Email Marketing Statistics in Canada

Email marketing has become a key part of any successful digital marketing strategy. With the rise of social media and other digital channels, some may think that email marketing is no longer relevant. However, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential customers and engage with current ones.

In this article, we explore email marketing statistics in Canada including email open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. The article also includes key global email marketing statistics since having a wider picture is important, especially for companies, content providers, and marketers with an international reach.

Email Marketing Statistics for Canadians

• At least 83% of Canadian businesses use email marketing.
• The email penetration rate in Canada is 85%, meaning around 29 million Canadians use email.
• Canadians open approximately 20% of marketing emails.
• Email marketing campaigns have a click-through rate of 4% in Canada.
• The average email conversion rate is less than 3%.
• The average unsubscription rate for marketing emails is 0.26%.
• Over half of the world’s expected population will use email by 2025.
• 69% of global marketers use email marketing.
• Welcome emails get an opening rate of 68.6%.
• Marketers who send ten to nineteen emails per month get the most sales.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves sending promotional messages or newsletters via email to subscribers who have opted in to receive communications, for example, from a business, organisation, or blogger.

The purpose of these emails is to build and maintain relationships with existing and potential customers by providing them with interesting and valuable content, updates on products and services, special offers, and other relevant information. They can also be used to drive traffic to a website, promote events, and improve brand awareness.

Email marketing allows users to send personalised emails and to target specific segments of their subscriber lists based on a range of factors, such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement with previous emails. Senders can therefore tailor the emails and offers so they better meet the interests and needs of their audience.

When done correctly, email marketing can be a highly effective tool and studies have shown that it has a high return on investment (ROI) compared to other marketing channels.

Email Marketing in Canada

Email marketing is a widely used marketing method in Canada with 83% of businesses using it to communicate with their customers. On average, 2.6 million email marketing campaigns are sent out in Canada per month and businesses feel that it is the second most effective form of marketing after social media.

Email marketing is especially popular among Canadian small to medium-sized businesses because it is a cost-effective way to reach their audiences, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to their websites. However, large companies use email marketing, too, as part of their overall marketing strategies.

How Many Canadians Use Email?

According to Insider Intelligence, around 29 million Canadians use email, making the email penetration rate in the country 85%. Sending and receiving emails is also the most common activity Canadians perform when online.

85.9% of online Canadians said they had checked their emails in the last three months in a survey by Statistics Canada. The second most common activity was sending messages using an instant messaging app at 76.3% and the third was listening to music at 73.1%. Considering how many Canadians are using their email regularly, it is easy to see how effectively well-run email marketing campaigns can be.

Email Opening Rates in Canada

The opening rate for marketing emails in Canada is approximately 20%, which means that for every 100 emails sent, about 20 are opened by the recipients. The opening rates are highest among emails sent by education and non-profit organisations and lowest among emails from financial services.

Click-Through Rates in Canada

An email click-through rate (CTR), which is a metric used in digital marketing, measures the number of clicks on a link within an email, divided by the number of emails sent, expressed as a percentage. A higher CTR for emails indicates that the recipients are engaged and interested in the content of the email, which can lead to increased website traffic, conversions, and revenue.

The average CTR for email campaigns in Canada is around 4%. This means that out of the 100 people who open the marketing email, only four will click through to the website or the landing page the email is promoting. To improve the CTR, companies can use clear calls-to-actions in their emails that are relevant to the email’s content.

Conversion Rates in Canada

What email marketers are after is as high a conversion rate as possible. An email conversion rate measures the percentage of people who after clicking the link within an email take the desired action. This could be, for example, making a purchase, filling out a form, subscribing to a service, or any other action the sender is hoping to achieve.

The rate is expressed as a percentage and is used by email marketers to measure the success of their campaign. A high percentage indicates that the email was effective in persuading the recipient to take the desired action. Factors that can affect the conversion rate include, for example, the relevance to the recipient, the quality of the landing page, and the ease of completing the action.

There is no specific conversion rate available for Canadian email campaigns, but based on a survey carried out by Mailchimp, the average conversion rate across all industries among campaigners using Mailchimp is 2.62%.

The conversion rate is highest for emails related to hobbies at 5.01%. This is followed by media and publishing at 4.62% and government at 3.99%. The lowest conversion rates are for emails from companies in the restaurant industry at 1.34%.

