We are proud to have sponsored the DMA's Marketer Email Tracker 2026, which was released on 25 March. The launch event saw our Strategy Director, Holly Mander, sit on the panel alongside our clients from BBC Public Service and Mony Group for a session packed with honest, practical conversation about where email marketing really stands right now. We covered themes such as email's continued growth, channel integration, AI adoption, frequency and automation, content strategy, and accessibility, and discussed opportunities, tensions, and what we all need to improve. |Download the full report here
Highlights
Email is thriving, and the data proves it
Email volumes have grown tenfold over the last decade, and usage across the customer journey has increased by around 20% since 2021. Email now accounts for roughly 20% of total marketing spend, and 66% of marketers expect that budget to grow over the next 12 months. ROI per £ spent has gone up too, from around £38 to £41.
What's striking is that email isn't just holding its ground, it's pulling ahead in parts of the journey. Post-purchase and customer service are areas where email significantly outperforms other channels. Our Mony Group panellist spoke to this directly, highlighting how email is central to re-engaging customers who've dropped out of a purchase journey. One of Mony Group’s brands, MoneySuperMarket, uses it to keep relevant and top of mind through cross-sell and loyalty programmes such as their SuperSaveClub.
The headline? Email is an owned channel with staying power, and the industry knows it.
Channel integration is where the real craft lives
One discussion point that buzzed with energy was around how email works alongside other channels, not in isolation. We spoke about email's natural strength when paired with SMS for urgency, or Rich Communication Services (RCS) and app push notifications for richer, more complex messages. It's not about email versus everything else; it's about understanding where email plays best in the mix.
Our panellist from the BBC described how email is primarily a retention tool, used alongside push notifications to build habitual engagement. The challenge which came up repeatedly is measuring that contribution. Attribution is genuinely hard when customers are touching multiple channels across long consideration cycles, and many marketers still lack visibility into what happens on-site after someone opens an email. This isn't a new problem, but it's one the industry needs to keep working on.
AI is useful, but we're still figuring out how to use it well
AI was a big topic. The Email Tracker Report states that 44% of marketers are now using AI for copy generation or templates, with a similar proportion reporting real improvements. Subject line generation and content personalisation are where it's being applied most.
The current reality is that most AI adoption is tactical rather than strategic. It's being bolted onto existing processes because there's no time to rethink workflows from scratch. That's understandable, but it's also a risk. Efficiency gains don't automatically translate into effectiveness gains, and the panel agreed that organisations need clearer thinking about what they're actually trying to achieve with AI before investing further.
There was also an interesting thread about AI on the receiving end. Platforms like Gmail are already summarising emails using AI, and that trend is growing. Writing for AI summarisation isn't the future; it's now. Accessible, clear copy benefits both human readers and the AI systems increasingly mediating their inboxes.
Frequency, automation, and the twin-track economy
The Email Tracker Report shows that automated sends (34%) and bulk sends (33%) are now neck and neck, with segmented sends slightly declining as a proportion of total volume. This reflects what was described during the session as a "twin-track" email economy of brands sending mass campaigns at scale while also running highly targeted automated programmes.
The concern is frequency. Around 14% of customers are receiving four or more emails per week from a single brand, and frequency rules haven't kept pace with volume growth. The panellists spoke about the need for cross-channel frequency capping – not just thinking about how often you're emailing someone, but how often you're contacting them across all channels. Technical challenges were also flagged. Real-time data sharing and orchestration across platforms is still genuinely difficult, and larger organisations have a significant advantage here.
Discounts work, but they come at a cost
Discounts and offers are increasingly important for driving short-term results, but the panel was unanimous that over-reliance on them is eroding long-term loyalty. If your customers only engage when there's a deal on, you've trained them to expect one.
The alternative isn't to stop promoting offers, it's to supplement them with genuinely useful content. Reviews, guides, practical information: these build the kind of engaged, less price-sensitive customers that are more valuable in the long run. The Email Tracker Report also showed a drop in brand-led list acquisition, down from 42% in 2021 to 31% today, which suggests brand relationships are weakening as a growth driver. That should be a wake-up call about investing in content and brand-building alongside performance campaigns.
Brands have a long way to go on accessibility
Two-thirds of marketers are using clear, simple language in their emails, which is great. But fewer than half are applying equally fundamental practices like high colour contrast, accessible link text, or descriptive alt text. These aren't complex technical changes; they're straightforward wins that make emails more inclusive for everyone.
Our panellists suggested that practical starting points are clear copy, alt text, and avoiding full-image emails. These are low-effort, high-impact improvements the whole industry could be making right now. And as we've already discussed, accessible email content works better for AI summarisation too.
What shone through in our panel discussion was that the brands doing email well aren't just sending more, they're thinking harder about the experience, the strategy, and the long-term relationships they're building with their customers. There's real work to be done on AI integration, frequency management, accessibility, and measurement, but we are heading in the right direction.
Want to dig into the details? Download the Email Tracker Report. If you want to catch the highlights from the day, check out our post from the event.
If the conversations from this event have got you thinking about your own email strategy, we'd love to help. Whether it's crafting better campaigns, building smarter automation, or making your emails more accessible, that's exactly what we do. Drop us a message and let's talk.
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