Updated: July 2026 | 6 min read

Executive Summary

Email marketing remains a measurable digital channel in 2026, but the safest editorial approach is to separate observed data from projections and vendor claims. This draft uses current public report pages from HubSpot and Salesforce, plus a Litmus workflow report page for email production context. It does not repeat old return ratios, unsupported market-size ladders, or invented industry tables. Where a statistic comes from a broad marketing survey rather than an email-only study, the text labels it as broad marketing data and avoids presenting it as a pure email benchmark.

Quick Overview

  • HubSpot reports that global email users reached 4.6 billion in 2025; this is an email-usage figure, not a SaaS-only figure.
  • HubSpot reports that about 75% of marketers plan to maintain or increase email marketing investment in 2026.
  • HubSpot reports that email marketing ties organic social media as the number 2 most-used channel across business sizes, with 40% of marketers using it.
  • HubSpot reports that 22% of marketers named email as one of their top return-driving channels, while website, blog, and SEO ranked number 1 at 27%.
  • HubSpot reports that 41% of email views, and 75% of Gmail users’ email views, come from mobile devices.
  • Salesforce says its State of Marketing research surveyed 4,500 marketing leaders worldwide and found 83% recognize a shift toward personalized, two-way messaging.

Audience Reach and Channel Use

HubSpot’s marketing statistics page states that the number of global email users reached 4.6 billion in 2025 (source: HubSpot marketing statistics). That number should be read as broad internet behavior, not as a SaaS customer count. The same HubSpot page reports that about 75% of marketers plan to maintain or increase email marketing investment in 2026 and that email marketing is used by 40% of marketers, tying organic social media as the number 2 most-used channel across business sizes. These figures support a simple editorial conclusion: email remains part of mainstream marketing operations, but the public source does not support a universal open rate, click-through rate, or revenue-per-send benchmark.

Mobile Reading and Design Pressure

Mobile access is one of the clearest email-specific data points in the cited source set. HubSpot reports that 41% of email views, and 75% of Gmail users’ email views, come from mobile devices (source: HubSpot marketing statistics). HubSpot also reports that 35% of email marketers use a mobile-first or mobile-responsive design process. Those numbers justify a practical focus on responsive templates, preheader quality, concise subject lines, and quality assurance across clients. They do not justify inventing a single conversion lift for mobile optimization, because the cited page does not give one. This draft therefore treats mobile as a design and measurement requirement rather than as a guaranteed performance multiplier.

AI and Personalization Context

HubSpot’s State of Marketing page is broad marketing research, not email-only research, so its AI figures are labelled as broad marketing context. HubSpot reports that 61% of marketers believe marketing is experiencing its biggest disruption in 20 years because of AI, while 80% use AI for content creation and 75% use it for media production (source: HubSpot State of Marketing). Salesforce’s State of Marketing page says it surveyed 4,500 marketing leaders worldwide and that 83% recognize the shift toward personalized, two-way messaging, while only one in four are satisfied with how they use data to power those moments (source: Salesforce State of Marketing). These figures support an AI-workflow discussion, but they do not support a claim that AI-personalized email raises revenue by a fixed percentage.

What Was Removed From the 2027 Draft

The old version framed email marketing as a 2027 forecast article and treated unsupported numbers as established facts. This draft removes the $36-for-$1 return claim, the 23.1% open-rate claim, the 3.4% click-through-rate claim, the 41% AI revenue-lift claim, the $17.9 billion market-size claim, and the industry return table. It also removes the fabricated growth ladder from 2020 through 2026. The result is less flashy, but it is safer: every number left in the body is tied to one of the listed public pages.

Key Takeaways

  • Email user reach is broad internet data: HubSpot reports 4.6 billion global email users in 2025.
  • HubSpot reports about 75% of marketers plan to maintain or increase email investment in 2026.
  • Email is reported by HubSpot as used by 40% of marketers, tying organic social media as the number 2 channel across business sizes.
  • Mobile is material: HubSpot reports 41% of email views and 75% of Gmail users’ email views come from mobile devices.
  • AI data from HubSpot and Salesforce is broad marketing context and should not be written as email-only performance proof.

Methodology and Limitations

This draft uses only public report or statistics pages that were accessible during cleanup. HubSpot’s marketing statistics page aggregates third-party sources, so figures copied from that page are cited to the page where they are visible. Salesforce and HubSpot AI figures are broad marketing research, not email-only benchmarks. No projection is presented as a completed result. No return ratio, deliverability rate, open-rate benchmark, or conversion lift is included unless directly visible on a cited page. Source years are treated as context, not as permission to invent current performance data or channel-wide guarantees.

Sources

  1. HubSpot – Marketing Statistics
  2. HubSpot – State of Marketing
  3. Salesforce – State of Marketing
  4. Litmus – State of Email Workflows