Over the past forty odd years that email has been in circulation, it has gotten a pretty dramatic facelift. It has evolved from a one-size-fits-all marketing approach to a hyper-personalized experience — yet it has never gone out of style.
Even as companies employ chatbots and other innovative communication practices, email remains relevant.
Of all the service providers, it is Mailchimp has become a leader in the email marketing industry, outpacing competitors and taking up a huge portion of the landscape.
In fact, Mailchimp was recently noted for covering 60% of the email marketing industry. Its closest competitor, Constant Contact, is at 9.3%.
“The volume of emails sent from Mailchimp in 2019 — over 340 billion — draws attention to the strength of the channel and the email market as a whole. The company’s reporting on its Thanksgiving weekend performance offers a glimpse at just how powerful the channel is. Nearly 9 billion emails were sent from the platform, generating $4.5 billion in orders”
So what does this 60% mean for Mailchimp and the marketplace? Let’s backtrack for a second and explore just how impactful email is before we dive into Mailchimp in particular.
Email statistics
Email is still a force to be reckoned with in 2020. Although there are new kids on the block like social media and PPC, email is still as relevant and powerful as ever. So what does email look like in 2020 compared to other marketing avenues?
Here is what you are looking at in terms of ROI across the digital landscape:
- Email – 59%
- Social Media – 21%
- Display Ads – 14%
- Video – 5%
As you can see, email provides the highest ROI. Why is this? The high ROI is likely linked to the sheer volume of people who have a personal email address. In 2018 there were 3.8 billion email users, which should move toward 4.4 billion by 2023.
It is also an inexpensive marketing tactic. Constant Contact reports that for every $1 a company spends on email marketing, they can expect to earn $38 of revenue, on average.
Email in 2020
Suffice it to say, your email marketing matters in 2020! With billions of emails being sent that contribute trillions of dollars in revenue, it is clear that email marketing is still a powerhouse.
However, not all email is created equal. It is important to note that email is most effective when abiding by today’s best practices:
- Personalization: Allow emails to feel unique to each consumer. Smart CTAs, personalization tokens, and unique messaging all fall into this category. However, there is so much more that can be done to personalize email.
- Responsive email designs: Create a seamless experience for users regardless of the device they are using.
- Segmented lists: Break your address book down so you are marketing to a specific audience instead of the masses.
- Automation: Enroll people in relevant workflows to send out relevant content instantly and guide customers to conversion.
- Testing: See what consumers are and are not receptive to.
It is not nearly enough to send the same email to all of the contacts you have. No, you have to cultivate a personalized experience that nurtures each consumer’s individual needs.
You have to be able to study what consumers are engaging with, anticipate their needs and meet them where they are using sophisticated analytics tools, automation platforms, and email marketing services.
Top email marketing services today
With the need to track analytics, segment lists, and personalize email, companies are choosing to adopt email platforms that can do all this and more. So who are companies turning to?
Here are the top 5 email marketing services and their share of the market:
- Mailchimp – 60.93%
- Constant Contact – 9.37%
- Campaign Monitor – 3.53%
- Mailjet – 2.66%
- AWeber – 2.51%
As you can see, the market is just short of being monopolized by Mailchimp. So what does this skewed balance mean for the market?
There is no denying that Mailchimp is dominating the email marketing service industry. Its large following naturally dictates the marketplace. With such a huge market share comes increased influence and sway.
As we see often, when a company relies on any platform for its organization and automation, it becomes hard to make a switch.
Therefore, consider it likely that Mailchimp will continue to hold an outsized portion of the market, but look for its competitors to offer product innovations and promotional offers to try and bite into Mailchimp’s customer base.
In any industry that’s dominated by one or two big players, you can expect competition to arise that promises to do things better, cheaper, or more efficiently.
Leaders at Constant Contact and Campaign Monitor are likely looking at these numbers and strategizing how to reset the balance.
This article first appeared in Impact.
