Email Marketing RulesIs Email Marketing’s ROI Sky-High or Irrelevant?
Posted on December 17, 2024
For the better part of the past two decades, email marketing’s return on investment has hovered around 40:1, according to a variety of sources. For instance, a recent Litmus survey of more than 2,000 marketers found that email marketing’s ROI is 36:1. That means the average brand can expect to earn $36 for every $1 they spend on their email marketing efforts.
Compared with other channels, email marketing’s ROI is typically near the top of the spectrum, up there with brands’ investments in their website and organic SEO. Email marketing outperforms SMS and push marketing, as well as search, social, and other digital advertising. And it blows away the returns seen with traditional media channels like direct mail, TV, and radio.
This ROI hierarchy has been in place for a long time. Given that, you might expect for brands to be perpetually eager to invest more in their email marketing programs, especially as they gain more AI capabilities. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Instead, brands are deprioritizing marketing and shifting budget from higher-ROI owned channels to lower-ROI paid channels, according to Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend Survey. That seems like a poor strategy, both short-term and long-term, so why are brands doing this?
Let’s explore possible reasons why brands aren’t more drawn to email marketing’s high ROI.
The Most Wonderful (High-Stakes, High-Volume) Time of the Year [Infographic]
Posted on December 13, 2024
For B2C brands, the holiday season is everything they’ve been working toward. All the relevance and value they delivered earlier in the year has fostered the loyalty their customers are bringing with them into November and December—and into the Cyber Five heart of the holiday season.
In the infographic in this post, we highlight some of the strategies brands used to connect with their most loyal customers across their promotional marketing channels, including email, SMS, web push, and mobile push. Brands know that revenue per message is highest during the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday period, so they took advantage of high buyer intent by pushing message volumes well above average non-holiday levels.
Email Marketing Developments in 2024 & Their Ripple Effects in 2025
Posted on December 11, 2024
While there will undoubtedly be new out-of-the-blue developments that shake the email marketing industry in 2025, marketers already have to contend with a slew of developments that took root in 2024 and will become more of a force in the year ahead. Let’s look at what some of those developments are.
The Last Word on November 2024
Posted on December 6, 2024
A roundup of digital and email marketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Apple AI Notification Summaries Exist; Rarely Useful, Often Hilarious (The Verge)
Google May Soon Let You Create Email Aliases in an Effort to Fight Spam (Android Authority)
What DMARC Policy Should Senders Use in 2025? (Email on Acid)
How Marketers Are Spending Their Money in 2025 (We Asked 11,093 Marketers) (Neil Patel)
Apple and Google Could Face a Competition Probe over Their Huge Mobile Ecosystems in the UK (CNBC)
Google Is Inserting Search Links into Webpages in the Google App Now (The Verge)
Insightful & entertaining social posts
Great recap of where we are with AI today.
“enterprise adoption is still very early: mostly low hanging fruit kind of use cases: chat, search, code, or easy to deploy applications. For anything more company-specific or industry specific: consultants are the big winners so far.” https://t.co/sddgQlA0Pu
— Paul Roetzer (@paulroetzer) November 10, 2024
Email Marketing thoughts:
1. Having your promotional emails land in the promotions tab is NOT a bad thing.
2. Sending to severely unengaged contacts WILL hurt your deliverability.
3. Bad deliverability? Moving providers isn’t an elixir.
#emailgeeks #ecommerce #marketing #BFCM #emailmarketing
— Greg zakowicz (@gregzakowicz.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Noteworthy subject lines
IKEA Family, 11/7 – 🦊🐝 Welcome to the magical Swedish forest! 🍄🌲
Burlington | Home D., 11/12 – Start the season with holiday décor savings!
vineyard vines, 11/4 – Last Call For 30% Off Holiday Family PJs
Michaels, 11/1 – 🎄 Celebrate Savings: The Great Big Tree Spree Starts Now! Up to 70% off!
Big Lots, 11/5 – Santa’s Secret: He Shops with Us for the Best Deals! 💯
Bass Pro Shops, 11/1 – Your Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide Is Here
Uncommon Goods, 11/4 – 10/10 gingerbread people recommend our gift guides
Uncommon Goods, 11/15 – Need a gift for that impossible-to-shop-for person?
Uncommon Goods, 11/30 – This year’s *best* bestsellers 🏆
Urban Outfitters, 11/4 – the styles on everyone’s list…
REI, 11/2 – The perfect gift 🤝 under $25
kate spade, 11/9 – Gifts under $100, right this way
Macy’s, 11/3 – Beauty advent cals mean you *can* give everything 💄
Redbubble, 11/19 – Bring their favorite anime worlds to life
Bed Bath & Beyond, 11/7 – ⏰🚨📢 LAST CHANCE: Up to 50% Off Early Black Friday ⏰🚨📢
Wayfair, 11/14 – 📃✏️ Check it off your BLACK FRIDAY list ✅
Priceline.com, 11/14 – Your Black Friday Preview (!!!)
