Ten reasons why email marketing should be part of your marketing strategy (2025)

Introduction

That's a huge mistake. Done properly, we firmly believe that email marketing remains one of the most powerful and effective tools in your marketing box. With 4.6 billion email users worldwide in 2025 and the channel delivering an average ROI of £36 for every £1 spent, email marketing has never been more relevant or profitable.

Here's why your business should be investing in email marketing in 2025 and beyond.

1. You own your email list

One of the biggest risks associated with many popular digital marketing platforms is that you're giving over control of the relationship you have with your customers and prospects to a commercial organisation. You don't directly own that relationship yourself.

Recent examples of platform instability – from Twitter's changes under new ownership to TikTok's ongoing regulatory challenges – highlight the implications of this dependency. Companies that rely solely on these platforms to communicate with their audience can find themselves unable to operate effectively when changes occur.

One of the biggest benefits of building up a decent email marketing list is that you then have a direct relationship with the people on that list. You're no longer reliant on another platform to mediate that relationship for you. Of course, you'll need to use a third-party platform to send out your emails, but that third party doesn't own your email list – you do. You can switch to other options if needed.

This ownership extends beyond just having contact details. Your email list represents people who have actively chosen to hear from you, creating a valuable asset that appreciates over time and remains under your complete control.

2. People DO engage with email – and it works better than ever

Email remains a highly effective form of communication in 2025. That's because people are conditioned to take action with an email, whether that's replying, forwarding, responding, clicking or purchasing.

The latest statistics prove email's continued dominance:

• 93% of people check their email daily in 2025, with 42% checking 3-5 times per day
• 59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions
• Over 50% of consumers purchase from marketing emails at least once per month
• Email generates £36 for every £1 invested – significantly higher than other digital channels

Unless your industry accounts for the remaining 7% who don't check email daily (which is extremely unlikely!), email presents an incredible opportunity to reach customers. Not only can you provide them with offers, updates, and valuable content, but they can also share and forward those emails to anyone they'd like.

A good email marketing strategy encourages customers to share offers as much as possible. Effectively, your customers become your marketing advocates, amplifying your reach organically.

Emails work effectively at all stages of your sales process – to generate interest, follow up on actions, nurture behaviours, convert sales and drive responses. The key is understanding what contacts you have in your email list, what they've done previously, and what they want from you.

3. Email marketing remains extremely cost-effective

With email, you can reach thousands of people for very little cost. The low cost per lead and conversion with email marketing remains one of the main reasons why it's a mistake to ignore this channel as a major route to market.

In 2025, email marketing platforms have become even more accessible:

• Mailchimp allows audiences of up to 2,000 contacts in its free plan
• HubSpot includes 2,000 email sends per month in its free package
• Salesforce allows 5,000 emails daily as part of its professional capability
• Most CRM tools now include email functionality as standard

The scalability is remarkable – whether you're sending to 100 or 100,000 subscribers, the marginal cost per additional email remains minimal. This makes email marketing particularly attractive for small and medium-sized enterprises looking to maximise their marketing budget.

Even with advanced features like AI-powered personalisation and automation (which we'll explore next), email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective channels available to businesses in 2025.

4. AI and automation supercharge email performance

2025 marks a turning point for email marketing, with artificial intelligence revolutionising how campaigns are created, optimised, and delivered. This isn't just about efficiency – it's about dramatically improving results.

Current AI applications in email marketing include:

• Predictive send-time optimisation: AI determines the optimal time to send emails to each individual subscriber
• Dynamic content generation: AI creates personalised subject lines and email content based on recipient behaviour and preferences
• Advanced segmentation: Machine learning algorithms identify micro-segments within your audience for hyper-targeted messaging
• Automated A/B testing: AI continuously tests and optimises email elements without manual intervention

The results speak for themselves. Companies using AI-driven email marketing report:

• 82% increase in conversion rates from AI-powered personalisation
• 13% boost in click-through rates with AI-optimised content
• 41% increase in revenue per email through dynamic personalisation
• 2,361% better conversion rates from automated email sequences compared to one-off campaigns

Popular platforms like Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Klaviyo now include AI features as standard, making these capabilities accessible to businesses of all sizes. The technology handles the complex analysis while you focus on strategy and creativity.

