State of

Email Report
The email data & trends
from a COVID-19 world
Introduction Meet Litmus
2020 has brought an onslaught of change, but one thing is Here at Litmus, we’re passionate
constant: how organizations use email to build relationships about everything email marketing.
and drive sales with customers. We’re on a mission to help brands
access what they need to send
Email use around the world continues to grow at a steady better email, faster. Through our
pace. Statista projects global email users will increase from blog, Litmus Live conferences,
3.9 billion in 2019 to 4.48 billion in 2024. ebooks, webinars, and more, we
share best practices and trends to
And businesses are ramping up accordingly. Even amid
help your team stay at the forefront
challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, email provides
of the industry. Another thing
organizations with a way to connect, provide value, and stay
we’re into? Software that makes
top of mind for prospects and customers.
creating high-performing email
easy. Marketers pair Litmus with
Over 2,000 marketing professionals weighed in on what’s
existing email service providers
driving their email strategies and what they think the
(ESPs) to ensure a consistently
future of email looks like. Respondents included email and
great brand experience for every
marketing specialists, team leads, managers,directors, VP-
subscriber, work more efficiently,
level executives, and C-level executives all in the marketing
accelerate campaign performance,
field. More than half of respondents hold leadership
reduce errors, and stay out of the
positions, while 44% of respondents hold positions like email
spam folder. With Litmus by your
designer, developer, digital strategist, and marketing analyst.
side, you’ll have the tools and

Enough background—let’s dive into the good stuff: what’s insights you need to provide your

happening in email today… and predictions for tomorrow. customers with an incredible email
experience—and an incredible ROI.
Let’s get started.

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5 Major Discoveries About Email for
Today & Beyond
We uncovered several key findings in our survey revealing how marketers use email today, how they’re
making it more effective going forward, and the roadblocks that still present challenges.

1. Companies must personalize to get ahead. Businesses are getting more sophisticated
in their personalization techniques. Think beyond, “Hi [name]” and more like user
behavior to craft customized emails. Learn how marketers are cutting through email
noise by using personalization on page 6.

2. Want a leg up on the competition? Get your metrics in order. Despite the importance
of email to businesses, many companies have a tough time measuring advanced
metrics and return on investment (ROI). Learn how to overcome some common
barriers to email ROI measurement on page 9.

3. The pandemic led to email disruption. It also uncovered opportunities to connect

more deeply with customers. Like most industries, email was not immune to
COVID-19. Many businesses saw changes in email budgets and strategies due to the
pandemic. And, organizations also found new ways to be there for their customers,
by shifting messaging techniques. Read more on page 13.

4. Approval processes are becoming more complicated. As more businesses take email
more seriously, lengthier approval processes with extra touch points along the way
are emerging. Learn the most common obstacles in the approval process that are
making this step of email creation a pain point. Head to page 14.

5. Companies are increasing the amount of emails they’re sending. If you’re planning
on sending more email this year and beyond, you’re not alone. That means
businesses will have to find better ways to differentiate their email strategies and
cultivate ties with customers via email. See how email usage is increasing on page 20.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 3 / 29

Even in a Pandemic, Email Continues
To Be a Marketing Powerhouse
Even with ever-increasing digital marketing channels, email
continues to reign supreme.

More than one-third of respondents ranked email as “the

4 out of 5
most effective” marketing channel in their organization. respondents said
Half of those in an agency or consultant role believed email they’d rather
was the most effective channel.
give up social
When asked, “If you had to give up one marketing tactic media than email
for the next 12 months, which would it be?,” 4 out of 5 marketing.
respondents said they’d rather give up social media than
email marketing.

The importance of email continues to go up year-over-year.

In 2020, 78% of respondents said email is important to
overall company success, compared to 71% in 2019.

What’s more:

78% • 94% of respondents say email is in their top 3 most

effective marketing channels.
• 77% of respondents say email is one of their top 2
most effective marketing channels.
• 74% of marketing execs feel email marketing is vital to
78% of marketers the success of their company.
said email is
Why is email so effective? For one, it’s where your
important to customers spend a lot of their time. According to the 2019
overall company Adobe Email Usage study, Americans spend an average of

success. 143 minutes each weekday checking email.

