Email Marketing Is The Most Effective Channel To Drive Results, Research Shows

TL;DR

Email marketing still outranks paid search, organic search, and social for driving business results: 95% of marketers in the State of Marketing Report 2025 call it an outstanding channel, with strong ROI on every dollar spent.

  • Why it matters: owned inbox access survives algorithm shifts that throttle social reach overnight.
  • By the numbers: Litmus data in the report cites about $36 return for every $1 invested in email.
  • How it works: segmentation, personalization, and journey-based sends turn one channel into awareness, leads, and retention.
  • Reality check: bought lists and over-personalization kill engagement faster than weak subject lines.

If you are a digital marketer, you might be aware of most of the channels that we have available to drive our results. We can use them to reach different audiences at different times and stages of their journey. 

But there are some people saying that email is dead, right? And what if I say to you that 95% of marketers agree that Email Marketing was an outstanding channel to drive business results? Even more: that, for them, email is the most effective Marketing channel, in front of paid search, organic search and social media?

These data were some of the findings of the State of Marketing Report 2025, brought to you by Hubspot, in partnership with Litmus and Wistia. This article is the second one of a series of blog posts we are doing to highlight the main takeaways from the study, which brings valuable insights from more than 1,600 marketers and you can download for free to help you become a stronger professional and plan your strategies.

Take a look at this ranking. We are going to discuss it deeper below.

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Why is Email Marketing so relevant to businesses?

Email ROI

First of all, it is extremely cheap. According to Litmus for the report, for every $1 invested in Email Marketing, the return might be around $36.

This number can be quite impressive, but the CRM and email platform together are able to make the job a lot easier when reaching out to hundreds, thousands or millions of people through email without making large efforts.

Stronger connections through personalization

Emails have been so successful and relevant thanks to its possibility to provide closer and stronger connections. 

We know how providing a personalized experience is important to the daily work of a marketer. You probably already know (and await) the emails you might receive every week in your inbox, whether it is from an email marketing communication or newsletter, for example.

Creating the right segmentations is one of the best features to explore in an Email Marketing strategy. You can use personalized tags – like first name, company, job title or location – to get closer to the reader. 

Another option is to divide your email base according to the stage of the journey, industry or any other type of distinction to provide different approaches in a more personalized and valuable way. 

This can be done to the body of the text or the subject line. All you need is to be creative and make your contacts feel valued.

The technology behind this level of personalization is actually getting smarter every year. While it used to mean just slapping someone’s first name in the subject line, solid email tools can now tap into past purchases or interaction patterns and deliver messages that almost feel hand-picked. It’s not perfect—occasionally you’ll get a birthday coupon for a product you bought the day before. But on balance, getting those details right means your audience starts to expect that your emails don’t just clutter their inbox, but might actually stand out as something useful—or at least relevant enough not to delete right away.

Marketers, though, should be aware that over-personalization can get a bit creepy—or at the very least, exhausting. Sometimes a simple and direct approach wins out over an endless string of dynamic content. It’s a balancing act: you want your subscribers to feel seen, but not like they’ve left their digital window shades wide open. The trick is to test what resonates, and to be okay with pulling back if your audience signals they need a breather.

Work the whole journey

Email Marketing is an extremely versatile channel. A good strategy here can deliver results for many goals and stages. All you have to do is define the way you want to go. It is possible to increase brand awareness, generate website traffic, leads and MQLs, improve sales performance and customer retention. 

Aligning it with your content strategy and counting on this source when distributing your content through the funnel can be the turning point for reaching the goals you aim for. Don’t forget that a personalized experience makes the difference!

Capture Different (and valuable) Insights

The end of cookies and third-party data has been freaking out some professionals. Meanwhile, a good understanding of your email performance is able to fill some gaps and bring some calmness to the concern that the lack of data might cause. 

Most professionals evaluate open rate and click rate. In fact, these are relevant metrics, however, there’s a lot more to explore.

Besides understanding the conversions and ROI generated by email campaigns, it is possible to understand the interactions the audience is having.

With this in mind, marketers can see when the audience engages the most, the type of audience interested in each topic, where they click more frequently, design preferences and other information that enriches the strategy.

The richer the information you have, the more consistent and successful your strategy will be. Understanding these interactions will help you purpose valuable optimizations and keep driving even better results.

Conclusion

In the end, your Marketing strategy may benefit a lot from the emails you can send. Of course, they need to be useful and your base needs to be conquered legitimately. Don’t buy email address bases. Conquer your audience with great content. You’ll see the difference in the engagement rates!

Strategically, email is cheap, personalized and provides valuable information. It is possible to work all the stages of the journey in a single channel and create stronger connections with the audience while reaching different audiences and aiming at different goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do marketers still rank email above social and search?

The State of Marketing Report 2025 surveyed more than 1,600 professionals and found 95% calling email outstanding for business results, ahead of paid search, organic search, and social. Email combines low cost, direct access, and measurable conversions in one owned channel. Social algorithms change reach daily; inbox delivery stays under your list and consent rules.

How should teams personalize email without crossing the creepy line?

Use first name, segment, and behavior when they add relevance, but pull back if subscribers signal fatigue. The article notes tools can reference past purchases yet warns that over-personalization feels invasive. Test simpler subject lines against heavy dynamic blocks and honor opt-out preferences promptly.

Which metrics matter beyond open and click rates?

Track conversions, revenue attributed to campaigns, engagement timing, topic interest, and design preferences as the report suggests. Cookie loss makes first-party email data more valuable for filling gaps. Richer interaction logs guide segmentation and content calendar decisions quarter to quarter.

How does email support the full customer journey?

One channel can cover awareness newsletters, nurture sequences, sales triggers, and retention offers when mapped to funnel stages. Align sends with content distribution so blog assets, product updates, and re-engagement flows reinforce each other. Legitimate list growth through valuable content beats purchased addresses every time.

MM Matt Montenegro