Email Marketing Strategy: Insights From the 2021 State of Email Report

 The past two years have been full of change–and the world of email marketing has been no exception. To create our 2021 State of Email report, we surveyed 400 marketing professionals to learn how they’re evolving (and in some cases, pivoting) their email marketing strategy to respond to these shifts. In analyzing the data, five key trends driving the current state of email emerged:

Email marketing is increasingly critical to business success. There’s no question: Email has always been important. But now? It’s essential.

Personalization and automation are must-haves. While not new, email personalization and automation are no longer an added bonus. The time is now.

Privacy measures are forcing strategies to change. Industry shifts to protect privacy are impacting marketing’s ability to personalize.

Brands are embracing agile marketing to meet email demand. Production cycles are getting longer while volume is increasing. Burnout is real.

Marketing must embrace the state of the world. Email programs are adjusting their tone, approach and strategy to reflect world events and change.

We also identified a number of key stats and data points, including that:

• 70% of brands have increased email marketing workload–but budgets haven’t changed. In 2022, 37% of brands are increasing their email budget–and just 1.3% are making cuts. This was nearly the opposite at the start of the pandemic.
• 55% of marketers are missing out by rarely or never A/B testing
• 43% of marketers are changing how they measure email performance because of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection; 24% aren’t making any changes (for now), and 23% still aren’t sure what they’ll do.

The report also includes insights about what other email marketing experts are currently doing and considering in their own email marketing strategies, including tips from: April Mullen (SparkPost), Bruce Swann (Adobe), Tabish Bhimani (Mastrat Digital), Gavin Laugenie (dotdigital), Samar Owais, Dr. Ada Y. Barlatt (OperationsAlly), Ali Fuller (Fiveable), Kara Trivunovic (Epsilon), Chad S. White (Oracle), Guilda Hilaire (Salesforce), Jen Capstraw (Women of Email), Hillel Berg.

Get the 2021 State of Email report now for full access to the data, resources, and expert advice that will keep you on top of your email marketing game.

Get the report