5. You probably have the makings of a good email list already

Most organisations already have the foundation for a strong email list through their existing customer relationships. The key is expanding this foundation strategically whilst remaining compliant with current regulations.

GDPR and privacy regulations in 2025 remain important considerations, but they shouldn't prevent you from building a quality email list. Focus on these compliant list-building strategies:

• Website opt-ins: Add newsletter signup forms with clear value propositions
• Content gating: Offer valuable resources (guides, templates, reports) in exchange for email addresses
• Integrated sales processes: Connect your CRM to capture email preferences during the purchasing process
• Social media integration: Use social platforms to drive traffic to your email signup forms
• Event marketing: Collect email addresses at trade shows, webinars, and networking events

The key is providing genuine value at every touchpoint. Modern consumers are willing to share their email addresses when they see clear benefits – exclusive offers, early access to products, valuable educational content, or insider industry insights.

Remember to implement robust unsubscribe processes – most email platforms handle this automatically, but it's crucial for maintaining trust and compliance. A clean, engaged list is always more valuable than a large, unengaged one.

6. Email marketing is easily measurable (with privacy-first metrics)

Email marketing provides some of the most detailed performance analytics of any marketing channel. However, the measurement landscape has evolved significantly with privacy updates, particularly Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) which affects approximately 64% of email subscribers in 2025.

Key metrics to focus on in 2025:

• Click-through rates (CTR): More reliable than open rates and indicate genuine engagement
• Conversion rates: The ultimate measure of email effectiveness
• Revenue per email: Direct attribution to business outcomes
• List growth rate: Indicates the health of your acquisition efforts
• Forward/share rates: Shows content resonance and organic amplification

Modern email platforms like Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Klaviyo have adapted their analytics to focus on these privacy-compliant metrics. They provide sophisticated segmentation tools that allow you to create highly targeted follow-up campaigns based on subscriber behaviour.

For comprehensive tracking, integrate UTM parameters with your Google Analytics 4 setup. This provides detailed insights into how email traffic converts on your website, allowing you to optimise the entire customer journey from inbox to purchase.

The granular nature of this data is impossible to achieve with most other marketing channels, giving email a significant advantage in performance optimisation.

7. Emails can be hyper-personalised and tightly targeted

Email enables you to communicate directly with people who are genuinely interested in hearing from you about the specific topics that matter to them. In 2025, this personalisation has reached unprecedented levels of sophistication.

Modern email platforms can segment contacts based on:

• Behavioural data: Website activity, email engagement, purchase history
• Demographic information: Age, location, job role, industry
• Lifecycle stage: New subscribers, active customers, dormant contacts
• Preferences: Content topics, communication frequency, product interests
• Real-time triggers: Cart abandonment, browse behaviour, anniversary dates

The results of proper segmentation are remarkable. According to recent studies, marketers who use segmented campaigns note up to a 760% increase in revenue compared to non-segmented approaches.

AI-powered personalisation takes this further by:

• Automatically generating subject lines based on individual preferences
• Customising send times for each subscriber's engagement patterns
• Creating dynamic content that adapts to recipient interests
• Predicting which products or services each contact is most likely to purchase

Remember to personalise beyond just names – use location data, purchase history, and browsing behaviour to create truly relevant experiences. Research shows that personalised email subject lines can boost open rates by up to 50%, whilst personalised content increases click-through rates by 41%.

8. Email marketing is direct, immediate and timely

Email provides unparalleled immediacy in customer communication. Unlike social media algorithms that may suppress your content or search results that depend on user intent, email lands directly in your subscriber's inbox.

