Sales email statistics: Insights that drive higher conversions and revenue

Email marketing is a powerful communication, engagement, and direct sales strategy that business professionals leverage on a large scale to reach out to email recipients, get them interested in the product or service the company offers, maintain a rapport with existing customers, and attract new ones.

Email marketing influence is cultivated not only due to the positive sender reputation of the brand but also owing to several vital aspects and elements of promotional emails, such as visually appealing email design (formatting, layout, colors, typography, etc.), structure (headers, subject line, body, signature), and content, where clarity, readability, and purpose are of great significance.

Which of these aspects has the greatest impact on the target audience and displays the most considerable efficiency? What should email marketers pay most attention to when they launch cold email campaigns or craft sales emails if they want their emails delivered instead of ending up in the spam folder? You can find out by tapping into email marketing stats that reveal crucial numbers and trends symptomatic of the niche.

Top 10 sales email statistics every business should know

We will begin with the most general figures that describe the role of email marketing in the modern business world.

1. This year, the global number of email users reached 4.55 billion, and it is projected to increase to 4.97 billion within the next three years.
2. Every day, 347+ billion emails are sent and received.
3. Sales reps spent over a fifth of their working time writing emails.
4. 40% of employees check their inbox before 6 a.m. 
5. LinkedIn outreach gets a lower reply rate (7% compared to 12%) than cold emails for the same audience, but it is the most popular social media platform among B2B marketers for warming up. 
6. 86% of professionals resort to email to send and receive communications related to their business activities.
7. The average ROI of email marketing amounts to 122%, which is over four times higher than that of other marketing channels.
8. Every dollar invested in email marketing campaigns brings $36 in ROI.
9. Global email marketing revenue is growing at a solid CAGR of 13.3% and is expected to approach $18 billion in 2027.
   
   

   
   (Source: Statista)

10. For 53% of American, Canadian, and British small-business owners, email marketing strategy is the preferred method for retaining repeat clients and attracting potential customers.

Now, let's dive into various email marketing metrics that showcase the performance and efficiency of different email-related parameters. 

Metrics and indicators that power personalized sales emails

A personalized approach is a surefire recipe for improving conversion rate and enhancing customer satisfaction. It also works well for email marketing, where personalized emails and segmented email campaigns significantly augment basic KPIs. 

Reply rates

Unfortunately, only 5% of senders take pains to tailor their messages so that they appeal to the recipient. Little do they know that highly personalized sales email templates (those that go beyond simply indicating the first name) generate 18% replies, which is twice the average response rate of garden-variety messages. 

Time to first response

The time to first response in email marketing benchmarks fluctuates at approximately 24 hours. Personalized emails can reduce this number by at least half, with a target to reach 4 hours. 

Lead-to-deal conversion rate

Depending on the business model (B2B or B2C), the email conversion rate ranges from 2.4% to 2.8%, respectively. This parameter also differs across industries.

(Source: Rulers Analytics)

Including personalization in targeted email marketing efforts can boost the response rate to over 28%. 

Deal velocity

This metric is calculated by dividing the sales cycle time by the number of closed deals. The shorter the cycle, the greater the velocity. The life cycle is directly correlated with email velocity, which refers to the number of emails exchanged between a sales rep and a prospect within a certain period. Email personalization can significantly reduce the sales cycle and dramatically improve deal velocity.

Lead scoring via engagement metrics

Email engagement statistics primarily consider various indices, including click-through rates, email open rates, unsubscribe rates, bounce rates, and response rates. If you personalize your emails, you can increase open rates from 21% to 26%, and the average click-through rate can be increased from 2.6% up to 4%. At the same time, unsubscribe and bounce rates reduce drastically.

Email-to-call conversion rate

In a narrow sense, this rate can be understood as the percentage of people who made phone calls after being contacted by email. Yet, broadly speaking, a company can consider this to be any response to its call to action. By personalizing their call-to-action buttons within emails, businesses can augment the standard rate of 1%–3% by 202%.

The role of email in B2B and eCommerce sales funnels

What are the numbers related to marketing emails in these spheres?

• research reveals that 77% of B2B buyers specify email as their preferred communication channel; 
• for B2B companies, email comes third among the most impactful sources of information, after in-person events and webinars;
• more than half of the marketers in the B2B sector consider email marketing to be the most powerful tool they wield;
  
  

  
  (Source: FirstPageSage)

• after in-person trade shows and events, email marketing is considered the most effective lead generation source, at 32%;
• according to the Content Marketing Institute, 36% of B2B organizations utilize AI-driven software in email personalization and campaign optimization efforts;
• email open rates for B2B companies are slightly above 15%; for eCommerce emails, this rate is 18.2%;
• in comparison to other methods, eCommerce buyers spend 128% more if they shop via email.  

Email automation for sales: What the stats reveal

Automated email campaigns reign supreme. Here are a few hard numbers:

• the annual increase in automated emails is estimated at 250 million; 
• approximately half of the marketers leverage specialized email marketing software platforms honed for cold emailing and email marketing automation; 
• email automation is a marketing priority for professionals in the domain;
  
  

  
  (Source: The State of Email in Lifecycle Marketing)

• the top three automated email categories, based on their growth in email marketing campaign stats, are back-in-stock notifications (an increase by four times), welcome messages (an increase by 2.5 times), and browse abandonment alerts (an increase by two times);
• the average email automation campaigns’ metrics are 42.1% email opens, 5.4% clicks, and almost 2% conversions; 
• automated birthday emails have an open rate of over 43% and a click-to-conversion rate of 14%+. 

