Email Marketing Statistics (2026): 52+ Data Points on ROI, Automation Performance, and Engagement Benchmarks
Email marketing returns $36–$42 for every $1 spent — making it the highest-ROI marketing channel available to small businesses. That figure, drawn from Litmus's State of Email research, towers over paid social ($2–$5 per dollar) and exceeds even paid search in most industry analyses. The gap only widens when automation enters the picture: automated emails make up just 2% of total email sends yet drive 37% of all email-generated revenue (Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report).
With 4.6 billion email users worldwide — more than half the global population — and 376 billion emails sent daily, email remains the most widely used digital communication channel on the planet (Statista/Radicati Group, 2025). For Canadian SMBs, the case is even more direct: 41% of small business owners expect email marketing to be their most valuable channel in 2026 (Constant Contact Small Business Now Report 2026, 1,500+ respondents).
We aggregated data from Litmus's State of Email 2025, Omnisend's 2026 Ecommerce Email Marketing Statistics Report, MailerLite's 2025 Email Benchmarks (3.6 million campaigns), Klaviyo's Ecommerce Benchmark Report, the DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025, the Radicati Group Email Statistics Report 2025 (via Statista), HubSpot's State of Marketing 2025/2026, Constant Contact's 2026 Small Business Now Report, Campaign Monitor, and dozens of other primary sources to compile these email marketing statistics.
Key Takeaways
- $36–$42 ROI per $1 spent on email marketing — highest of any digital channel (Litmus State of Email 2025)
- 4.6 billion email users worldwide in 2025, projected to reach 4.9 billion by 2027 (Statista citing Radicati Group, 2025)
- 376 billion emails sent and received daily in 2025 — projected 424 billion by 2026 (Radicati Group via Statista)
- Automated emails represent just 2% of send volume but drive 37% of total email revenue (Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report)
- Welcome emails achieve 83.6% average open rate — highest of any email type (Omnisend 2026)
- Abandoned cart emails average a 50.5% open rate and 3.33% conversion rate (Klaviyo Benchmark Report)
- Average email click rate across all industries: 2.09% — up from 2.00% in 2024 (MailerLite 2025, 3.6M campaigns)
- Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) affects ~49% of all tracked email opens — inflating reported rates 15–20 points (Litmus, January 2025)
- Segmented campaigns generate a 760% increase in email revenue vs. non-segmented sends (DMA/Campaign Monitor)
- 41% of small business owners say email marketing will be their most valuable channel in 2026 (Constant Contact Small Business Now Report 2026)
- Email delivery rate remains at 98%+ globally — with B2C emails achieving 99.2% delivery (DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025)
- 81% of SMBs rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel (Emarsys, most recent available: 2023)
1. Global Reach and Usage
Email is the only marketing channel that reaches more than half of every person on Earth — and it is still growing. The 4.6 billion global email users projected for 2025 represents a 15% increase from 4.0 billion in 2020 (Statista/Radicati Group). Daily email volume has grown proportionally: from 306 billion in 2020 to 376 billion in 2025, with the Radicati Group projecting 424 billion per day in 2026. At 376 billion daily sends, more emails are sent every 24 hours than there are people on Earth — nearly 50 times over. For SMBs competing in local markets, this scale means two things: email is the one channel where your customers are guaranteed to spend time every day, and standing out in an overloaded inbox requires intentional strategy.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global email users, 2025 | 4.6 billion | Statista citing Radicati Group Email Statistics Report 2025 |
| Global email users projected, 2027 | 4.89 billion | Statista citing Radicati Group |
| Emails sent and received daily, 2025 | 376 billion | Radicati Group via Statista (December 2024) |
| Emails sent and received daily, 2026 (projected) | 424 billion | Radicati Group via Statista |
| % of small business owners expecting email to be their top channel, 2026 | 41% | Constant Contact Small Business Now Report 2026 (1,500+ SMB owners, US/UK/Canada/Australia/NZ) |
| % of SMBs using email as primary customer acquisition channel | 81% | Emarsys (most recent available: 2023) |
| % of small businesses using email marketing | 64% | Forbes Advisor SMB survey (cited in Constant Contact 2026 report) |
| % of small businesses currently using AI to write emails or content | 44% | Constant Contact Small Business Now Report 2026 |
Sources: Statista: Number of Emails Sent per Day (citing Radicati Group, December 2024) | Constant Contact: Small Business Now Report 2026 (1,500+ respondents)
2. ROI and Revenue Impact
