Every year since 2010, someone has declared email dead. Slack was supposed to replace it. Then Teams. Then Instagram DMs. None of them did. Statista reports the number of daily global email users reached 4.6 billion in 2025, up from 4 billion in 2020. The Data & Marketing Association measures average ROI at 42 kronor for every krona invested. This is not a channel in decline. It is the highest-converting channel that exists.
Email’s comeback: how it survived its own obituary
Throughout the 2010s, email’s death was predicted on a regular basis. Facebook Messenger, Slack, WhatsApp, Snapchat — each was framed as the alternative that would make email obsolete. None of them succeeded. Email is alive, it’s thriving, and in 2026 it’s the only digital communication channel that reaches essentially every internet user.
Statista reports 4.73 billion people used email daily in 2025. That’s more than the number of Facebook users, more than Instagram users, and more than TikTok users combined. And unlike social media, your email list is yours. No algorithm decides whether your subscribers see your message.
Email is the only place on the internet where you own the relationship. Every other channel you rent — and the platform sets the terms.
Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs
ROI of 42:1 — email’s economic case
The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) publishes the industry’s most cited annual report on email marketing effectiveness. In its 2025 report, average ROI was 42:1 — 42 kronor back for every krona invested. That is the highest measured ROI for any marketing channel.
Compared to other channels: social media ads generate an average ROI of 2:1 to 5:1. Search ads (Google Ads) deliver 2:1 to 8:1 depending on industry. Content marketing (blog and SEO) generates strong ROI but on a long horizon — often 12–18 months. Email combines fast delivery with high conversion and low cost in a way no other channel matches.
- Email marketing: average ROI 42:1 (DMA, 2025)
- Social media ads: 2:1 to 5:1
- Google Ads: 2:1 to 8:1
- Influencer marketing: 5:1 to 11:1
- Display advertising: 2:1 to 3:1
You own the list — and that matters more than ever
Facebook’s organic reach — the share of your followers who see your posts without paid promotion — was 16% in 2012. In 2025 it is 2.0%. That’s an 87% drop in 13 years. Instagram is following the same curve. TikTok is heading there. Platforms systematically suppress organic reach to force businesses to pay for ads.
Your email list is immune to this trend. A subscriber who actively gave you their email address has given you explicit consent to contact them, and average newsletter open rates in Sweden are 28–35%, according to Mailchimp Benchmarks 2025. That’s 14–17 times better reach than organic Facebook.
And unlike your Instagram followers, your email list is yours. Meta could close your account tomorrow. Mailchimp could raise its price by 300%. Your list, stored in your own database, is an asset no one can take from you.
Your email list is the only digital asset you truly own. Everything else — your followers, your reach, your visibility — is rented from a platform that can change the terms at any time.
Seth Godin, This Is Marketing, updated edition 2024
Segmentation: the right message to the right person at the right time
In 2024, Mailchimp published an analysis of 15 million email campaigns. Segmented campaigns — where the list is divided based on behavior, interests, or purchase history — generate 14.31% higher open rates, 100.95% more clicks, and 760% more revenue per email compared to non-segmented mass sends.
Segmentation isn’t complicated. It can be as simple as sending a website offer to subscribers who expressed interest in web services, and a branding offer to those who clicked on brand-related content. Relevance is the strongest conversion factor in email marketing.
Automation: email that sells while you sleep
Automated email flows — sequences sent automatically based on behavior or time intervals — are the most cost-effective way to nurture leads. A well-written 3–5 email welcome series, sent during a customer’s first week as a subscriber, generates on average 3 times more revenue per subscriber than one-off campaigns.
A modern email system has automation built in: welcome series for new subscribers, follow-up emails to visitors who showed interest without making contact, and seasonal campaigns scheduled quarterly. The result is a system that works continuously without manual effort.
- Welcome series (3–5 emails): generates 3x more revenue per subscriber
- Abandoned cart (ecommerce): recovers 15–25% of lost purchases
- Post-consultation follow-up: lifts close rate by up to 30%
- Anniversary email: strengthens loyalty and drives repeat purchases
- Segment-based campaigns: 760% more revenue per send vs. mass sends
How to start: practical steps to build an email list in 2026
The hardest part of email marketing isn’t writing the email — it’s building the list. An email list of 500 engaged subscribers is worth more than 50,000 Instagram followers who never interact. Quality over quantity, always.
- Place a clear subscription CTA on your website — not hidden in the footer
- Offer an incentive: a guide, a discount code, or exclusive content
- Capture email addresses at every customer touchpoint, with GDPR-compliant consent
- Send consistently — not necessarily often. Every other week is a solid target
- Measure open rate, click rate, and unsubscribes, and adapt accordingly
It is now possible to build your own email system with GDPR-compliant subscriber management, custom HTML design, and built-in automation — without per-subscriber pricing. That means you own the list, choose the content, and control the cost without depending on an external platform’s pricing model.