You'd expect a lot to have changed.

A global pandemic.

Remote working.

Explosive digital growth.

Surely email marketing statistics would look completely different today?

Surprisingly… they don't.

At least, not in the way most people would expect.

The Big Surprise: Stability, Not Disruption

When you scan industry reports from 2018 to today, one thing stands out:

Most core email marketing metrics haven’t dramatically shifted.

Yes, there are fluctuations.
Yes, some industries took hits (travel, for example).

But overall?

Email marketing has remained remarkably consistent.

That consistency is powerful. It tells us something important: Email isn’t fragile. It’s resilient.

The One Metric That Did Change: Audience Size

While performance metrics stayed stable, one thing grew rapidly: the number of email users.

From under 3.8 billion in 2018 to well over 4.4 billion today.

That’s not a small increase.

It means:

• bigger audiences
• more competition
• more noise in the inbox

So even if averages haven’t changed, the environment has.

Standing still now means falling behind.

The Standout Performer: Welcome Emails

One statistic has remained consistently impressive: Welcome emails outperform everything else.

Typical marketing email open rates? Often below 20%.

Welcome emails? Regularly above 60%.

That gap isn’t small — it’s enormous.

And yet, many businesses still treat welcome emails as an afterthought.

They shouldn’t.

What Subscribers Still Want (No Surprises Here)

Despite all the changes in technology and behaviour, subscriber expectations are simple:

• relevant offers
• useful information
• content that matches their interests

Nothing revolutionary.

Just consistently executed basics.

The Problem With Industry Stats

Here’s where things get tricky.

All those “best time to send” charts.
All those “average open rate” benchmarks.
All those “top-performing strategies”.

They look authoritative.

They feel useful.

But in reality?

They’re not built for you.

They’re averages.

And averages apply to no one.

Why Your Data Matters More Than Ever

Email marketing has one huge advantage: You don’t need to guess.

Your email marketing software provider gives you real data:

• your open rates
• your click-throughs
• your unsubscribe patterns
• your audience behaviour

That’s your benchmark.

Not someone else’s.

A Good Example: Mail Privacy Protection (MPP)

When Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection, many marketers panicked.

Open rates increased — but artificially.

Click-through rates didn’t match.

Confusion followed.

Industry stats couldn’t explain it.

But your own data could.

It shows how your audience actually behaves — not how a global average suggests they should.

The Real Takeaway

Email marketing hasn’t changed as much as people think.

What has changed is the context:

• more users
• more competition
• more complexity in tracking

That makes one thing clear:

Blindly following industry statistics is no longer enough.

Final Thought

Don’t chase averages.

Don’t compare blindly.

Don’t optimise for “industry standards”.

Optimise for your audience.

Because in email marketing, the only stats that matter… are your own.