There are plenty of other reasons, too.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 4 / 29

Why Is Email So Effective?
1 It’s easy to test. Tweak a prominent
element in an A/B test. Gain insights
7 You’re completely in control of the content.
Compared to channels like social media
into what recipients are responding to. or paid ads where you’re limited by the
Optimize. Repeat. number of characters or the creative assets
you can use, email virtually has no limits.
GIFs, interactive surveys, video players,
2 It’s permission-based. Unlike invasive
advertising, your email subscribers have
infographics, and the like are all email-friendly.

given your business permission to email

them. They welcome your messages. Maybe
they even look forward to them.
8 It’s affordable. Email is one of the more
affordable digital marketing tools. It doesn’t
require an ad budget. Creative doesn’t have
to get pricey. Analytics are easy to access.
3 Frequency is customizable. Speaking of
permission, subscribers can tell you how
often they want to hear from you. Email gives
you the opportunity to reach your most loyal,
9 It achieves high ROI. From selling products and
nurturing leads, to increasing website traffic and
fervent brand advocates more often. moving consumers along your desired buyer’s
journey, email is an essential tool for creating
brand awareness and promoting your business,
4 Personalization is easy. From the subject
line, to the email content, to the offers you
all while returning $36 for every $1 spent.

promote, it’s simple to make each message

10
you send to each recipient feel like it was Email supports other digital marketing
made just for them. You can make offers campaigns. Email marketing integrates with
more effective by creating campaigns based the rest of your digital strategy. Email supports
on segmented user groups. video marketing, social sharing, and landing
page promotion. Whatever digital campaign you
launch, you can use email to promote it to users
5 It’s measurable. Email marketing is one of
your most measurable channels. Measure
who are eager to learn about your content.

open rate, conversion rate, click-throughs,

time spent with email, interactions, you name
it. By testing email marketing campaigns,
Despite email’s effectiveness compared to other channels,
you gain powerful insights to inform other
the anonymously reported ROI of email programs fell. It
marketing strategies.
decreased from 42:1 in 2019 to 36:1 in 2020.

6 It’s where consumers spend their time. As

we mentioned, the average American spends
That’s still a significant ROI, but what’s accounting for
the difference? As we’ll see later in this report, possible
nearly 2.5 hours a day in their personal email explanations include:
inbox. Send a message, and there’s a good
chance it’ll immediately be viewed by your • Measurement tactics
targets. It’s rare to get that kind of attention • Lack of resources
with other marketing channels. • Poor testing

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 5 / 29

Marketers Make Email Personalization
& Relevance a Top Priority
Data shows us personalization increases conversion in emails. Marketers are taking note of email
personalization stats like these, reported in our June 2020 Litmus Live Day by Emails Y’all owner Anne
Tomlin.

• Almost three-fourths of marketers say personalization

in email increases engagement.
• Personalized emails generate a median ROI of 122%.
• Birthday emails generate 3.42 times more revenue
per message than a standard promotional email.

60%
• Emails with personalized subjects are 50% more likely
to be opened.

While 83% of our survey respondents are personalizing

email in some way, there’s a large desire to make emails
more relevant to recipients. In fact, 6 out of 10 respondents
say boosting email personalization is a priority. 60% of
Personalization is a bigger priority for respondents
marketers say
working in ecommerce, retail, and consumer goods. Nearly amping up
70% of respondents in those industries make it a focus. personalization
Personalization is less important for government agencies,
non-profits, and small companies with 20 employees or
is a priority.
fewer.

Learn how to create a personalized email marketing

program that treats people like people.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 6 / 29

How Are Businesses Personalizing Emails?
The most common form of personalization is altering the text in the email subject line and in the primary
content block of the email. Three-fourths of respondents personalize these areas.

Adoption of these techniques varies Factors Used To Personalize Email Content

by business type, however.

