Use Frequency Segments
Allow highly engaged subscribers to receive more frequent content while reducing sends to contacts who rarely open or click.
Explore email-user growth, company adoption, average open and click-through rates, return on investment, personalization, mobile behavior, B2B preferences, automated flows and artificial-intelligence adoption.
Forbes Advisor reported approximately 4.48 billion global email users in the underlying benchmark period. The article cited projections of approximately 4.59 billion users in 2025 and 4.73 billion users in 2026.
The same Forbes Advisor overview reported that 81% of companies use email as part of their marketing strategy and that 64% of small businesses use email marketing.
These figures help explain why email remains important for newsletters, lead nurturing, customer education, product announcements, abandoned-cart reminders, appointment workflows and post-purchase communication.
Billions of users based on projections summarized by Forbes Advisor.
Published percentages represent different measures and should not be treated as parts of one total.
A large potential audience does not guarantee strong campaign performance. List permission, sender reputation, targeting, message relevance, mobile design and the strength of the call to action determine whether email volume becomes useful engagement.
Forbes Advisor, 49 Top Email Marketing Statistics, written by Katherine Haan and reviewed by Rob Watts.
Review the Forbes Advisor source article
TextBlast summarizes selected statistics in original wording and provides additional analysis and original chart presentation. Forbes Media and the article’s underlying research providers retain their respective copyrights. Citation does not transfer ownership or independently verify every underlying data point.
Forbes Advisor reports an overall average email-marketing open rate of approximately 36.5%. However, campaign performance varies by industry, audience relationship, message purpose and list quality.
Faith-based organizations, child-care services, social services, nonprofits and education were among the categories with the highest reported open rates in the benchmark data.
Published benchmark percentages summarized by Forbes Advisor. Use these as directional comparisons rather than guaranteed campaign targets.
Industries with strong community relationships, recurring services or highly relevant updates often generate better engagement. Your own benchmark should account for consent quality, customer expectations, subject-line relevance, sender recognition and list inactivity.
The Forbes Advisor article reports an overall average email click-through rate of approximately 1.4%. Technology services and transportation services led the listed industries with reported click-through rates of 2.6%.
A click-through rate measures the percentage of delivered messages that generated at least one tracked link click. Definitions can vary between platforms, so businesses should confirm how their email provider calculates the metric.
Published industry benchmarks summarized by Forbes Advisor.
A campaign can have a strong open rate but a weak click rate when the subject line attracts attention but the offer, content or call to action does not motivate the next step. Track delivery, opens, clicks, replies, conversions and revenue together.
Forbes Advisor reports that personalized email campaigns can produce a 26% increase in open rates. Personalization can include more than inserting a first name. It may use customer interests, lifecycle stage, location, previous purchases, browsing activity or prior campaign engagement.
The article also reports that 83% of customers are willing to share data in exchange for a more personalized experience. Businesses should still collect only necessary data, clearly explain how it will be used and protect it appropriately.
Illustrative comparison using a nonpersonalized campaign as a 100-point baseline.
The chart visualizes a reported 26% relative lift; it does not represent a universal 26-percentage-point increase.
Percentage of customers reported as willing to share data for personalized experiences.
A first name can attract attention, but meaningful personalization depends on relevance. A timely reminder, useful recommendation or message based on a known customer need is generally more valuable than inserting a name into an otherwise generic campaign.
Forbes Advisor reports that more than half of businesses send marketing emails between two and four times per month. This is a useful reference point, but the right schedule depends on customer expectations, message value, industry and list engagement.
The article identifies Tuesday at noon as a commonly recommended send time while also reporting that open rates remained relatively consistent throughout the week. Saturday had a marginal lead with a reported average open rate of 37.6%.
Allow highly engaged subscribers to receive more frequent content while reducing sends to contacts who rarely open or click.
A general industry recommendation may not match your audience. Test weekday, time zone, customer segment and campaign purpose.
Order confirmations, abandoned-cart reminders, password resets and appointment notices should be sent based on customer behavior rather than a fixed newsletter calendar.
A rising unsubscribe or complaint rate can indicate excessive frequency, poor targeting or a mismatch between the promised content and the actual campaign.