This directness is particularly powerful for:

• Time-sensitive offers: Flash sales, limited-time promotions, event announcements
• Product launches: Immediate notification of new releases to interested customers
• Customer service: Order confirmations, shipping updates, account notifications
• Crisis communication: Important updates during service disruptions or emergencies

The timing advantage is significant. While social media posts may be seen hours or days later (if at all), emails typically generate their highest engagement within the first few hours of sending. This makes email ideal for driving immediate action.

Modern email platforms offer sophisticated automation that can trigger emails based on specific actions or time delays, ensuring your messages reach subscribers at precisely the right moment in their customer journey.

9. Email provides a mobile-first customer experience

With mobile devices accounting for over 59% of email opens in 2025, email marketing is inherently mobile-optimised. This mobile-first approach aligns perfectly with how customers interact with brands today.

Mobile email advantages include:

• Push notifications: Emails generate mobile notifications, ensuring immediate visibility
• One-tap actions: Phone calls, directions, and purchases can happen directly from the email
• Responsive design: Modern email templates automatically adapt to different screen sizes
• Integration: Seamless connection with mobile apps and services

The mobile experience extends beyond just viewing – 75% of Gmail users read emails on smartphones or tablets, and mobile-optimised emails see a 15% increase in unique clicks compared to non-optimised versions.

Apple Mail remains the most popular mobile email client, followed by Gmail mobile app. Both platforms support rich media, interactive elements, and advanced formatting that enhance the user experience.

For businesses, this mobile-first nature means email marketing reaches customers wherever they are, whenever they check their phones – which, according to recent studies, is over 40 times per day for the average user.

10. Email marketing consistently outperforms social media marketing

Despite the excitement around social media marketing, email continues to deliver superior results across virtually every important metric. The statistics are compelling and consistent year over year.

Here's how email outperforms social media in 2025:

Customer acquisition:

• Email is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined for acquiring new customers
• 4.24% of email traffic leads to purchases compared to only 0.59% of social media traffic

ROI and revenue:

• Email delivers £36 for every £1 spent versus social media's average of £8
• 80% of marketers would rather give up social media than email marketing
• Email drives 25% of overall revenue for companies that use it effectively

Engagement quality:

• Email subscribers spend 138% more than customers who don't receive email offers
• Average email engagement time is over 8 seconds, compared to 2 seconds for social media posts
• 89% of marketers use email as their primary lead generation channel

This doesn't mean you should abandon social media – rather, use social platforms to drive email subscriptions. The most successful businesses in 2025 use social media for brand awareness and community building, then convert that audience into email subscribers for more direct, profitable communication.

Email subscribers represent a higher intent audience – people who have specifically requested to hear from your business. This fundamental difference in audience quality explains why email consistently outperforms social media in conversion metrics.

Conclusion: The future of email marketing

As we move through 2025 and beyond, email marketing continues to evolve whilst maintaining its position as the most effective digital marketing channel. The integration of AI, the focus on privacy-compliant practices, and the mobile-first approach all point to a bright future for email marketing.

Key trends shaping the future include:

• AI-driven hyper-personalisation creating truly individual experiences
• Privacy-first measurement focusing on engagement and conversion rather than vanity metrics
• Omnichannel integration with email serving as the central hub for customer communication
• Interactive email experiences with embedded videos, polls, and purchase capabilities
• Predictive analytics that anticipate customer needs before they're expressed

With 4.8 billion email users expected by 2027 and email revenue projected to reach nearly £18 billion globally, the channel shows no signs of slowing down.

For businesses looking to maximise their marketing ROI in 2025, email marketing isn't just recommended – it's essential. The combination of owned audience, superior performance metrics, cost-effectiveness, and advanced personalisation capabilities makes email the cornerstone of any successful digital marketing strategy.

Don't let email be an afterthought in your marketing plan. Embrace it as the powerful, measurable, and profitable channel it has proven to be, and watch your business growth accelerate.