• 80% of financial services

companies personalize email
body copy vs. 55% of retail/
ecommerce/consumers goods
and services companies.
• 77% of retail/ecommerce/
consumers goods and services
companies personalize email
subject lines vs. 66% of
financial services companies.

Compared to 2019, most Some of the biggest shifts in personalization have occurred
personalization approaches are within specific industries. For example, there have
used about the same amount. The been significant increases on the following within retail,
exception is preview text, which is ecommerce, and consumer goods and services companies:
actually being personalized less in
2020: 28% v. 38% in 2019. • Personalization based on past purchases: 60% in
2020 vs. 38% in 2019
In terms of data used to create • Personalization based on gender, race, ethnicity:
personalization, trends have shifted 20% in 2020 vs. 11% in 2019
in the past year. Subscriber name and
company name are actually being
used less: 72% in 2020 vs. 83% in
2019. But other behavioral attributes
are being tapped more often for email
Learn the secrets
personalization. These include:
to really good email
• Past interactions with products personalization.
and services
• Past interactions with emails
• Past purchases

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 7 / 29

Obstacles To Email Personalization
Companies want to personalize. But Campaign Monitor
reports for 66% of marketers, one of the biggest challenges
to personalization is not having the internal resources to
execute the programs. As we’ll see later in this report, email
marketing continues to be under-resourced, despite its
66%
importance to organizations.

Lack of data also majorly hinders email personalization. Not

gaining insights from subscribers quickly, or at all, creates
personalization obstacles for marketers. 66% of
By mailing to inactive subscribers, your personalization
marketers say
efforts could be going to waste. they don’t have
the resources
Companies that think they’re personalizing may be wasting
resources in other ways. More than one-third of our survey to execute
respondents reported they don’t remove inactive subscribers personalized
from active mailing lists unless they opt out. In that case, they programs.
could be spending time personalizing to no one.

That’s important because in our 2019 State of Email

Analytics report, we found successful email programs are
27% more likely to remove chronically inactive subscribers
Our 2019 State of Email Analytics
from their active mailing lists.
report also found marketers who

Plus, you may be in violation of General Data Protection describe their email programs as

Regulation (GDPR) mandates and U.S. state-sponsored successful are 41% more likely than

spam laws like California’s when you send emails to old lists. those with less-successful ones to
send re-engagement campaigns.
Approximately half of respondents indicated their company Successful email programs are also
either never or rarely triggered win-back or re-engagement 58% more likely than less-successful
campaigns to inactive customers, donors, or users who are ones to send win-back campaigns.
subscribers.
Data capture and measurement can
These businesses are missing out on learning how the alleviate personalization pain points.
needs of their formerly engaged email recipients have But as we’ll see next, most companies
evolved. They’re not uncovering the reasons for their lack of are struggling to accurately measure
interest now. email marketing success.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 8 / 29

Email Marketing Is Important,
But Measurement Is Weak
Marketers know email has a strong ROI. But they also acknowledge there are likely gaps in the
measurement process.

Our survey results found less than one-quarter believed their company measured the ROI of email
marketing efforts well or very well.

An incredible 45% cited the measurement was poor, very poor, or non-existent.

Why are companies having a tough time measuring ROI on email, when it’s highly considered to be the top
digital marketing channel?

5 Barriers To Email ROI Measurement

1. Not having an accurate ROI calculation

This first one’s a biggie: not having a way to measure ROI.

When businesses lack this, there’s no way to see which marketing investments and
campaigns are working. And it’s more difficult to adapt strategy to meet sales and
marketing goals. You won’t know which campaigns to stop and which to accelerate.

You should also have an idea of how email ROI compares to other marketing channels, so
you know where to dedicate your time and resources. Speaking of which, barrier #2 is a…

At its simplest, you’d calculate email marketing ROI by the formula:

Sales growth from email marketing – Email marketing cost

= ROI
Email marketing cost

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 9 / 29

 2. Lack of resources and time to calculate email marketing ROI
As you’ll see later in the report, dedication to email marketing is stagnant or decreasing.
Issues like the COVID-19 pandemic have affected most businesses in various ways,
including in the email marketing department.