Your cold emailing and email marketing automation initiatives will be more successful if you leverage email template builders for both first-time and follow-up emails. Sign in to streamline and facilitate email campaign implementation with Stripo.

Mobile vs. desktop: Where are sales emails read?

The across-the-board advent of mobile devices presents new challenges for email marketing specialists. How do they handle mobile email campaigns?

• 41% of email views in general and three-fourths of Gmail users’ email views are performed through mobile devices;
• among mobile devices, 81% of email views are on smartphones, while the remaining 19% are on tablets;
• slightly fewer than 27% of people use their desktops to view emails;
• the mobile-first or mobile-responsive design process is utilized by 35% of email marketers;
• 50% of users delete emails if they aren't optimized for mobile; 
• when dissected by industry, the mobile email open rate is the highest in the spheres of government, hobbies, and religion, and the lowest in sports and education.

(Source: emailtooltester)

Timing and frequency: When sales emails work best?

Numbers are the best proof that you can achieve nonpareil results with your messages if you learn when and how often to send them:

• 91% of consumers check their inbox at least once a day, while 58% do this first thing in the morning;
  
  

  
  (Source: Optinmonster)

• 21% of marketers send daily emails, and 22% of them send two or three emails (including follow-ups) per day;
• the primary reason people unsubscribe is being bombarded with emails; 
• the optimal email frequency of received marketing messages is one to three per week; after the campaign is completed, a pause for a few months is necessary before reaching out to consumers again. 
• the most common email reading time is between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Sales email subject lines: Small words, big results

How important is a subject line for email readability and open rate?

• for 43% of people, compelling subject lines are the primary reason to open an email, even if it is cold emailing;
• an average subject line contains 44 characters;
  
  

  
  (Source: AWeber)

• emails with longer subject lines are less likely to be opened; 
• subject lines are the most effective when they contain ~6–10 words, and the least effective when 21–25 words long;
• personalized subject lines double the open rates for cold sales emails and serve as the main reason to open an email for 72% of recipients. 

Sales emails and customer lifetime value (CLV)

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is one of the basic KPIs that showcase the efficiency of email marketing campaigns. It rests on three pillars: generated email marketing profits, active subscribers, and the average lifetime value of a subscriber. CLV isn’t carved in stone and changes as consumers spend more time with the brand.

(Source: CleverTap)

Typically, customer lifetime value is assessed by determining the ratio between CLV and customer acquisition cost, also known as CPA (cost per acquisition). This index should be at least 3:1, and email marketing can be a good crutch for reaching this threshold and even surpassing it. 

The most effective techniques within a comprehensive email marketing strategy include

• personalized emails with tailored subject lines;
• segmented campaigns focusing on repeat purchases;
• sending targeted content and product recommendations;
• leveraging post-purchase follow-ups;
• re-engaging inactive customers with win-back email campaigns.

Email A/B testing and performance optimization

As revealed by email marketing statistics, these measures can provide valuable insights into email marketing performance and significantly boost the efficiency of email campaigns:

• standard variables to test with A/B testing include open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate;
• 59% of companies leverage A/B tests in their email marketing efforts; 
• subject lines are submitted for A/B testing by 47% of marketers;
• following strict A/B testing protocols improves outcomes by 37%;
• a minimum audience for conducting A/B testing should be 1,000 people;
• the email marketing dashboard is your main source of information regarding vital performance indicators and their dynamics.

(Source: CXL)

Trends to watch: The future of sales emails

What are the latest developments that are shaping the contours of email marketing today and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future? 

1. AI involvement

Currently, 63% of marketers across all enterprises (not just tech companies) leverage AI-powered software in their pipeline activities, and this number is likely to grow. The most efficient AI use cases include hyper-personalization of offers, content, and timing of messages, smart automation, and predictive analytics based on purchase history and individual preferences. 

2. Enhanced engagement

No marketing strategy of the future can do without interactive messages, dynamic content, and attached personalized videos. In this manner, marketers can achieve a more relevant customer experience and boost recipient engagement. 

3. Design and accessibility

As mobile technologies continue to evolve, emails will be increasingly designed with mobile gadgets in mind. Regardless of their physical capabilities, recipients should be able to view emails on various screen sizes and resolutions. 

4. Omnichannel integration

To create a cohesive customer journey, email marketing will be increasingly synchronized with SMS, in-app notifications, and social media channels.

5. Privacy and compliance

As industry-specific and general data protection regulations become more sophisticated, brands will have to implement privacy-first policies, consent-based initiatives, and stringent authentication mechanisms in their email marketing campaigns. 

Wrapping up

Email marketing statistics are the best proof of the importance of this sales channel that can significantly increase your company’s client outreach and boost its revenues. Marketing emails bring the most value when they are personalized and mobile-optimized. Stripo provides a set of top-notch no-code tools for creating such emails. Let’s together elevate your email marketing campaigns to a new level!