email remains to the overall digital marketing budget.
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63% of email marketers say the volume of marketing emails they send is increasing
Nearly two-thirds of email marketers reported sending higher volumes than in prior periods, a sign of growing confidence in the channel. With send volumes rising across the board, standing out in a crowded inbox requires stronger segmentation and more relevant content strategies.
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The US sent nearly 10 billion emails per day as of April 2024, leading all countries
As of April 2024, the United States topped all countries in daily email volume at approximately 9.7 billion emails sent per day. Germany and Ireland followed at 8.5 billion and 8.4 billion respectively, confirming that email's heaviest usage is concentrated in North America and Western Europe.
Email Engagement Metrics (Open Rates, Click Rates, CTOR)
Open rates and click-through rates are foundational metrics for measuring campaign performance. This section covers average benchmarks across industries, email types, and how these metrics have evolved. Note that some changes reflect platform updates like Apple Mail Privacy Protection.
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42.35% average email open rate recorded across all industries in 2024
MailerLite's benchmark report, based on over 3.6 million campaigns, found the cross-industry average open rate reached 42.35% in 2024, rising further to 43.46% in 2025. Marketers should interpret these figures with caution, as Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates reported opens by preloading emails on Apple devices regardless of whether a user actually reads them.
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39.64% was the average email open rate in 2023, up from 26.8% in 2022
GetResponse analyzed more than 4 billion emails sent by its customers throughout 2023 and found average open rates climbed 12.84 percentage points year over year. Part of this growth reflects Apple MPP auto-opens, but click-through rates also rose, suggesting real improvements in content relevance and personalization played a role.
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2% average email click rate in 2024, rising to 2.09% in 2025
MailerLite's analysis of 3.6 million campaigns found the average click rate held at 2% in 2024 before edging up to 2.09% in 2025. Because click rate is not distorted by Apple MPP, it is now considered a more reliable indicator of actual newsletter engagement than open rate alone.
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5.63% average click-to-open rate (CTOR) in 2024, up to 6.81% in 2025
MailerLite's benchmark data shows CTOR climbed from 5.63% in 2024 to 6.81% in 2025, with industry-level ranges spanning from 2.96% to 14.82%. CTOR is particularly useful for diagnosing content quality: a high CTOR alongside a low open rate indicates that subscribers who do open find the content worth clicking, pointing to a subject line or deliverability problem rather than a content problem.
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5.3% average click-to-open rate across all industries, per HubSpot benchmark data
HubSpot's email benchmark compilation reports a cross-industry CTOR of 5.3%, reinforcing that post-Apple MPP, CTOR and click-through rate have become the primary performance indicators for campaign content effectiveness, replacing open rate as the go-to engagement signal.
Email Marketing ROI and Revenue Impact
Email consistently delivers the highest ROI of any digital marketing channel. These statistics demonstrate how much revenue businesses generate per dollar spent, consumer purchase behavior triggered by email, and why marketers prioritize email in their mix.
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$36 returned for every $1 spent: email marketing's average ROI across all industries
Email consistently delivers a 3,600% average return on investment, making it the highest-ROI channel in digital marketing. For context, SEO averages 317-1,389% ROI and social media sits at roughly 250%, meaning email outperforms both by a significant margin.
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18% of companies generate $70 or more for every $1 spent on email marketing
Nearly 1 in 5 businesses achieves an email marketing ROI of 7,000% or higher. This top-tier performance is typically driven by strong list hygiene, behavioral segmentation, and consistent automation investment.
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52% of consumers made a purchase directly from an email in the past year
More than half of consumers completed a purchase triggered by a marketing email, according to Marigold's 2024 Consumer Trends Index. Email outperformed social media posts by 13% and social media ads by 11% as a direct purchase driver.
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In 2024, automated emails drove 37% of all email-generated sales while representing just 2% of email volume
Automated workflows are extraordinarily efficient: they punch far above their weight by converting at rates impossible for broadcast campaigns. This is why cart abandonment, welcome, and post-purchase sequences are typically the highest-ROI investments in any email program.
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Retail, e-commerce, and consumer goods companies see the highest email ROI at $45 for every $1 spent
Industry matters when benchmarking email ROI. Retail and e-commerce lead all sectors at a 45:1 return, followed by travel and hospitality at $53:1. Software and technology companies average $36:1, still well ahead of other digital channels.
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Global email marketing industry revenue hit $12.33 billion in 2024, up from $7.5 billion in 2020
The market has grown at a 13.3% compound annual growth rate since 2020 and is projected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027. This sustained investment growth reflects the channel's measurable returns relative to rising paid media costs.
Personalization, Automation, and AI Trends
Marketers are increasingly leveraging automation, AI, and personalization to improve results. This section covers adoption rates, effectiveness of these tactics, and how they impact engagement and conversion. Generative AI adoption is transforming how teams create and optimize campaigns.