According to the statistics summarized by Forbes Advisor, 61% of consumers spend at least eight seconds viewing an email. Another 23.5% view an email for between two and eight seconds, while 15% spend less than two seconds.
The displayed values total 99.5% because the underlying published figures are rounded.
Put the primary benefit, message and call to action near the beginning. Use a clear heading, short paragraphs, meaningful buttons and descriptive links so the email is understandable even when the reader scans it quickly.
Forbes Advisor reports that 41% of email views came from mobile devices, compared with 39% from desktop computers. Tablets and other devices represented the remaining 20%.
Reported share of email views.
Industry open rates, click-through rates, personalization, viewing-time and device statistics in this section are summarized from Forbes Advisor's email-marketing statistics article.
View the original Forbes Advisor article
TextBlast has reorganized and interpreted the selected figures using original explanatory language and custom chart markup. The source article and underlying datasets remain the property of their respective copyright holders.
Email remains important in business-to-business marketing because buyers often need time to research, compare vendors, share information internally and evaluate multiple options before making a decision.
Forbes Advisor reports that 77% of B2B buyers prefer to be contacted by email, which places email ahead of many other outreach channels for professional communication.
Reported percentage of B2B buyers preferring email contact.
High-performing B2B email programs generally provide useful information instead of sending repeated sales requests. Educational content, clear pricing, comparisons and implementation guidance can reduce uncertainty and help buyers advance through a longer purchasing process.
Forbes Advisor reports that 59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchasing decisions. The article also reports that 50.7% of consumers purchase from marketing emails at least once per month.
Reported consumer behavior associated with marketing email.
Introduce the brand, confirm the subscription and direct the new contact toward the first useful action.
Suggest products based on customer preferences, previous purchases or browsing activity.
Announce limited-time offers, seasonal promotions, product launches and loyalty benefits.
Confirm the order, provide useful instructions, request feedback and recommend relevant next purchases.
Consumer campaigns should be measured through clicks, orders, average order value, repeat purchases and revenue per recipient. Open rate is helpful for diagnosing attention, but it does not measure the full commercial result.
Abandoned-cart email is triggered when a customer adds an item to a digital cart but leaves without completing the purchase. These campaigns are valuable because the customer has already demonstrated product interest.
Forbes Advisor reports that abandoned-cart emails have an average open rate of approximately 45%. The article also reports an average click rate of 21% and indicates that approximately 50% of recipients who click complete a purchase.
Example based on 10,000 delivered abandoned-cart emails and the reported benchmark rates.
The funnel is an illustration, not a forecast. It applies the reported percentages to one hypothetical campaign. Actual results depend on products, pricing, timing, audience intent and whether the cited click rate is calculated from delivered messages or opens.
Contact the customer while the product and purchase intent are still recent.
Include the item name, image, price and a direct link back to the cart.
Explain shipping, return policies, availability, payment options or other common reasons customers hesitate.
Discounts may recover sales but can train customers to abandon carts intentionally. Test reminders and service-oriented messages before relying on incentives.
Automated emails are triggered by subscriber behavior, account status, lifecycle stage or a scheduled event. Examples include welcome sequences, order follow-ups, abandoned-cart reminders, appointment confirmations and reactivation programs.
Forbes Advisor reports that automated emails account for approximately 31% of all email orders while representing only about 2% of email sends. This suggests that targeted, event-driven messages can outperform broad campaign volume.
Automated flows compared with standard campaigns.
Orders attributed to automated flows.
Automation is not valuable merely because it reduces manual work. It performs well when the timing and content reflect a real customer action, need or stage in the relationship.
Forbes Advisor reports an average return of approximately $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing. This is an industry-level benchmark, not a guaranteed return for every business.
Illustrative comparison between one dollar of spend and thirty-six dollars in reported return.
Email cost can include platform subscriptions, design, copywriting, employee time, list acquisition, data tools, integrations and deliverability monitoring.
Email revenue may include direct purchases, subscriptions, appointments, renewals and sales influenced by lead-nurturing campaigns.
ROI can vary depending on whether a business credits only the final email click or includes revenue influenced earlier in the customer journey. Use a consistent attribution method when comparing campaigns.
Forbes Advisor reports that worldwide email-marketing revenue was projected to reach approximately $12.33 billion in 2024 and $17.9 billion by 2027.