One thing to keep in mind: If you find email marketing ROI is indeed your most valuable
channel, you may want to shift whatever budget you have more toward email.

3. Inability to accurately calculate email marketing costs

You won’t know the true ROI of email without an accurate view of your email marketing
investment.

In addition to using costs of an email service provider (ESP), you’ll also need to factor
in consultant/freelance support, third-party testing, agency assistance for creation and
deployment, and/or internal costs for in-house resources.

4. Poor tracking
Tying email marketing to sales is a major challenge for many businesses. A lack of
communication and alignment between sales and marketing channels contributes to
this barrier.

Integrating purchase information with the ESP helps you track email marketing
conversions.

You should also be tracking how customers interact with your business outside of
email. An email message might impact the recipient enough to make a purchase on
their own outside of the email chain, for example.

There should be a system in place to track direct online sales, other online sales, and
offline sales to see how those could be connected to email marketing channels. That
creates a clearer view of email marketing ROI.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 10 / 29

 5. Resistance to change
Some companies may have trouble calculating ROI because changing existing tracking
practices or systems is difficult.

This goes back to lack of dedication to email resources. Implementing new systems
and training takes time and likely a financial investment. Even though this can produce
significantly better results over time, some companies are hesitant to move forward.

Learn how to use the three pillars of email marketing

to drive a more successful ROI.

How Are Companies Measuring Email ROI?

Most companies use analytics from both their ESP and a third-party tool. We found in 2019, 63% of
marketers used a third-party email analytics tool to connect email activity to web conversions. Tools
include Google Analytics, Litmus Email Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and internally developed tools.

Using a third-party tool is helpful for data collection and email strategy. We found that brands that use
third-party analytics tools see up to a 16% higher ROI on email marketing than brands that rely solely on
ESP metrics.

In our survey for this report, we found more than half of all respondents use six metrics to measure email
success:

1. Open rate 4. Click-to-open rate

2. Click through rate 5. Bounce rate
3. Unsubscribe rate 6. Conversion rate

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 11 / 29

For 2020, open rate, click rate and unsubscribe rate were used
(or planning to be used) the most often for tracking or KPIs.

Email Metric Email Metric

Most of these are vanity metrics that do tell you something about how email is performing as a channel and
in relation to your business goals. They can clue you into the type of content you should feature in email
and how you should target.

But to improve the understanding of email marketing ROI, there needs to be a clearer picture of how email
marketing efforts are impacting sales and revenue.

Despite a lack of confidence in email ROI measurement, that’s not stopping marketers from moving full
speed ahead with email marketing campaigns.

Download out State of Email Engagement ebook to

discover insights from billions of email opens about
when, where, and how people engage with email.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 12 / 29

COVID-19 Disrupted Email,
But for How Long?
The pandemic threw a wrench in business Product-focused content is lagging, while
operations, including email programs. 53% of marketers are increasing a focus on
thought leadership content. The report states
Three-fourths of respondents have changed 46% are increasing a focus on corporate social
their email strategy because of the pandemic. responsibility in content.
Changes were more likely in financial services
and insurance industries.

While more than one-third reported their

marketing budgets stayed the same since the
53% of marketers are
COVID-19 outbreak (and 11% saw a budget increasing their focus on
increase), more than 40% of respondents saw thought leadership content.
budget cuts to email since the pandemic.

That may not be for long. An August 2020 report

by Digital Commerce 360 found online sales
increased 55% year-over-year in July 2020. By One interesting opportunity for marketers is the
October 2020, online sales are expected to ability to directly connect with customers who are
surpass total online sales for 2019. spending more time online. That’s good news for
email campaigns.
As we’re seeing significant increases in online
shopping due to the pandemic, we suspect email This LinkedIn report found 48% of marketers are
volumes–and budgets–will bounce back quickly. focusing more on direct customer outreach. Email
presents an opportunity for businesses to show
consumers they care during these stressful times
How Has COVID-19 Influenced and lay the groundwork for deeper relationships
Email Content? in the future.

