While there are several forms of traditional marketing including print, radio, and television, statistics show that digital marketing is taking over in terms of popularity and success. In fact, by 2021 it’s projected that marketing leaders will spend 75% of their total marketing budget on digital marketing rather than traditional marketing.
In this post, we’ll share 58 of the top digital marketing statistics every company needs to know.
Email marketing statistics
Email marketing is one of the most successful online digital marketing platforms. Here are some of the top statistics that will show you just how vital email marketing is to your digital marketing strategy.
Gmail alone has over 1 billion users, and it is expected to grow to 3 billion users by 2020 (Statista).
The number of active email accounts worldwide was roughly 4.1 billion in 2014 and is expected to increase to nearly 5.6 billion towards the end of 2019 (Statista).
The New York Times has over 30 email newsletters, with around a 70% open rate, and brand-new newsletters dedicated to unique audiences like college students and runners (Digiday).
The most popular days to send emails are Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but since these days are so popular, you may have a better chance at an open rate if you send them on Mondays and Fridays instead (CoSchedule).
Open rates are highest, around 24%, from the hours of 6pm-11pm, or after work (Campaign Monitor).
Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened (Experian).
The average professional sends and receives 121 emails a day (The Radicati Group).
2% of emails now contain an emoji in the subject line, which may help with conversion (Salesforce).
80% of survey respondents said email etiquette played an important role in their decision to interact with a stranger (Marketing Land).
People over the age of 45 (nearly 70%) were more receptive to humor in a subject line than a younger audience (Marketing Land).
80% of respondents indicated grammatical errors were one of the biggest email faux pas. Next on the list included: profanity, irregular fonts, capitalized subject lines, excessive punctuation, and lack of subject line, which 70% of respondents said was unacceptable (Marketing Land).
Mobile Marketing Statistics
Mobile device use is increasing every day and, as such, optimizing your marketing efforts for mobile should be a top priority. Here are some of the most interesting stats that will urge you to take a second look at your mobile strategy this year.
The number of unique monthly searches is over 100 billion, and over half of those come from a mobile device (DMR).
80% of internet users own a smartphone (Smart Insights).
By the end of 2013, 41% of email marketing emails were being opened on mobile devices (Campaign Monitor).
31% of marketers say they open at least half of their emails on a mobile device. This means subject lines need to accommodate smartphones. (2015 State of Marketing Report).
Only 47% of B2C brands are fully optimizing their snippet text for easy reading on mobile devices (Salesforce Marketing Cloud).
Nearly 80% of time spent on social media platforms happens on mobile devices (Marketing Land).
Over 50% of smartphone users grab their phone immediately after waking up in the morning (Express Pigeon).
In 2014, companies that optimize for mobile devices increased by 22% (Adestra).
71% of marketers say mobile marketing is core to their business (Salesforce).
61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site if they had a problem accessing it, and 40% will go to a competitor instead (McKinsey & Company).
Social media marketing statistics
Social media is changing the face of the marketing culture in several ways. With social media, it’s easier to collect useful data on consumers, build a visible and popular brand, and sell products on various social media platforms. The following statistics will boggle your mind and help you understand the importance of getting your social strategy right this year.
Facebook has over 1.66 billion monthly smartphone users (DMR).
More hashtags are appearing in subject lines to connect email marketing to social activity. This may affect open rates, but it can help boost social media engagement. (Salesforce).
32% of teenagers say Instagram is the most important social network, and 81% of Millennials check Twitter at least once a day (Pew Research Center).
22% of the world’s population uses Facebook with North America being in first place and Africa coming in last. (Statista).
YouTube, on mobile alone, reaches more 18-34 and 18-49-year-olds than any cable network in the US (YouTube).
Out of all marketing avenues, social and advertising are claiming the top positions for increased spending within the next 12 months (Salesforce).
59% of Americans with social media accounts say that social customer service makes it easier to get issues resolved and questions answered (Hootsuite).
