The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing

By cperricone@hubspot.com (Christina Perricone)

The first marketing email was sent in 1978, resulted in $13 million in sales, and kicked off what has become one of the most highly used marketing channels even to this day.

Given its early beginnings, email isn’t as shiny as some newer channels like messaging and social, but it is an effective way to build an owned audience that gets results.

Your customers don’t give their information lightly, and — if used right — email marketing can be both a relationship-building and profit-building tool.

So, how does email marketing actually work anyway?

Now let’s review when you should use email marketing and some benefits and statistics that support the reason why email marketing is so valuable.

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When to Use Email Marketing

There are many ways to use email marketing — some of the most common including using the tactic to:

Build relationships: Build connections through personalized engagement.
Boost brand awareness: Keep your company and your services top-of-mind for the moment when your prospects are ready to engage.
Promote your content: Use email to share relevant blog content or useful assets with your prospects.
Generate leads: Entice subscribers to provide their personal information in exchange for an asset that they’d find valuable.
Market your products: Promote your products and services.
Nurture leads: Delight your customers with content that can help them succeed in their goals.

Email Marketing Benefits

There are over 4 billion email users worldwide, so if you’re looking for a way to reach your customers, email is the perfect place to find them.
As of 2020, email generates $36 for every dollar spent.
79% of marketers list email marketing in their top 3 most effective marketing channels.
Email visitors are the most likely to convert on forms.
Perhaps the best reason to use email marketing is that you own the channel. Outside of compliance regulations, there is no external entity that can impact how, when, or why you reach out to your subscribers.

Email Marketing Stats by Industry

Email marketing rules change based on your industry and who you’re marketing to. Below are some email marketing trends for B2B, B2C, ecommerce, and real estate companies that can inform your email marketing strategy.

Email Marketing Stats for B2B

31% of B2B marketers say email newsletters are the best way to nurture leads.
Email is the third-highest owned-media platform B2B marketers used to
distribute content in the last 12 months.
B2B marketers say email engagement is the fourth most insightful metric when evaluating performance over the past year, more than social media, search rankings, and lead quality.