With the uncertainties that the pandemic has Effects from the COVID-19 pandemic present
forced upon customers, marketers are shifting both an opportunity and an obstacle for the email
strategies in email marketing. marketing ecosystem of software providers and
consultants.
According to a July 2020 report by LinkedIn, 47%
of marketers have increased a focus on human-
centric and emotional content.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 13 / 29

The Email Creation and Approval
Process Is an Increasing Pain Point
Even with declining email marketing budgets for some businesses due to the pandemic, more people are
involved in email approvals today. And that’s creating some bottlenecks and frustrations.

Today, 60% of companies have 4 or more people

involved in email review and approvals. That’s an
50% of marketers say
increase from 52% in 2019.
optimizing email workflow
Optimizing email workflow is a priority for half of
is a priority.
all respondents. Already, 30% say the approval
process is too burdensome.

Departments Involved in Review and Approval In 2020, there have been

significant increases in
companies where the
executive team, sales, and/
or legal and compliance are
involved in email approval,
compared to 2019.

Overwhelmingly, the most

likely system for gathering
feedback on an email are
replies (via email) to a test
send of the email. Nearly 70%
of respondents cited this as
the feedback system.

But is this the most effective?

As we’ll see, often not.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 14 / 29

Top Productivity Killers for Email Teams
In February 2020, Litmus and project management app Trello hosted a webinar to discuss the top
productivity killers for email teams. Do any of these sound familiar?

1. Ad-hoc approval methods

When businesses lack centralized approval tools, there’s a ton that can get lost in
translation. It’s difficult to track various email threads, verbal feedback, and other
disjointed channels of communication. Who knows which feedback to prioritize and
implement?

Solution: Use a centralized tool to collect campaign feedback and approvals like
Litmus Proof.

2. Last-minute changes
These may be unavoidable. But often, they require significant time to make the edit, then
secure re-approval, then go through the whole process over and over again.

Solution: Make emails a collaborative process from the beginning. Involve the key
stakeholders to define and scope each campaign. Create appropriate timelines for the
length of the approval process.

3. Unclear requirements
Not knowing every single element that needs to be featured in an email wastes time in
design and revision stages.

Solution: Use formal email briefs for every email campaign. Collect information like goals,
audience, design, copy, key performance indicators (KPIs), and stakeholders.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 15 / 29

 4. Inefficient testing methods
Testing’s important to make sure the email you spent so much time on is exactly what
you want recipients to see. But testing can also get tedious with the amount of email
clients, device views, and rendering engines you need to test.

Solution: Use an email analytics tool to see what email services your subscribers are
actually using and how they’re opening up your emails. Prioritize those email clients.

5. Disorganized meetings about email

Time is wasted when the wrong people are at email meetings, when there’s no clear
agenda, when expectations are confusing, and when meetings go off track.

Solution: Avoid all these email meeting pain points by creating clear agendas and
expectations, with the right meeting participants. Better yet, move meeting discussions
online to a centralized tool with clear visibility into the process.

View our fourth annual State of Email Workflows

report to identify more opportunities for improvement.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 16 / 29

How to Simplify the Email
Creation Process
Audit your email process to determine where you can make improvements. Here are some tips to simplify
the email process.

1. Improve campaign planning

Choose campaign planning tools that fit your team’s needs. Create a content calendar
for emails. Use email briefs for every campaign.

2. Make campaign development easier

Create a design system for a consistent brand experience. Use coding automation to
build emails. Optimize campaigns with AI tools.

3. Get more efficient at approvals

Use a pre-send checklist. Use testing technology to identify issues. Create clear
feedback workflows.

4. Put reporting to work

Review your email health. Maintain clean lists. Apply features from successful campaigns
to future ones. Scale your efforts by testing and focusing your efforts on the strategies
that bring you the best ROI.