The $36–$42 ROI figure from Litmus is not a cherry-picked outlier — it is a floor, not a ceiling. Omnisend reports US merchants averaging $72 return per $1 spent, and retail/ecommerce businesses specifically achieve $45 (Litmus). 18% of businesses achieve an ROI exceeding $70 for every $1 invested (Campaign Monitor 2025). For context, paid social typically returns $2–$5 per dollar, and Google Ads averages $2 per $1 spent across industries. The mechanism behind email's exceptional ROI is structural: it reaches an owned audience with no ongoing media cost, delivered directly to the inbox rather than competing in an algorithm-driven feed. For B2C brands specifically, HubSpot's 2025 State of Marketing Report ranks email as the #1 ROI-driving channel — ahead of paid social and content marketing.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average email marketing ROI (global) | $36–$42 per $1 spent | Litmus State of Email 2025 (most recent available from Litmus primary) |
| Average email marketing ROI (US ecommerce) | $72 per $1 spent | Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report |
| Average email marketing ROI (retail, ecommerce, consumer goods) | $45 per $1 spent | Litmus State of Email (industry-specific breakdown) |
| % of businesses achieving $70+ ROI per $1 spent | 18% | Campaign Monitor 2025 |
| Email vs. paid social ROI comparison | Email ROI 7–20× higher than paid social | Omnisend / Litmus comparative data |
| Email channel ROI rank for B2C brands | #1 (above paid social, content marketing) | HubSpot State of Marketing Report 2025 (1,100+ marketers) |
| % of consumers who say email influences purchase decisions | 59% | OptinMonster consumer survey 2025 |
| % of consumers who have made a purchase directly from an email | 52% | Marigold Consumer Email Survey 2024 |
ROI methodology note: The $36–$42 figure represents averages across different program sizes, industries, and maturity levels. Litmus calculates this from marketer-reported data. Omnisend's $72 (US) figure is from their 2026 ecommerce report covering paid subscribers. Both are Tier 1 primary data but with different sample compositions — their difference is explained by US vs. global scope and ecommerce-only vs. all-industry weighting.
Sources: Litmus: State of Email Reports (primary research) | Omnisend: 2026 Ecommerce Email Marketing Statistics Report
Email marketing is consistently the top ROI channel for local service businesses — and it works even better when paired with a conversion-optimized website. Hooked Marketing helps Calgary and Edmonton businesses build the digital foundations that make every marketing channel work harder.
3. Engagement Benchmarks: Open Rate, Click Rate, and CTOR
Reported email open rates look strong in 2025 — MailerLite's 3.6-million-campaign dataset puts the median at 43.46%. But Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) now accounts for approximately 49% of all tracked email opens, artificially inflating every reported figure by 15–20 percentage points (Litmus, January 2025). The practical implication: a 43% reported open rate almost certainly reflects a real human open rate closer to 25–30%. This is not a cause for alarm — it affects every sender equally — but it means click rate and click-to-open rate (CTOR) are now the most reliable primary engagement metrics. MailerLite's 2025 data shows the average click rate across 3.6 million campaigns at 2.09% and average CTOR at 6.81% — both are up year-over-year and represent genuine (not MPP-inflated) engagement.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average email open rate across all industries (2025) | 43.46% (MPP-inflated; real rate ~25–30%) | MailerLite Email Benchmarks 2025 (3.6M campaigns, 181,000+ accounts) |
| Average email click rate across all industries (2025) | 2.09% | MailerLite Email Benchmarks 2025 |
| Average email click-to-open rate (CTOR), 2025 | 6.81% | MailerLite Email Benchmarks 2025 |
| Average unsubscribe rate (2025) | 0.22% | MailerLite Email Benchmarks 2025 |
| % of tracked email opens affected by Apple MPP | ~49% | Litmus Email Client Market Share, January 2025 |
| Apple Mail market share of all email clients | 49.29% | Litmus Email Client Market Share, January 2025 |
| Ecommerce email open rate (all verticals), 2025 | 30.7% (up from 26.6% in 2024) | Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report (5th consecutive annual increase) |
| Highest open rate industry | 55.71% (religion) | MailerLite Email Benchmarks 2025 (3.6M campaigns) |
| Ecommerce email click-to-conversion, 2025 | 9% (up 53% YoY from 5.9%) | Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report |
Important: All open rate benchmarks in this table — and across the industry — are affected by Apple MPP. MailerLite explicitly acknowledges this in their methodology. The figures are still directionally useful for tracking trends over time, but should not be compared to pre-2021 open rate benchmarks as if they measure the same thing. Click rate and CTOR are now the industry's preferred primary engagement KPIs.
