Invented in 1971, email is one of the oldest means of instant digital communication. Initially used for quick and seamless communication within an organization, it soon became the gold standard for marketing communications.
Fast forward to 2022, almost all organizations use email to communicate with their audience, generate leads, and increase sales and revenue.
If you doubt the effectiveness of email marketing, here are 60+ statistics to change your mind.
Email usage statistics
A large portion of the world's population uses email, and its popularity is only growing. Here are some email usage statistics you should know.
4.03 billion people used email in 2020, and that number is expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2025. ( Statista )
Approximately 306 billion emails were sent and received in 2020, with this number projected to reach 376 billion by 2025. ( Statista )
In 2021, 9.59 billion emails were sent per day in the US, followed by 8.97 billion in Germany, 8.74 billion in Austria, 8.7 billion in China, and 8.63 billion in France. ( Statista )
The average person receives 100-120 emails a day. ( Web Země )
The average user has 1.86 email accounts. Most people have two – a primary address and a secondary one. ( 99firmy )
Approximately 85% of all emails are spam. ( Dataprot )
With the boom in the email market, several email clients have entered the market. As a result, users have a variety of email self employed database clients to choose from. Despite this, Apple and Gmail continue to enjoy the majority of the market share.
The table below lists the best email clients and their global market share.
Additionally, the time of day an email is sent also affects open rates. The highest open rates are between 8am and 12pm (5-7pm). Open rates peak at 9am-10pm (~7%) and decline after 12pm. After 12pm, they begin to decline rapidly, reaching their lowest point at 4pm-1am (less than 1%).
What is the best time to send an email?
( EngineMailer )
So avoid sending emails on weekends if you want high open and engagement rates. And on weekdays, send your emails at 9-10 am.
Email content — Subject, opening paragraph, body, and more
The success of emails depends heavily on their subject line and content. A good subject line ensures high open rates, while the body content determines engagement and CTR.
The following statistics will help you better frame your email subject lines and body content.
47% of users open an email based on its subject line. ( AWeber )
The subject line is 43.85% of the characters on average. ( AWeber )
Including the word “video” in the subject line increases open rates by 19% and click-through rates (CTR) by 65%. ( Syndacast )
69% of users decide whether an email is spam based on the subject line. ( Invesp )
Emails with a subject line of 6-10 words have the highest open rate — 21%. ( Invesp )
Emails with emojis in the subject line have an average open rate of 39%. ( Klaviyo )
Videos in your emails can increase your click-through rate (CTR) by 300%. ( Martech Advisor )
Emails with recipient names in subject lines have an open rate of 18.3% compared to 15.7% for subject lines without names. ( Marketing Experiments )
Emails with short copy (less than 95 words) have a CTR of 40.19% compared to 34.38% for long copy (more than 170 words). ( Marketing Experiments )
68% of millennials like to use emojis, stickers, and GIFs in their emails.
Two-thirds of email users prefer emails that consist primarily of images.