• by Ray Schultz , February 24, 2023

Fewer than 60% of global businesses feel their email marketing programs are successful, according to a new study from Mailjet by Sinch. 

On the other hand, 76% say they can directly connect email marketing to their company’s success. 

Among the challenges hampering email users are:

• Standing out in the inbox — 37.3%
• Inbox placement issues — 32.7% 
• Lack of time and focus — 32.7%
• Lack of internal support and investment — 26.7%

(That last issue was the top limitation in the U.S., with nearly 40% citing it). 

How do brands determine email success? They look at:

• Open rate — 42.7%
• Clickthrough rate — 42.1%
• Conversion rate — 26%

However, those metrics may no longer be effective.

“Popular metrics like open, clickthrough and conversion rate aren’t perfect,” says Kate Nowrouzi, vice president of deliverability & product Strategy at Mailjet by Sinch. 

Nowrouzi continues: “They can be unreliable, limited in scope and hard to standardize. We typically recommend a mix of these and other metrics — like inbox placement rate or read/skim/delete rates — to provide a stronger gauge of success.”

All this is happening as senders focus on: 

• Content distribution — 49.5%
• Transactional communication — 35.3%
• Promotions and selling — 30.5%

The top tactics: 34.4% pointed to improving deliverability and strong design and copy, and 32.1% cited a cohesive strategy.

Josh Odom, oresident of Sinch Developer and Email, concludes. “While budgets are fluctuating with today’s economic climate, it’s clear email is integral to companies’ business goals, and tools available to streamline email delivery, development and design processes can ease workloads on strained marketing teams.” 

Mailjet by Sinch surveyed 3,200 email markteres worldwide in November-December 2022.