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63% of marketers now use AI tools in their email marketing campaigns
AI adoption in email has crossed the majority threshold, with nearly two-thirds of marketers integrating it into their programs. By analyzing customer behavior, automating content creation, and optimizing send times, AI helps teams hit higher engagement rates without proportionally increasing workload.
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87% of businesses that have adopted AI apply it specifically to email marketing
Among all the functions where AI can be deployed, email marketing ranks as the primary application area. This concentration signals that marketers see email as the highest-ROI channel for AI implementation, where machine learning can predict timing, personalize content, and analyze engagement patterns at scale.
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In 2024, automated emails drove 37% of all email-generated sales despite accounting for just 2% of total email volume
This is the clearest business case for automation: a tiny share of send volume produces more than a third of total email revenue. Triggered sequences such as welcome emails, abandoned cart flows, and post-purchase messages consistently outperform broadcast sends because they reach subscribers at the highest-intent moments.
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51% of marketers in the US and Europe believe AI-supported email marketing outperforms traditional methods
A 2023 survey of email marketers across the US, UK, and other European countries found a majority reporting better results with AI than without it. Roughly 20% saw no significant difference, suggesting AI delivers a meaningful but not universal lift, which makes proper implementation and testing essential.
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As of early 2024, email was the most automated marketing channel, cited by 58% of professionals
Email overtook content marketing and social media management as the channel that relies most heavily on automation. This reflects both the maturity of email platforms and the volume of touchpoints marketers need to cover across the customer lifecycle without adding headcount.
Mobile, Device Usage, and Deliverability
Mobile email consumption continues to grow, and deliverability remains critical to campaign success. These stats highlight device preferences, email client performance, and the percentage of emails reaching inboxes across providers and industries.
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50-60% of all email opens come from mobile devices in 2024
Mobile has firmly become the dominant environment for reading email. Marketers who skip mobile optimization are effectively designing for a minority of their audience, since more than half of all opens now happen on phones.
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56% of email marketing professionals planned to optimize email design for mobile devices in July 2023
Despite mobile opens dominating, nearly half of marketers had not yet committed to mobile-first design as of mid-2023. This gap between device usage reality and design practice represents a direct risk to click-through rates and conversions.
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Apple Mail and Gmail together account for nearly 90% of the global email client market as of 2024
Apple Mail leads with roughly 56-58% market share, while Gmail holds approximately 29-32%. This near-duopoly means rendering performance in just two environments determines the inbox experience for the vast majority of subscribers.
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In 2023, 86% of emails arrived in inboxes, while 7% went to spam and 7% went missing
Even with the best authentication practices in place, roughly 1 in 7 emails failed to reach the inbox in 2023. This underscores why deliverability cannot be treated as a passive outcome and requires active monitoring.
40
The average global inbox placement rate dropped to 83.5% in 2024, down from 84.8% in 2023
Email deliverability decreased 1.9% year-over-year in 2024, meaning nearly 1 in 6 promotional emails never reached the intended inbox. This decline happened despite increased industry focus on authentication and list hygiene, indicating that traditional deliverability tactics are losing effectiveness.
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Microsoft mailboxes (Outlook and Hotmail) achieved just 75.6% inbox placement in 2024, compared to Gmail's 87.2%
The nearly 12-percentage-point gap between Gmail and Microsoft inbox placement rates means senders with large Outlook audiences face a materially harder deliverability challenge. Provider-specific optimization, including stricter engagement segmentation and authentication, is no longer optional for high-volume senders.
B2B Email Marketing and Newsletter Adoption
B2B marketers rely heavily on email for lead nurturing and content distribution. Email newsletters rank as a top tactic for B2B engagement. These statistics show how email performs in professional contexts and why it dominates B2B strategy.
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81% of B2B marketers use email newsletters as their most-used content marketing method
Email newsletters rank as the single most widely adopted content format in B2B marketing, outpacing blog posts, social media, and video. This signals that newsletters are not just a supplementary tactic but the backbone of B2B content distribution strategies.
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71% of B2B marketers used email newsletters to nurture leads in 2024
According to the Content Marketing Institute's 2025 report, nearly three in four B2B marketers relied on email newsletters as a lead nurturing channel over the previous 12-month period, making it one of the highest-adoption tactics in the B2B playbook.
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50% of B2B marketers say email is the most impactful channel in their multichannel marketing strategy
Half of U.S. B2B marketers rank email above social media, content marketing, and paid channels when measuring multichannel impact. This makes email the clear centerpiece of professional marketing stacks, not just one channel among many.
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Email marketing is the most-used B2B marketing tactic at 84%, ahead of social media at 75%
A Sagefrog survey found that email marketing leads all other B2B marketing tactics by adoption rate, with social media, blogging, and SEO all trailing behind. This reinforces email as the default starting point for B2B marketers building or expanding their programs.
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In 2023, newsletter registrations among B2B buyers grew 307% year over year
NetLine's 2023 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report recorded a 307% spike in year-over-year newsletter registrations, indicating that demand for email newsletters from B2B buyers, not just from marketers, surged sharply heading into 2024.
Sources
All statistics on this page are sourced from the following 35 references.