Home Depot, 11/19 – Here & Now: Black Friday Savings
Macy’s, 11/22 – Don’t wait! Black Friday deals are ALREADY here
Target, 11/22 – Early Black Friday Deals start today!
MoMA Design Store, 11/19 – Black Friday Starts Early! 20% Off
NFLshop.com, 11/22 – Black Friday Deals >> Save 25% On Official Styles
vineyard vines, 11/22 – 40% Off EVERYTHING For Black Friday ⚫
Big Lots, 11/22 – Black Friday Friday: 50% Off ALL Cookware! 👩🍳🔥
Superdry, 11/22 – Black Friday Came Early: Up to 70% Off
REI, 11/29 – Opt Outside with us again on Black Friday
Cards Against Humanity, 11/30 – Diamond Potato is here
IKEA Family, 11/1 – 🦃 Save now, skip the holiday stress later! 🎄
Goldbelly, 11/5 – Pre-Order for Thanksgiving TODAY! 🦃
Crate & Barrel, 11/12 – Is your kitchen ready for turkey day? 🦃
Allrecipes Dinner Tonight, 11/1 – My Favorite 3-Ingredient Thanksgiving Appetizer
Williams Sonoma, 11/5 – Thanksgiving HQ: roasters, thermometers & more
West Elm Sale, 11/24 – Your living room sofa and guest bedroom all in one
Crate & Kids, 11/5 – It’s almost “play indoors” season. Prep your playroom →
Big Lots, 11/4 – $49.99 Heated Blankets—Yup, you read that right! NEW DEALS!
Levi’s, 11/12 – Outerwear for inner joy!
Sarah from Lonely Planet, 11/2 – It’s time to book your winter vacation
Petco, 11/5 – Stock up on your dog’s food before the holiday rush!
Tumblr, 11/25 – Congratulations, Max. 🎉
Gap, 11/13 – Introducing: Our heaviest hoodie
adidas, 11/2 – Ultraboost 1.0: All comfort. All energy.
Forever 21, 11/7 – NEW: Wicked Collection 🖤
Forever 21, 11/14 – JUST LAUNCHED: Peanuts Collection
Clinique Online, 11/19 – A gift after Live Chat? Yes please!
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
AI Summaries for Email: Design Impacts on Marketers
How to Identify & Create More Great Customers
Good & Bad Reasons to Consider Switching ESPs
Year-in-Review Marketing Campaigns: Don’t Drop the Ball
Posted on December 4, 2024
As we approach the new year, some brands will be sending year-in-review campaigns—and perhaps should be, too. These typically include detailed information about how your customers engaged with your brand over the year, with an eye on how they got value from that engagement.
They’re the most popular with service- and entertainment-oriented brands, but they are a possibility for a host of other brands with regular interactions. And while year-in-review campaigns are the most popular in the email channel, brands can also promote these in SMS, push, and other channels by hosting the campaign online.
Because these campaigns involve a lot of personalization, they’re more complicated to produce than the typical campaign. Their high level of personalization also prompts a number of questions and concerns. Let’s look at the biggest ones.
Content Calendar Assistant 2025
Posted on December 3, 2024
Everybody can use a little help coming up with content ideas. And everybody can use a heads up to make sure they don’t look foolish or insensitive by launching campaigns that clash with US or international holidays, occasions, or events. Oracle Digital Experience Agency’s Content Calendar Assistant provides that help.
To aid you with your content planning, our Content Calendar Assistant is organized by quarter, month, and week. By quarter because that’s how big themes and seasons are planned. By month because that’s how we tend to think about content creation. And by week because that’s how we plan out our campaign creation. In total, it contains nearly 1,000 ideas to enhance your content planning, plus insights and advice from some of our hundreds of digital marketing experts.
AI Summaries for Email: Design Impacts on Marketers
Posted on November 26, 2024
Like so many application providers, email inbox providers are integrating generative AI into their inbox apps, or allowing GenAI tools to work on top of them. One of the primary uses is to provide summaries of emails.
To better understand how these tools are summarizing email content today, Oracle Digital Experience Agency ran tests with Apple Intelligence and Android AI using emails with varying content and coding elements. Before we detail those test results, let’s talk about the devices where these tools are available.
How to Identify & Create More Great Customers
Posted on November 15, 2024
Every company wants more customers. But even more than that, you want great customers. You want customers who are loyal and spend a lot with you. It’s the old 80-20 rule, where 20% of your customers are likely generating 80% of your revenue. Ideally, you’d like to grow that 20%, because increasing it even a little has a huge effect on your business.