Get more tips for how to improve email review cycles

and approvals in our ebook.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 17 / 29

Email Design Continues To Evolve
One possible reason for longer approval times? Adhering to new and amended email templates.

Most respondents in our survey, 70%, have email brand guidelines. That’s an increase from 63% in 2019.

In the past 12 months, more than 80% of respondents changed their email template(s). These changes and
additions may explain the extra eyeballs on emails going out.

The most common reasons for updating email templates were:

• Refreshed branding
• Better mobile performance
• Improved click-through rates

Reasons for Email Template Redesign

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 18 / 29

Has Usage of Interactive
Elements in Email Peaked?
A focus on personalization has grown, but using interactive
elements in email isn’t a priority. Approximately 25%
fewer respondents have used interactive elements today 50%
compared to 2019. Half of all respondents say they have no
plans to use interactive elements any time soon.

“Exploring interactive email functionality” ranked only as the

seventh most important priority for respondents. Among the
interactive elements that have been used by respondents,
50% of all
the most common are carousels and image galleries. respondents
say they have
Declining resources may be negatively impacting the use of
interactive elements, but prioritizing them could give some
no plans to
businesses an advantage. use interactive
elements any
• Kapost reports interactive content generates 200%
more conversions than passive content. time soon.
• An interactive email survey from Zembula found
interactive content generates 400%-500% more
pageviews than static content.
• In 2019, Campaign Monitor reported interactive email
content increases click-to-open rate by 73%. Videos can increase click rates by up to 300%.

Businesses can add GIFs, videos, and kinetic elements to make emails interactive. Use email split A/B
testing to see if interactive design makes a difference for your email strategy.

As we’ll see next, businesses are sending more emails these days, so that means more testing
opportunities, too.

Discover how to use interactive forms in emails.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 19 / 29

More Email Is on the Way
More people are using email. More businesses are sending emails. And more emails are being sent by the
businesses already sending them.

This year, marketers and executives said they planned to send more email than they did in 2019.

54% of total respondents expected to

54% send more email in 2020 than in 2019.

60% of marketing executives said

they planned to send more email in 60%
2020 than in 2019.

65% of respondents in financial

65% services said they planned to send
more email in 2020 than in 2019.

There are plenty of benefits of increasing the frequency of emails that are being sent out. As long as the
emails provide value and are relevant to the recipient, they can help strengthen relationships between
brands and consumers.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 20 / 29

How Consistent, Relevant, Value-Based Email
Benefits Business
1. Deliver more targeted, personalized content that delights customers. With users spending
so much time in their email inboxes, content that’s designed specifically for them is a way to
delight and engage consumers.

2. Build authority and credibility with trustworthy content. Especially for businesses in industries
where lead nurturing takes time, email marketing helps you create trust and credibility.
According to HubSpot, many businesses might need around eight touchpoints to guarantee
prospecting success. Increasing email frequency can make a positive difference for businesses
whose competitors are communicating with users far less.

3. Increase brand recognition. While consumers are spending more time with email, they’re also
getting more email. According to the Email Statistics Report, 2018-2022 by the Radicati Group,
Inc., daily email traffic growth is expected to grow 4.3% in 2021 and 4.3% in 2022. To cut
through the noise, businesses that increase their frequency may be more recognizable among
other senders.

4. Create loyalty. Drip email marketing campaigns can keep users engaged with, interested in,
and loyal to your business. Strategic campaigns that take customers on a journey give users
something to look forward to interacting with. This strengthens the relationships recipients
have with your business.

But, given how vital email marketing is to the success of many companies and the desire most businesses
have to send more email in the future, it seems strange that email resources can be scarce.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 21 / 29

Are Email Budgets Too Small?
One confounding issue illuminated in our 2020 survey is that despite email marketing bringing the most
ROI to businesses, email resources tend to be neglected.

There are always new and shiny digital marketing channels begging marketers to pay attention and devote
time and resources to them. But are marketers making the best decisions when email marketing is often
the most successful channel?

More than 40% of respondents say

40% email marketing is under-resourced in
their company.