Sources: MailerLite: Email Benchmarks 2025 (3.6 million campaigns, 46 industries) | Omnisend: 2026 Ecommerce Email Marketing Statistics Report
4. Email Automation Performance
The automation ROI gap is one of the most important findings in email marketing research — and it is consistently replicated across the two largest primary datasets. Automated emails represent 2% of total send volume but generate 37% of all email revenue (Omnisend 2026, confirmed by Litmus). Klaviyo's benchmark data across 183,000+ brands reaches the same conclusion: automated flows generate revenue per recipient nearly 18× higher than standard campaigns. The mechanism is timing — flows fire when someone takes an action (subscribes, abandons a cart, views a product), making them infinitely more relevant than any scheduled broadcast. Welcome emails, abandoned cart sequences, and browse abandonment flows together account for 88% of all automated email orders (Omnisend).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Automated emails: % of send volume vs. % of revenue | 2% of sends → 37% of email revenue | Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report (23B+ emails analyzed) |
| Revenue per recipient: automated flows vs. campaigns | Flows generate ~18× higher RPR than campaigns | Klaviyo Benchmark Report (183,000+ brands) |
| Welcome emails: average open rate | 83.6% | Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report |
| Welcome emails: revenue vs. promotional messages | 320% more revenue per email | Omnisend 2026 (most recent available primary) |
| Abandoned cart emails: average open rate | 50.5% | Klaviyo Ecommerce Benchmark Report |
| Abandoned cart emails: average click rate | 6.25% | Klaviyo Ecommerce Benchmark Report |
| Abandoned cart emails: average conversion rate | 3.33% (top 10%: 7.69%) | Klaviyo Ecommerce Benchmark Report |
| Top 3 automation types by order contribution | Welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment = 88% of automated orders | Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Statistics Report |
Context: These automation benchmarks are drawn primarily from ecommerce datasets (Omnisend and Klaviyo). Service businesses and B2B email programs will see different performance profiles — welcome series and re-engagement flows still outperform standard campaigns by a wide margin, but the absolute conversion rates will differ from product-purchase benchmarks.
Sources: Omnisend: 2026 Ecommerce Email Marketing Statistics Report | Klaviyo: Ecommerce Email Benchmark Report (183,000+ brands)
Setting up even basic email automation — a welcome series and abandoned cart flow — can be the single highest-ROI decision a small business makes. Hooked Marketing builds marketing systems for Calgary and Edmonton SMBs that put these channels to work from day one.
5. Personalization and Segmentation
The 760% revenue increase from list segmentation is one of email marketing's most replicated findings — cited by both the DMA and Campaign Monitor from their own primary datasets. It is also one of the most misunderstood: it does not mean every business will see that lift. It means that senders who segment well enough to significantly outperform their non-segmented baseline can achieve that range. Personalized emails generate up to 6× higher transaction rates than non-personalized campaigns (Campaign Monitor). The three most effective personalization tactics are segmentation (78%), message personalization (72%), and email automation (71%) — all cited by marketers in HubSpot's primary survey research (HubSpot State of Marketing 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue increase from segmented vs. non-segmented campaigns | 760% | DMA / Campaign Monitor (primary dataset, most recent available) |
| Personalized emails: transaction rate vs. non-personalized | 6× higher | Campaign Monitor primary research |
| Segmented campaigns: open rate lift vs. non-segmented | +30% more opens | Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks (billions of emails) |
| Segmented campaigns: click-through rate lift | +50% more clicks | Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks |
| Most effective email marketing strategies (marketers) | Segmentation (78%), personalization (72%), automation (71%) | HubSpot State of Marketing 2025 (1,100+ marketers surveyed) |
| Personalized subject lines: open rate lift | +26% | Campaign Monitor primary research |
| % of marketers who say personalization improves visitor engagement | 57% | Electroiq citing SQ Magazine/personalization survey data 2025 |
Sources: Mailchimp: Email Marketing Benchmarks (billions of emails, industry segmentation) | HubSpot State of Marketing 2025
Segmentation works best when the underlying website and landing pages are built to convert the traffic that clicks through. Hooked Marketing's web design service builds those pages for Calgary and Edmonton businesses.
6. Mobile Email and Deliverability
Over half of all email opens now occur on mobile devices — 55% globally (Litmus/Genesysgrowth). Emails not optimized for mobile are deleted by 50% of recipients within seconds (Campaign Monitor). These two data points explain why mobile-first email design is no longer optional. On deliverability: the DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025 confirms that overall email delivery rates remain strong at 98%+, with B2C emails achieving 99.2%. But Apple Mail Privacy Protection has fundamentally changed how deliverability signals are measured — with ~49% of tracked opens being machine-generated, inbox placement is now best monitored through click rates, spam complaint rates, and sender reputation scores rather than open-rate trends.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| % of email opens on mobile devices | ~55% | Litmus / Genesysgrowth email benchmark analysis 2025 |
| % of recipients who delete non-mobile-optimized emails | 50% | Campaign Monitor primary research (most recent available: 2024) |
| Global email delivery rate (all industries) | 98%+ | DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025 |
| B2C email delivery rate specifically | 99.2% | DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025 |
| Apple Mail market share of email client opens | 49.29% | Litmus Email Client Market Share, January 2025 |
| Open rate inflation caused by Apple MPP | +15–20 percentage points | Litmus / Validity Everest 2024 analysis |
| Email list decay rate annually (unsubscribes, job changes, bounces) | ~22–23% | HubSpot marketing research (most recent available primary) |
Deliverability note: The 2025 adoption of DMARC authentication requirements by Google and Yahoo for bulk senders has raised the deliverability floor for compliant senders. Businesses sending marketing emails without SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication configured are at increasing risk of inbox placement failures — particularly for Gmail and Yahoo, which together represent the majority of consumer inboxes in North America.
