Does Email Marketing Still Work in 2026? Here’s What Today’s Data Says
So, does email marketing still work? With all of these social media advertising avenues to choose from, it does make one wonder if the humble email is even relevant anymore. The answer: you bet!
Email marketing is one of the simplest and most cost-effective methods for marketing your business online. And it’s one of the few channels you can measure all the way down to real business outcomes (leads, purchases, booked calls), not just “likes.”
Email marketing allows you to hone in on your desired audience to a degree that is not possible with other types of media. Litmus reports many companies see email ROI in the 10:1 to 36:1 range (and some higher) as of 2025.
When you’re doing it right, benchmark data shows email still performs:
With email marketing, you can easily evaluate the success of your campaign by looking at metrics, including open rates, bounce rates and click-through rates. This data can disclose your customers’ behaviours and interests, giving you insight into what kind of content your customers respond to best, and this can then guide your future marketing endeavours. These insights simply don’t exist with display ads.
With email marketing, you can personalize your messages by segmenting your email list based on lead status, demographics, location and other select data. This allows you to send targeted messages based on the needs and interests of your audience.
Note, that personalization in 2026 is less “Hi {First Name}” and more about context:
Get personal by really understanding your audience’s behaviour so you can craft email messages that speak in a tone and language that resonates with your target market. Don’t blast the masses by sending a generic one-size-fits-all message, instead take the time to really think about what your mailing list audience wants to hear about from you, whether it’s a new deal or products, new tips or tricks, or new content housed on your website, etc.
Staying top of mind is important for brands in this age of advertising overload. Granted, people may not be ready to purchase your product or service when they first hear about your business, but by sending a follow-up email, you can remind your audience that you exist. By being around and offering helpful tips, tricks and insights that speak to your audience, you will be among the first companies they recall when they do need your service or product.
Just remember: inbox providers are stricter now. Bulk senders need proper authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) and clean list practices to protect deliverability.
A modern email program usually has two engines:
These are triggered by actions, so they tend to outperform broad blasts. Klaviyo’s benchmarks show automated flows average 48.57% open rate and 4.67% click rate (with top performers far higher).
Common high-impact flows:
These keep you top-of-mind:
Here’s the 2026 reality: opens are less trustworthy than they used to be because of privacy features like Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which can inflate or obscure open tracking.
So your “real” scoreboard looks like this:
To measure properly, you should be tagging links with UTM parameters and reviewing results in GA4 (and/or your CRM), so you can attribute revenue and leads back to specific emails and campaigns.
So, if you’re still judging success mostly by open rate, you’re flying with a broken compass. Use clicks + conversions + revenue as your primary KPIs.
Tip: Mine key data from past campaign analytics and metrics to create successful marketing campaigns that you know perform well with your target audiences.
Don’t get spammy! Ever. Tirelessly sending emails will result in the cancellation of your subscription list. Reduce the number of emails sent, and do not bombard your email list with unnecessary information. When you don’t respect the time and energy it takes to read emails, you’ll lose out on potential customers who really look for value.
In addition to relevant content, your emails need to have some kind of call to action to motivate people to click where they want or complete something they need.
If you want an email program built for 2026 (automations, lifecycle campaigns, GA4/CRM attribution, conversion-focused reporting and more!), work with a team that lives for data and knows how to write emails people want to read.
Want to turn your list into a predictable lead/sales channel? Let’s talk. Contact Blue Ocean Interactive today.
