• by Ray Schultz , March 28, 2023

Email marketing is the most-used ecommerce marketing channel, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to The Ecommerce Marketing Mix Report, a study by Klaviyo.

Of SMBs polled, 76.51% use email, as do 72.73% of mid-market businesses. 

Overall, email is followed by organic social, paid social, SEO and content. 

In addition, 76.86% of businesses place email in their top three channels that deliver the most ROI. Email tops paid search, paid social, broadcast and SEO. 

However, email ranks fourth in marketing expenditures, behind paid social, paid search and connected TV (CTV).

Among mid-market firms, it falls behind paid search and paid social, and is fifth for SMBs, following paid social, CTV, paid search and broadcast. 

In general, 55.75% of ecommerce brands will invest more in acquisition, and 29.87% in retention.  

Among mid-market firms, 52.52% foresee a significant increase in their acquisition spend and focus, and 36.36% foresee an increase in retention. 

In contrast, 58.80% are spending more on acquisition and 30.90% on retention. 

Klaviyo surveyed 750+ ecommerce leaders involved in marketing strategy and budget allocation decisions. Heavily represented in the survey are apparel & accessories (24.24%), food & beverage (12.48%), health & beauty (12.12%) and electronics 7.49%).