Sources: Litmus State of Email Reports (email client market share data) | DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025
Email Marketing Statistics by the Numbers: Summary Table
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global email users, 2025 | 4.6 billion | Statista / Radicati Group, 2025 |
| Emails sent per day, 2025 | 376 billion | Radicati Group via Statista |
| Average email marketing ROI | $36–$42 per $1 spent | Litmus State of Email 2025 |
| Email ROI (US ecommerce) | $72 per $1 spent | Omnisend 2026 |
| Email ROI rank for B2C brands | #1 channel | HubSpot State of Marketing 2025 |
| % who made a purchase directly from an email | 52% | Marigold Consumer Survey 2024 |
| Average email click rate (all industries, 2025) | 2.09% | MailerLite 2025 (3.6M campaigns) |
| Average email CTOR (2025) | 6.81% | MailerLite 2025 (3.6M campaigns) |
| Apple Mail's share of all email client opens | 49.29% | Litmus, January 2025 |
| Automated emails: share of sends vs. revenue | 2% sends → 37% revenue | Omnisend 2026 |
| Welcome email average open rate | 83.6% | Omnisend 2026 |
| Abandoned cart email average open rate | 50.5% | Klaviyo Benchmark Report |
| Abandoned cart email average conversion rate | 3.33% | Klaviyo Benchmark Report |
| Revenue lift from segmented campaigns | +760% | DMA / Campaign Monitor |
| Personalized emails: transaction rate vs. generic | 6× higher | Campaign Monitor |
| Segmented campaigns: click-through rate lift | +50% | Mailchimp Benchmarks |
| % of email opens on mobile | ~55% | Litmus 2025 |
| Global email delivery rate | 98%+ | DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025 |
| % of SMBs expecting email to be their top channel, 2026 | 41% | Constant Contact Small Business Now 2026 |
| % of consumers who say email influences purchase decisions | 59% | OptinMonster 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
This article sources exclusively from Tier 1 primary research (original surveys, named studies with disclosed methodology, and platform-generated benchmark reports from real send datasets) and clearly flagged Tier 2 aggregators. No statistics were sourced from roundup listicles without traceable primary attribution. Statistics marked "most recent available" are the strongest primary sources available for that claim — updated figures have not been published as of April 2026.
- Litmus: State of Email Reports (2024/2025) — email ROI benchmarks, email client market share (including Apple MPP data), AI adoption. litmus.com
- Radicati Group Email Statistics Report 2025 (via Statista) — global email user count, daily email volume projections. statista.com
- Omnisend: 2026 Ecommerce Email Marketing Statistics Report — automated email revenue share (37%), welcome email benchmarks, ecommerce open rate trends. omnisend.com
- MailerLite Email Benchmarks 2025 — average open rate, click rate, CTOR, unsubscribe rate across 3.6 million campaigns and 46 industries. mailerlite.com
- Klaviyo Ecommerce Benchmark Report — abandoned cart email benchmarks, welcome flow performance, revenue per recipient data from 183,000+ brands. klaviyo.com
- DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2025 — delivery rates, B2C deliverability benchmarks. dma.org.uk
- HubSpot: State of Marketing 2025 and Social Media Marketing Report 2025 — B2C channel ROI rankings, personalization strategy data, marketer behavior. blog.hubspot.com
- Constant Contact: Small Business Now Report 2026 — SMB email channel expectations, AI usage. 1,500+ small business owners surveyed across US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ. constantcontact.com
- Campaign Monitor primary research — segmentation revenue lift (760%), personalization transaction rate lift, subject line data. campaignmonitor.com
- Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks — segmentation click-rate and open-rate lift from billions of emails. mailchimp.com
- Marigold Consumer Email Survey 2024 — 52% purchase directly from email. meetmarigold.com
- OptinMonster consumer surveys 2025 — purchase influence and subject line data. optinmonster.com
Last updated: April 2026. We update this page quarterly. Spotted an outdated figure or newer primary source? Let us know here.