Billions of U.S. dollars, based on the projections summarized by Forbes Advisor.
Revenue growth reflects continued investment in software, automation, analytics, customer-data integration, deliverability, artificial intelligence and cross-channel marketing.
The B2B buyer, consumer purchase, abandoned-cart, automated-flow, ROI and market-revenue statistics above are summarized from Forbes Advisor’s published email marketing statistics article.
Read the Forbes Advisor source article
The written analysis, examples and chart presentation on this TextBlast page are original. The published statistics and underlying research remain attributable to Forbes Advisor and the original research providers cited by that article.
Artificial intelligence can help email teams generate subject-line ideas, summarize campaign results, recommend audience segments, personalize content and identify patterns across large subscriber lists.
Forbes Advisor reports that 51% of email marketers use AI-supported tools. The article also reports that 38% of marketers use AI to write emails and that 37% use it to create subject lines.
The percentages represent separate reported uses and do not form one combined total.
Generate multiple subject-line options based on the campaign goal, customer segment and offer.
Create first drafts, shorten copy, adjust tone and produce versions for different customer groups.
Identify engagement patterns and group subscribers by behavior, purchase history or campaign response.
Recommend delivery times based on when individual subscribers are most likely to engage.
Summarize campaign results and highlight changes in opens, clicks, conversions, bounces and opt-outs.
Suggest products, content or next actions using previous customer behavior.
Email teams should verify facts, pricing, links, compliance language, customer data and brand tone before sending AI-assisted content. Automation can accelerate production, but the business remains responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of every campaign.
Open rates, clicks and conversions cannot occur when the message is rejected, routed to spam or sent to an inactive address. Deliverability should therefore be treated as a primary campaign metric rather than a technical issue that is reviewed only after performance declines.
| Deliverability Factor | Why It Matters | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| SPF | Identifies servers authorized to send email for the domain. | Publish and maintain an accurate SPF record without exceeding DNS lookup limits. |
| DKIM | Adds a cryptographic signature that helps receiving systems verify the message. | Enable DKIM signing for every sending platform and confirm that signatures pass. |
| DMARC | Defines how receiving systems should handle messages that fail domain authentication. | Begin with monitoring, review reports and gradually move toward an enforcement policy. |
| List Permission | Permission-based contacts are less likely to complain, ignore messages or mark them as spam. | Record the signup source, consent language and opt-in date. |
| List Hygiene | Invalid and inactive contacts increase bounce rates and reduce engagement signals. | Remove hard bounces, suppress complaints and manage long-term inactivity. |
| Sending Consistency | Large unexplained volume changes can appear suspicious to mailbox providers. | Warm new domains and IP addresses gradually and avoid sudden volume spikes. |
| Content Quality | Misleading subject lines, broken links and low-quality content increase complaints. | Match the message to the subscription and test links before sending. |
| Unsubscribe Handling | Subscribers need a reliable way to stop promotional messages. | Use a visible unsubscribe link and process requests promptly. |
Purchased or scraped lists often contain invalid, outdated or uninterested contacts. They can generate complaints, damage sender reputation and violate platform policies or applicable marketing rules.
Email works best when businesses use it alongside other channels rather than forcing every customer interaction into one format. Email supports detailed content, while SMS is useful for urgent alerts and WhatsApp supports interactive conversations.
| Channel | Primary Strength | Strong Use Cases | Important Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detailed, visual and reusable long-form communication. | Newsletters, invoices, educational content, product launches, reports and automated nurturing. | Delivery, open rate, click rate, conversion, revenue, bounce rate and unsubscribe rate. | |
| SMS | Fast mobile delivery and simple immediate action. | Appointment reminders, urgent notices, verification codes, short alerts and time-sensitive links. | Delivery, click rate, response rate, conversion, opt-outs and cost per message. |
| Rich two-way conversations and customer support. | Sales questions, customer service, quotes, order updates, scheduling and product discovery. | Conversation starts, reply time, resolution, bookings, orders and customer satisfaction. |
Send detailed event or appointment information by email, followed by a short SMS reminder near the scheduled date.
Send educational or product content by email and let interested customers continue the discussion through WhatsApp.
Use SMS to alert the customer that an important document, invoice or account update is available by email.
