There are more than 4.3 billion Internet users in the world and nearly 80% of them have social media accounts. Actually, an average of 5.5 social media accounts. That’s huge!
But, here’s the thing:
Nearly all of them have active email accounts.
So, what’s a smart marketer like you to do? In this post, we’ll share the statistics and forecasts for email marketing vs social media performance from 2016-2019 and beyond.
Let’s jump right in with the question we know you’re thinking…
Is Email Marketing Still Effective?
Over the past decade, social media visitors have grown at an exponential rate. Not surprising, right? Ten years may as well be a million when it comes to technology.
More interestingly, the number of social media users increased by 320 million between September 2017 and October 2018.
It’s clear that social media is not a fad but is a channel, like email, that can be used to reach your target audience. In fact, 83% of marketers say that social media is important for their business.
In light of these trends, some marketers are wondering, will social media replace email?
The truth? Email’s not going anywhere for a good, long while.
When you look at the effectiveness of email compared to social media and take a peek at the ROI of each, it’s pretty clear that email is the winner. By a lot.
But here’s the thing: if you really want to make the most of your email marketing and engage your target audience in a new way, add social media to your marketing plan.
In this post, we’ve compiled the latest email marketing and social media statistics and forecasts.
Let’s look at the overview of email compared to social media, and then we’ll explain what all of this means for you as an online marketer.
Yes, that IS an emoji instead of a number for the social media ROI. And, yes, we WILL talk about why when we get there. For now, let’s talk for just a quick second about why we chose these stats to cover.
We’re talking in terms of total users instead of accounts so you can get an idea of the number of people. Accounts don’t make purchases, right? People do. But, if you’re interested, there are something like 8 billion email accounts (enough for every person in the world to have 1.55).
Also, every social media user has an average of 5.54 accounts. The most popular ones are exactly the ones you’d think: Facebook (by A LOT), Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc.

Total Users
The number of users for both email and social media is going to continue to climb. But numbers alone are of little importance to you, right? You want to know who these users are: behaviors, demographics, what motivates them.
Not only does email have the largest user base overall, but it also has the largest user base of any age group.
Email vs Social Media User Preferences
• What does your typical morning look like?
• No, not once you start working. We’re talking those moments in the darkness after you’ve shut off your alarm but before you’re actually fully awake.
• Your phone is in your hand, you’re still warm and snuggly in your bed, it’s oh-so-tempting to go back to sleep. But you don’t.
• Instead, you open your email. Well, 58% of you do, anyway. And so do 58% of your customers.
• Here’s what the rest will do:
• 5% check the news
• 3% check out their company intranet
• 20% fire up a search engine
• 14% check social media (most likely Instagram)
• Additionally, these email-first individuals are said to be more task-oriented online than the people who start their day on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. In other words, they are more likely to approach online interactions with specific goals in mind, like finding deals, promotions, or new product information.
• But with the rise of mobile, consumers have ready access to both email and social media. This means that while users head to their email first, social media isn’t long after for those who use it.
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