Email Marketing Stats and Trends

How Big Is Email in 2026?

Email remains one of the most widely used digital communication channels in the world.

It functions as both a daily utility for consumers and a core revenue channel for ecommerce brands.

• Email is still the primary digital identifier across devices
• Global email usage continues to grow year over year
• Inbox access is stable across age groups and regions
• Email is an owned channel, not controlled by algorithms

Global Email Usage Stats

The number of email users worldwide has continued to increase steadily, passing the four-billion-user mark and growing each year.

At the same time, the number of emails sent and received daily keeps rising as email remains central to both work and commerce.

• Hundreds of billions of emails are sent every day globally
• Email remains the default channel for account access and transactions
• Inbox usage spans both B2C and B2B interactions

Email client usage is also highly concentrated, with Apple Mail and Gmail accounting for the majority of opens.

How Consumers Use Email Today

Email behavior has shifted toward short, frequent, mobile-first interactions.

Shoppers expect emails to be relevant immediately—or they disengage.

• Most email opens happen on mobile devices
• Consumers check email multiple times per day
• Relevance matters more than brand recognition

Key takeaway: Attention is earned through relevance, not send frequency.

Email vs Social and Paid Channels

Paid and social channels are effective but increasingly volatile.

Email provides predictable reach without algorithmic dependency.

• No auction-based pricing
• Direct access to opted-in customers
• Higher purchase intent than social engagement

Email Marketing Effectiveness in Ecommerce

Email remains one of the highest-ROI channels when automation and personalization are applied.

Performance gaps come from how emails are triggered—not how many are sent.

• Triggered emails outperform scheduled campaigns
• Product-level personalization increases click-through rates
• Lifecycle emails outperform one-off promotions

This is where AI-powered product recommendations create measurable uplift.

Privacy, Deliverability, and Trust

Inbox providers now prioritize relevance, engagement, and consent.

Privacy-first setups improve deliverability instead of limiting performance.

• First-party data is mandatory
• Engagement signals affect inbox placement
• Generic campaigns are filtered or ignored

This aligns with cookieless personalization strategies.

Why Email Still Wins for Ecommerce

Email connects browsing, buying, and retention in a single channel.

When paired with onsite behavior, it becomes a revenue engine.

• Recovers abandoned sessions and carts
• Drives repeat purchases automatically
• Scales without increasing ad spend

This is why brands invest in AI-driven email automation.

TL;DR

• Email remains a core ecommerce channel in 2026
• Mobile-first behavior defines engagement
• Automation beats batch campaigns
• Privacy-first strategies improve deliverability
• Email performs best when tied to onsite behavior