28% of Americans with a social media account would rather engage with a brand on social media than go to a physical location (Hootsuite).
Display advertising statistics
When it comes to digital marketing, you can’t leave one of the oldest forms of online advertising out of the equation—display ads.
While it’s true that display advertising can be one of the fastest ways to drive traffic to your website, it’s also important to note that there are also several obstacles in place. If you are looking into display advertising this year, here are some statistics you should know to help make sure you are on the right path.
The average person now spends more time online than with all other media outlets combined (Branding Bricks).
Total spending on internet advertising is said to grow 12.9% next year as the internet is now the largest medium for advertising (MediaPost).
54% of survey respondents said they didn’t trust banner ads (Banner Snack).
Additionally, 58% of users say they don’t click on ads, because they aren’t relevant, and 57% are concerned about security and privacy (Market Wired).
33% of internet users can’t stand display ads (Page Fair).
The average clickthrough rate of display ads is %0.06 (Display Benchmark Tool).
198 million active internet users around the world use an ad block software (Page Fair).
98% of advertisers are wasting money on display ads (Unbounce).
Native ads are a more productive investment than banner ads considering they are viewed 53% more than banner ads (Dedicated Media).
Retargeting campaigns can result in a high ROI (Retargeter).
And, users who are retargeted are 70% more likely to actually convert (Digital Information World).
Native ads that also include rich media can boost conversions by 60% (Adweek).
When it comes to display advertising, there is certainly a wrong way and a right way to advertise. Rather than focusing on untargeted banner ads, consider investing in native ads to help boost your conversion rates.
Content marketing statistics
Content marketing continues to evolve as an effective piece of the digital marketing puzzle. As such, becoming familiar with trends, patterns, and top statistics can help guide your content strategy. Here are some surprising statistics that every marketer will enjoy.
Blog posts are getting more visual and longer with the average post length being about 1050 words (Orbit Media Solutions).
However, the average blog reader only spends 37 seconds reading a blog post (NewsCred Insights).
33% of marketers average 2 to 5 blog posts a month (LookBook HQ).
70% of B2B marketers are planning to create more content in 2017 (Content Marketing Institute).
75% of marketers are using interactive content this next year, while 24% have plans for it to remain the same, and only 1% are planning a decrease in the use of this type of content (Content Marketing Institute).
Almost 60% of marketers reuse content 2 to 5 times (LookBook HQ).
69% of companies say their video budget is increasing (Ascend2).
The demand for Infographics increased 800% last year (Unbounce).
81% of marketers plan to increase their use of written content (Social Media Examiner).
28% of marketers want to learn more about podcasting (Social Media Examiner).
Customer satisfaction statistics
It’s futile to talk about the top digital marketing statistics without highlighting the importance of number one reason for marketing in the first place—customer satisfaction. The following statistics will give you insight into the marketer and consumer relationship.
Loyal customers are x as likely to try a new offering, 5 times as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, and 4x as likely to refer someone (Temkin Group).
Customer satisfaction is the number 1 indicator of marketing success for the second year in a row (Salesforce).
Churn can increase by up to 15% if companies fail to respond to customers via social media (Gartner).
Modern marketers are making customer engagement one of the highest priorities, just second to brand awareness (Salesforce).
73% of consumers say friendly customer service representatives can make them fall in love with a brand (RightNow).
By the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key differentiator (Walker).
Top marketing teams are committed to the customer journey. In fact, 65% of marketers agree that the more a marketer has committed to the customer journey as part of the overall business strategy, the better they will perform as a marketer (Salesforce).
87% of customers say brands need to put more effort into providing a consistent customer experience (Kampyle).
70% of marketers agree that focusing on customer journey has lead to an increase in revenue growth (Salesforce).
Wrap up
Digital marketing is rising as the most effective way to reach customers and to influence customer satisfaction. To make sure you are getting the most out of your digital marketing strategy, take the time to learn the trends and review the crucial digital marketing stats in this post.