Allow customers to select email, SMS or WhatsApp according to the message type and their preferred communication channel.
A complete email report should measure delivery, attention, interaction, conversion, list health and revenue. Relying on one metric can hide problems elsewhere in the campaign.
| Metric | Calculation | What It Indicates |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery Rate | Delivered messages divided by attempted messages. | Whether the list and sender infrastructure are functioning properly. |
| Open Rate | Unique opens divided by delivered messages. | Subject-line effectiveness and sender recognition, although privacy protections can affect accuracy. |
| Click-Through Rate | Unique clickers divided by delivered messages. | Whether the content and call to action create enough interest for the next step. |
| Click-to-Open Rate | Unique clickers divided by unique opens. | How effectively the email content converts readers into clickers. |
| Conversion Rate | Completed actions divided by delivered messages or unique clicks. | Whether recipients complete the intended action after engaging. |
| Bounce Rate | Bounced messages divided by attempted messages. | List quality and delivery problems. |
| Unsubscribe Rate | Unsubscribes divided by delivered messages. | Whether frequency, targeting or message expectations are causing list loss. |
| Revenue per Recipient | Attributed revenue divided by delivered recipients. | Commercial value generated across the entire delivered audience. |
| Revenue per Click | Attributed revenue divided by unique clickers. | The value of traffic produced by the email. |
| Subscriber Growth Rate | New subscribers minus unsubscribes and invalid contacts, divided by starting list size. | Whether the usable audience is expanding or shrinking. |
Confirm that messages were accepted and that bounce and complaint rates remain controlled.
Review opens, preview-text performance and results by sender name or subject-line test.
Evaluate clicks, replies, button performance and engagement by customer segment.
Measure orders, leads, appointments, downloads, registrations or other completed actions.
Attribute direct and assisted revenue using one consistent methodology.
Monitor opt-outs, complaints, inactivity, list growth and engagement decline over time.
Forbes Advisor cited approximately 4.48 billion global email users in the underlying benchmark period and a projection of approximately 4.73 billion users during 2026.
The Forbes Advisor article reports an average email-marketing campaign open rate of approximately 36.5%, although results vary by industry and list quality.
Forbes Advisor reports an overall average email click-through rate of approximately 1.4%.
Forbes Advisor reports an average return of approximately $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing.
Forbes Advisor reports that personalized campaigns may generate a 26% increase in open rates. Results depend on how relevant the personalization is.
The cited benchmarks report an average open rate of approximately 45% for abandoned-cart emails, along with strong click and purchase behavior.
Email is generally stronger for detailed content, while SMS is stronger for urgent reminders and immediate mobile action. Businesses often benefit from using both.
Yes. Email remains effective when businesses use permission-based lists, relevant segmentation, deliverability controls, automation and accurate conversion tracking.
This page combines original TextBlast explanations, strategy guidance, calculations and chart presentation with selected statistics summarized from the Forbes Advisor email-marketing statistics article.
Many statistics in the Forbes Advisor article originate from independent surveys, marketing platforms and research organizations cited within that article. The publication date of a summary page does not necessarily represent the collection date of each underlying data point.
Forbes Advisor, 49 Top Email Marketing Statistics, written by Katherine Haan and reviewed by Rob Watts.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/email-marketing-statistics/
Forbes Advisor is cited as the source from which the selected statistics were summarized. TextBlast does not reproduce the article in full or claim ownership of its language, research tables or underlying source data.
The statistics are presented as short factual summaries with prominent source attribution. TextBlast adds original analysis, original organization, custom charts, implementation advice and comparisons rather than reproducing the Forbes Advisor article.
Copyright ownership remains with Forbes Media and the respective owners of the underlying studies. Citation supports attribution but does not guarantee that every use qualifies as fair use in every jurisdiction.
Benchmarks should be used for planning and comparison, not as guaranteed results. Campaign outcomes vary by industry, audience, geography, consent quality, sender reputation, email client, offer and measurement method.
Review the original source and its cited research before using a statistic in legal filings, investment materials, academic work or other high-stakes decisions.
Use TextBlast to organize contacts, create email campaigns, automate customer follow-up and coordinate email with SMS and WhatsApp communication.
Browse email marketing resources by industry.