Yet only 12% of respondents plan to

add email staff this year, about half as 12%
many as in 2019.

Only 26% say email is “well-resourced”

26%
or “very well-resourced.”

56% of respondents have 2 or fewer

56%
full-time email marketers on staff.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 22 / 29

According to the 2018 DMA Marketer Email Tracker report, 82% of marketers were spending between 0%
and 20% of marketing budgets on email.

Why are marketers spending such a small percentage of marketing budgets on email? Some possible
reasons might be:

1. Low initial costs. Email marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. That may mislead some
marketers about how much they should invest in it. But as we’ve shown, allotting more
marketing budget to a more expensive channel won’t necessarily bring more ROI.

2. Lack of ROI measurement. If a business doesn’t have a way to measure the ROI of all
marketing channels, there’s nothing to compare. It then becomes guesswork about how much
of a marketing budget should be devoted to each channel.

3. Hesitation to partner externally. Even with a strong ROI, small-to-midsize businesses may
hesitate about finding outside email marketing help. The potential results may be greater, but
the initial investment may scare some off. Depending on how many marketers there are in-
house, this can spread resources thin when multiple marketing channels are being used.

4. Lack of strategy. A robust email marketing strategy includes: email marketing goals, email
marketing tools, identifying the right target audiences, segmentation, email scheduling,
content strategy, email testing, and insightful email performance reports. Businesses that have
all of these elements in place know they’ll need to allocate the appropriate resources to them.
Businesses that lack comprehensive email strategy may underestimate their budgets and
sabotage their results in the process.

The only way to determine what percentage of a marketing budget makes sense to devote to email is to
calculate accurate ROIs for all marketing channels. Businesses don’t have to invest a ton into every single
form of digital marketing. They should be investing more in the ones that bring more revenue and results to
their business.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 23 / 29

Email Service Providers Must
Stay Focused
When marketing budgets decrease, email may take a hit, as well. That doesn’t necessarily mean a change
in ESPs, however.

In most cases, marketers are already satisfied with their ESPs. They don’t feel a need to change them.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the ESP they used most often.

While 36% of respondents are dissatisfied or neutral about their email providers, just 18% expect to
increase expenditures on ESPs in 2020. However, 45% of respondents plan to increase the budget this
year for integration of email with other channels.

This provides an opportunity for ESPs to expand their offerings for marketing and ecommerce integration.
Some ways marketers want to marry email with other channels include:

• Integrate email marketing with • Use demographic information for

customer relationship management geo-targeted campaigns.
(CRM).
• Link email campaigns with content
• Target promotions and special management systems.
offers using CRM data.
• Use content marketing to drive
• Get more social media engagement email subscriptions.
via social sharing buttons in emails.
• Make emails more likely to convert
• Send targeted emails to those who for mobile users.
mention the business on social
• Improve email segment targeting
media.
using analytics.
• Use emails to collect post-purchase
feedback.

• Get email subscribers on social

media with calls-to-action.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 24 / 29

Email A/B Testing Is Also on the Rise
Testing: 1, 2, 3... Nearly 90% of respondents are conducting A/B tests on their emails. More than one-
quarter do so “often” or “always.”

More than half of respondents (56%) say doing more A/B testing of emails is a priority, making it the third-
highest priority overall. The number one priority is expanding usage of automated emails, while the number
two priority was boosting personalization levels.

The most-often-used A/B test elements are: subject line, calls-to-action, and send time.

All three are being used more in 2020 than in 2019.

Email Elements Most Likely To Be A/B Tested

When it comes to spam filter testing, however, respondents are less likely to participate. More than half
of respondents indicated they never or rarely run emails through a spam filter test to identify possible
deliverability problems before sending an email.

Only 70% of email senders use spam filter testing before they send. Out of those, only about one-quarter
do so “often” or “always.”

Out of those who do spam filter testing, they’re most likely to use the testing their ESP offers, or use
Litmus Spam Testing.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 25 / 29

Why Does Spam Testing Matter?
When emails hit your target users’ spam folders, no amount of A/B testing or optimization is going to matter.