Most brands start by asking themselves…
The Last Word on October 2024
Posted on November 8, 2024
A roundup of digital and email marketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Email Reigns: It’s The Most Popular Channel Worldwide (MediaPost)
SEO in the AI Era: 3 Ways to Adapt (and get AI to mention your brand) (Andy Crestodina)
Connecting for Growth: A Makeover for Your Marketing Operating Model (McKinsey & Co.)
New Summary Cards in Gmail Help Track Purchases, Events, and More (Google)
Cox.net Email Transitioning to Yahoo (Cox)
Thank You Pages: 13 Missed Opportunities (Andy Crestodina)
Speak Easier: A Practical Guide to Public Speaking for Everyone (Jason Rodriguez)
Insightful & entertaining social posts
7 in 10 consumers worldwide prefer emails from brands: https://t.co/7PqUV8TYJJ#cotd #chartoftheday #newsletter #consumerbehavior #email #brand #emailmarketing pic.twitter.com/7fqd90Bk7N
— EMARKETER (@eMarketer) October 11, 2024
Idea for political campaign SMS:
“Hey (name), I have a win-win favor to ask – donate $20 to our campaign and we’ll delete your information from all of our databases. One & done. You get to help us, and know that we’ll never send you another message or sell your data.
(Link)
— Alex Williams (@alexcwilliams) October 23, 2024
Bowing Out: Consumers Are Quick To Unsubscribe From Emails https://t.co/LvhhCc7Syu -via @MediaPost pic.twitter.com/MNiVquV2sT
— James Koons (@Email_Privacy) October 7, 2024
Me showing up to conferences to talk about bringing back humanity and empathy to the customer experience while every other speaker is talking about AI. pic.twitter.com/HHPecaMLQl
— Christina Garnett (@ThatChristinaG) October 21, 2024
#litmuslive2024 pic.twitter.com/bS6qWhUDAo
— Anne Tomlin (@pompeii79) October 30, 2024
Noteworthy subject lines
Crate & Kids, 10/4 – NEW | Shop 300+ gifts in our Holiday Gift Guide!
Uncommon Goods, 10/19 – 10 ways to count down to Christmas
Forever 21, 10/24 – JUST IN: Kitschy Christmas 🎄✨
Michaels, 10/8 – 🎄 Discover your dream tree at your one-stop Christmas tree shop!
William Sonoma, 10/4 – 🌟 Baking spirits bright 🌟
adidas, 10/24 – Turn early prep into holiday gifts
Big Lots, 10/24 – BOO-GO Candy? Buy One Get One FREE Halloween Bagged Candy! 🍭
Scout fromBARK, 10/11 – Your dog’s free skeleton hoodie? Gone to-marrow.
Crate & Barrel, 10/26 – Everything you need for Thanksgiving (& every day after)
William Sonoma, 10/19 – The Roaster Event is on! Up to 35% off starts NOW
Petco, 10/7 – Want your dog to smell like delicious apples? 🍎🍂✨
Vuori, 10/4 – Coming Soon: Outerwear
The North Face, 10/11 – Our softest fleece for slower days.
Woot, 10/22 – Winter Called – It’s Running Late, but the Deals Are Right on Time!
Neiman Marcus, 10/12 – How to wear Spring 2025 trends
Quiksilver, 10/26 – Hawaii Collection: Unlock the Island Life 🏝️
Forever 21, 10/25 – Hello Kitty & Friends – NEW styles added!
Best Buy, 10/19 – O.M.G. Get TVs (for as low as $69.99)!
Everlane, 10/12 – People Say It’s Perfect
Scout from BARK, 10/8 – Want $100 of FREE dog sh*t? 🐶💩
Clinique Online, 10/7 – Double cleanse tonight 🌙 Here’s how
Allrecipes Dinner Tonight, 10/26 – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Midnight Snack Is Hilariously Relatable
Chubbies, 10/18 – NFL x CHUBBIES COLLECTION
Diesel, 10/8 – Diesel x Savage x Fenty
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
BIMI Email Standard Gets Big Boost by Becoming Less of a Standard
How to Leverage Email Marketing During the 2024 Holiday Season
Promotions Tab Hysteria Is Back! (Thanks, Apple)
Differentiate Your Messages with These Email From Name Extension Strategies
Fourth Quarter 2024 Holiday Marketing Quarterly
4 Ways to Boost Digital Marketing Margins When Discounting
6 Common Accessibility Myths that Cost Brands Customers
Good & Bad Reasons to Consider Switching ESPs
Posted on November 7, 2024
For marketers, changing email service providers (ESPs) is a time-consuming and risky endeavor, so they should be absolutely sure it’s necessary. That was the central message of a panel at the ANA’s 2024 Email Evolution Conference.
Throughout the session, I found myself constantly nodding in agreement. Here are some of the key themes, along with some of my own thoughts on this high-stakes issue.
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
Features
