State-of-Email-Report - Fall 2020 - The email data & trends from a COVID-19 world

Sep 13, 2026

Survey-driven insights into how email is used to build customer relationships and drive sales amid COVID-19 disruption. Data from over 2,000 marketing professionals highlights five key discoveries, including the need for advanced personalization, improved measurement of email ROI, and evolving budget and messaging strategies. The report also emphasizes email’s continued dominance as a marketing channel, showing rising importance year-over-year and strong preferences over social media.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages29

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Meet Litmus

Be at the Top of Your Email Game

5 Major Discoveries About Email for Today & Beyond

Even in a Pandemic, Email Continues To Be a Marketing Powerhouse

Why Is Email So Effective?

State of Email Report The email data & trends from a COVID-19 world Introduction 2020 has brought an onslaught of change, but one thing is constant: how organizations use email to build relationships and drive sales with customers. Email use around the world continues to grow at a steady pace. Statista projects global email users will increase from 3.9 billion in 2019 to 4.48 billion in 2024. And businesses are ramping up accordingly. Even amid challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, email provides organizations with a way to connect, provide value, and stay top of mind for prospects and customers. Over 2,000 marketing professionals weighed in on what’s driving their email strategies and what they think the future of email looks like. Respondents included email and marketing specialists, team leads, managers,directors, VPlevel executives, and C-level executives all in the marketing field. More than half of respondents hold leadership positions, while 44% of respondents hold positions like email designer, developer, digital strategist, and marketing analyst. Enough background—let’s dive into the good stuff: what’s happening in email today… and predictions for tomorrow. Let’s get started. Meet Litmus Here at Litmus, we’re passionate about everything email marketing. We’re on a mission to help brands access what they need to send better email, faster. Through our blog, Litmus Live conferences, ebooks, webinars, and more, we share best practices and trends to help your team stay at the forefront of the industry. Another thing we’re into? Software that makes creating high-performing email easy. Marketers pair Litmus with existing email service providers (ESPs) to ensure a consistently great brand experience for every subscriber, work more efficiently, accelerate campaign performance, reduce errors, and stay out of the spam folder. With Litmus by your side, you’ll have the tools and insights you need to provide your customers with an incredible email experience—and an incredible ROI. Be at the Top of Your Email Game Join over 300,000 email marketing pros who rely on Litmus for expert advice and analysis. Sign up for our emails to get the Litmus newsletter, notifications of new reports and executive summaries, announcements of upcoming webinars and events, and more. Stay on top of email data and trends 5 Major Discoveries About Email for Today & Beyond We uncovered several key findings in our survey revealing how marketers use email today, how they’remaking it more effective going forward, and the roadblocks that still present challenges. 1. Companies must personalize to get ahead. Businesses are getting more sophisticated in their personalization techniques. Think beyond,“Hi [name]” and more like user behavior to craft customized emails. Learn how marketers are cutting through email noise by using personalization on page 6. 2. Want a leg up on the competition? Get your metrics in order. Despite the importance of email to businesses, many companies have a tough time measuring advanced metrics and return on investment (ROI) . Learn how to overcome some common barriers to email ROI measurement on page 9. 3. The pandemic led to email disruption. It also uncovered opportunities to connect more deeply with customers. Like most industries, email was not immune to COVID-19. Many businesses saw changes in email budgets and strategies due to the pandemic. And, organizations also found new ways to be there for their customers, by shifting messaging techniques. Read more on page 13. 4. Approval processes are becoming more complicated. As more businesses take email more seriously, lengthier approval processes with extra touch points along the way are emerging. Learn the most common obstacles in the approval process that are making this step of email creation a pain point. Head to page 14. 5. Companies are increasing the amount of emails they’re sending. If you’re planning on sending more email thi

FAQs

What is the main focus of the State of Email Report (Fall 2020)?

The report examines email data and trends, explaining how organizations use email to build relationships and drive sales, with findings shaped by COVID-19-era changes.

What five major discoveries does the report highlight?

It covers personalization to get ahead, better metrics to measure ROI, pandemic-driven disruption and new opportunities, more complex approval processes, and an increase in the number of emails companies send.

Why do marketers consider email highly effective compared with other channels?

Email’s effectiveness is linked to its testability through A/B testing, its permission-based nature, and its proven importance in overall marketing channel performance, including preference over social media in the survey.

Sep 13, 2026

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