Spam testing tells you what elements

of your email need to be fixed in order
for your message to make it past What you do one day may be
spam filters. Spam algorithms change flagged the next depending on the
regularly. What you do one day may
email provider’s regulations.
be flagged the next depending on the
email provider’s regulations.

• Authentication filters: verifying the existence and status of these filters

• Blacklist filters: if your IP address and domains are blacklisted anywhere
• Placement filters: which inboxes your emails are likely to be delivered to for popular email clients
• Score filters: how your email performs according to common corporate spam filtering scores

In an analysis of 1.5 million tested emails, we found 70% of emails show at least one spam-related issue
that may impact deliverability.

In addition to spam testing, it’s vital to test emails continuously for reasons like the following.

1. Email clients may drop support without notice. The email design that looked perfect in the
past may be riddled with bugs due to updates in attribute support.

2. Broken and incorrect links. Businesses miss out on conversions by sending emails with links
to 404 pages.

3. Unoptimized preview pane view. An incorrect from name, reply-to address, subject line, or
preview text can discourage open rates.

4. Spelling and grammar errors. These can turn off customers and make your business seem
less trustworthy and credible. In some cases, they can completely alter the message you’re
trying to send.

5. Broken images and missing or incorrect alt text. Mistakes like these can cause customers to
lose interest or can display a misleading message in the email.

When email marketing resources are stretched thin, you can eliminate headaches from time-consuming
manual testing by using Litmus Checklist. This tool scans for issues like these.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 26 / 29

Marketers 1

Name the Most Litmus

Inspiring Email 2

Really Good Emails

Brands Today
3

We asked marketers to name their top three HubSpot

most inspiring email marketing program
brands for 2020. The results were a mix of
4
B2B and B2C brands. We’re grateful to all
AirBnB
who named us among their choices!

To the right is the list of the top 10. 5

Netflix

Sephora

Apple

Nike

Starbucks

10

Target

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 27 / 29

Now What?
To recap, the top insights we’ve gathered for the state of email marketing as of fall 2020 are:

1. Companies must personalize to get ahead.

Here’s how:
• Use email data to determine personalization strategies to pursue.
• Clean up subscriber lists to ensure up-to-date targets and better personalization.
• If you’re not already, test email personalization based on past interactions with
products and services, past interactions with emails, and past purchases.

2. Want a leg up on the competition? Get your metrics in order.

Here’s how:
• Dedicate resources to tracking email ROI.
• Create an accurate ROI calculation using accurate email marketing costs. Tie
those to conversion tracking using sales and revenue driven by email.
• Use a third-party email analytics tool to gain better insights into how email
marketing efforts are affecting conversions.

3. The pandemic led to email disruption–but uncovered

opportunities to connect more deeply with customers.
Here’s how:
• When evaluating marketing budgets, use ROI comparisons to determine
adjustments to make.
• Look for opportunities to improve email marketing investments by implementing
best practices like testing, data capture, and better personalization.
• Identify ways to deepen customer relationships by building trust through email
content.

State of Email Report, Fall 2020 28 / 29

 4. Approval processes are getting more complicated.
Here’s how:
• Use campaign planning tools like email briefs.
• Automate email creation with a design system and templates.
• Establish feedback workflows for more efficient approval.

5. Companies are increasing the amount of emails they send.

Here’s how:
• Use ROI calculations to allocate the proper budget to email marketing efforts.
• Make sure increased quantity keeps quality intact, with proper testing and
streamlined creative processes.
• As the number of emails increases, stay ahead of the pack by using analytics and
technology-based email tools to ensure you bypass the spam filter and land in
inboxes.

2020 has truly been unlike any other, in the real world and in the email world. Email continues to be a
powerful channel that creates strong customer connections, drives sales, and increases loyalty.

Keep the trends revealed in this report in mind as you develop your email marketing strategy for the rest
of this year and beyond. Check out Litmus for pre-send email testing systems and post-email analytics to
ensure your emails perform.

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