Mobile Devices and Email Marketing in Canada

The use of mobile devices has a significant impact on email marketing, especially since 32.3 million Canadians had smartphones in 2022 according to Statista. Therefore email campaigners need to ensure that the emails they send out are optimised for mobile devices, with responsive designs and easy-to-read content. 

Email Unsubscribe Rate

Another statistic email marketers need to keep a close eye on is the unsubscribe rate. If the rate of people unsubscribing is high, it is a clear sign the campaign is not working. This could be because there are too many emails, the email content is not right for the recipient, the recipient’s circumstances have changed, or the email is poorly designed making it hard to read and navigate.

Again, there is no specific data for Canada. However, from the Mailchimp survey, we can learn that the average unsubscribe rate across all industries is 0.26%. The highest unsubscribe rate, which is 0.4%, is for emails from the health and fitness sector as well as the photo and video sector. Daily deals and coupons have the lowest unsubscribe rate 0.1%.

Global Email Marketing Statistics

In 2022, the number of email users across the world was 4.3 billion and according to Statista, there will be around 4.6 billion email users in 2025. This would mean that over half of the expected population will be using email by 2025. Based on this statistic alone, email marketing is a tool that no marketer should ignore.

The average number of daily emails in 2022 was 333.2 billion and this is expected to grow to over 375 billion daily emails by 2025. With so many emails, marketers need to plan their email campaigns with care to entice recipients to open and click through their emails. For well-executed campaigns, the ROI is high.

The average return per $1 spent on email campaigns is $40. This is higher than, for example, SEO or keywords, with returns of $22.24 and $17, and much higher than the average social media ROI, which is just $2.56 across all industries.

Almost Seven out of Ten Marketers Use Email

Globally, 69% of marketers are using email to market their content. It is the third most popular tool for the distribution of content and raising brand awareness after websites at 90% and blogs at 78%.

It is an especially useful tool for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) because it is so cost-effective. 81% of SMBs use email as their main channel to acquire customers and 80% for retaining customers.

Opening Rate Statistics

The global marketing email opening rate is 19.7%. However, welcome emails are opened much more often and have an opening rate of 68.6%. Emails that are personalized also have higher opening rates. When the sender has personalised the subject line, recipients are 50% more likely to open them.

What is a Good Frequency for Marketing Emails?

One of the main reasons people unsubscribe is the frequency of marketing emails with 69% of users saying they have unsubscribed because of the number of emails. Therefore, it is important to get this right.

Only 15% of email users say they would be happy to receive daily promotional emails from companies or brands they are interested in. This is reflected in the fact that fewer people will click through when they receive several emails per week.

According to Omnisend, the open rate is the highest, 28%, when there is just one monthly email. Monthly emails also get the highest click rate at 7%. The opening rate decreases to 21% and the click rate to 5% when there are 2-4 emails per month. For over 20 monthly emails, the opening rate is 12% and the click rate is just 2%.

However, marketers also need to consider the average order count in relation to emails sent in a month. It seems that if you are looking to maximise your orders, the best number of emails to send per month is 10-19 when you get an average order count of 12.17. Fewer people may open them, but you can still achieve more sales.

Key Demographics for Email Marketers

Email marketers have a good chance of their target audiences seeing their emails soon after sending as 99% of email users say they check their inbox daily and some will check them around 20 times per day. However, as the opening rates show, being seen and being opened and read are not the same thing. In addition, consumers only spend 10 seconds on average reading brand emails so the quality of content is very important.

For 74% of Baby boomers, email is the most personal way for brands to communicate with them. 72% of Generation X, 64% of Millennials, and 60% of Generation Z agree with this. An increasing number of email users are checking their emails on their mobiles. For example, 59% of Millennials and 67% of Generation Z email users check their inboxes on their mobiles.

Conclusion

While some people may claim that with the increased popularity of social media, email is no longer as important, it is still a valuable tool for markets. The average return on investment is significantly higher than for marketing on social media.

However, email campaigns should be carefully planned to avoid recipients unsubscribing or deleting them without opening them. Companies that provide email services for marketers, usually have comprehensive guides on how to increase your opening, click-through, and conversion rates.