The Ridiculous ROI of Email Marketing

Let’s be honest… Most brands are dramatically underutilizing one of the highest-performing channels in the entire marketing stack.

They treat email like a side dish.

A monthly newsletter. A seasonal promo. An afterthought.

But here’s the thing:

Email is potentially the single biggest missed opportunity in your business.

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Email Is Still the Highest ROI Channel

While brands pour spend into ads and organic content, hoping for traction…

Email quietly delivers an average of $36-$68 for every $1 spent.

Compared to social, paid media, or even influencer campaigns, none come close to email performance.

• Retail sees ~45:1 ROI
• Agencies see ~42:1 ROI
• SaaS lands around 36:1 ROI
• Even media/entertainment hits 32:1 ROI

Across the board, email converts 174% better than social media.

And half of consumers say they’ve made a purchase directly from a marketing email in the past year.

That’s not soft influence.

That’s direct response. At scale.

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Automated Sequences Print Money

If general email is powerful…

Automated email is downright unfair.

• Abandoned cart sequences
• Onboarding sequences
• Post-purchase series
• Seasonal campaigns
• Educational courses
• Referral campaigns
• Welcome flows

These automations make up only 2% of email volume, yet they drive up to 37% of total email revenue.

Let that sink in.

Automated emails (those timely, personalized sends) generate:

✅ 23x higher conversion rates than batch-and-blast campaigns
✅ 320% more revenue on average
✅ Open rates north of 80% for welcome sequences
✅ Click-to-purchase rates of 33-50%

Even order confirmation emails convert at 22x the rate of promos.

Why?

Because they hit people with the right message, at the right moment, when buying intent is high.

That’s the best strategy for making email work for you today.

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You’re Leaving Money on the Table

There are only so many levers you can pull in a marketing strategy that don’t require increasing ad spend or an equivalent budget.

Email (especially automated email) is one of the rare levers that scales virtually for free.

It doesn’t care about algorithms.

It doesn’t need a big media budget.

It just works.

So if your brand isn’t generating a meaningful chunk of revenue from email…

It’s not a matter of strategy.

It’s a matter of missed opportunity.

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