{"id":99938,"date":"2024-08-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=99938"},"modified":"2024-08-14T13:02:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T17:02:01","slug":"roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building","title":{"rendered":"Email Return on Investment (ROI) Is the Best There Is\u2014But That\u2019s Only Part of the Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<div id=\"simple-text-block-block_341cecc955f92635da0a00b7a34961ef\" class=\"block-simple-text-block alignfull \" style=\"background-color:\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n  \t<div class=\"row\">\n  \t\t<div class=\"col\">\n  \t\t\t<div class=\"copy\">\n  \t\t\t\t<p>I am the first to point out that <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/infographic-the-roi-of-email-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ROI on email marketing<\/a> is strong\u2014the strongest, even compared to other marketing channels. And I think there is great value in tracking yours for a number of obvious reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Your finance team, for instance, will want to see that the activity and expenses you\u2019re putting towards email are working. Your content and product teams will want to see what\u2019s driving engagement and more importantly, conversions. Your email team will want to understand what they\u2019re driving today so they can optimize, stretch, and deliver even more tomorrow.<br \/>\n<script src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/805icy0an5.jsonp\" async><\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_805icy0an5 seo=false videoFoam=true popover=true\" style=\"height: 100%; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mt-5\">But when we only look at email through an ROI lens\u2014and in many cases that lens is stuck with a last touch view of conversions that you can track back to a single click\u2014you\u2019re missing a huge part of the value that email is driving across all channels, all audiences, every day.<\/p>\n<p>There are also complex multi-touch attribution models and technology out there that can give you a more full-channel view of the overall touchpoints that lead to a conversion but even there we\u2019re missing the point sometimes as we\u2019re orienting the entire experience around desired outcome.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_97407\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-97407\" style=\"width: 789px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-97407\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/State-of-Email-Asset-2-819x1024.png\" alt=\"41% of marketers say that email is their most effective marketing channel.\" width=\"789\" height=\"986\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/State-of-Email-Asset-2-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/State-of-Email-Asset-2-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/State-of-Email-Asset-2-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/State-of-Email-Asset-2.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 789px) 100vw, 789px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-97407\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/state-of-email-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The State of Email Report<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Why is that? Email marketing is more than a channel. It\u2019s a relationship builder. Rarely would a single email drive a strong ROI in isolation (yes, even in B2C!). But it\u2019s the result of a combination of factors that allow you to strengthen that relationship over time.<\/p>\n<h2>It all starts with permission<\/h2>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/privacy-proof-your-email-program#confirmation-campaigns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Permission<\/a> is a roundabout way of saying that the subscriber has already seen some value from your content and brand. Or even more simply: there\u2019s something you have that they want. Products, advice, insights, fashion ideas, gossip. It could be anything that they find valuable about you and your brand.<\/p>\n<p>But the key point is that they\u2019re interested <strong>before you engage<\/strong>. By signing up for your <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-drive-your-email-list-strategy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email list<\/a>, subscribers are raising their hands to hear from you. This is critical to the success of email\u2014and you can\u2019t get this kind of brand affinity through any other channel.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email is critical for brand awareness<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Once you have that permission, you need to build a relationship by consistently showing up in the inbox and presenting the best experience of your brand to drive and maintain brand awareness.<\/p>\n<p>In B2B, we talk all the time about how <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/marketingscience.info\/the-955-rule-is-the-new-6040-rule\/\">only 5% of your audience is in a buying cycle<\/a> at any given time. Can you push some of that 95% over into the 5% using email? Yes, sometimes, if carefully and at very low volumes.<\/p>\n<p>The same is true in B2C. Because of the permission standard, you had to put some effort into getting them to sign up. But in reality, one email converting to a sale is the sum reflection of everything you\u2019ve done over time to build interest and trust.<\/p>\n<p>In either case, when the intent isn\u2019t quite there yet, does email put you in a better position to stay top of mind, <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/are-you-investing-in-or-spending-your-email-subscribers-trust\">build trust<\/a>, plant seeds, and be the first place they go when that prospect is suddenly looking? <strong>Much better.<\/strong> And this effort is largely untrackable in an ROI kind of way.<\/p>\n<h2>Email reflects the entire marketing funnel<\/h2>\n<p>Email is really its own full funnel of activity, engagement, and trust-building at <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-personalize-throughout-the-email-customer-journey\">all stages of the buyers journey<\/a>. It requires different programs and optimization strategies for it to be effective at all.<\/p>\n<p>If you only expect email to drive end conversions, your funnel will dry up and fail to generate more emails for that bottom-of-funnel segment, which will affect your ROI. In practice, investing more in email will lead to better ways to engage your top-of-the-funnel group and move them into a higher-intent segment. That\u2019s not going to show up on your ROI dashboard, but it\u2019s critical to how you\u2019ll get there.<\/p>\n<h2>What do we do with this knowledge?<\/h2>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/g24lf46w8e.jsonp\" async><\/script><script src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_g24lf46w8e seo=false videoFoam=true popover=true\" style=\"height: 100%; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mt-5\">Track your ROI, absolutely. It\u2019s one of the most powerful data points for your team, your leadership, and any case you\u2019re making for future investments.<\/p>\n<p>Should you try to track your email ROI from a last touch perspective? Absolutely. If you can connect the dots back to revenue, or visits, or leads\u2014whatever you can show\u2014it is worth the data pain. The data pain will be even more worth it if you can compare it to what you spend on similar paid media campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>But at the same time, use these opportunities to educate your own team and the powers that be that email isn\u2019t a simple dollars in, dollars out channel. It\u2019s the sum total of a larger experience that reflects <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/page.litmus.com\/personalization-across-customer-journey.html\">the customer journey<\/a> as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>The ROI is truly just the tip of the iceberg. It\u2019s what you can see, but awareness, retention, and overall <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/trends-in-email-engagement\">engagement<\/a> are all below the waterline.<\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-99864\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/ROI-Iceberg-1-819x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/ROI-Iceberg-1-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/ROI-Iceberg-1-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/ROI-Iceberg-1-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/ROI-Iceberg-1.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/>\n<p>Our paid media teams fully understand this. We can\u2019t just \u201cspend more\u201d on conversion ads if we aren\u2019t doing the work to grown the audience and drive their engagement to that point as well. It\u2019s the same in email marketing\u2014we just can\u2019t send more <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/conversion-centered-design-email\">conversion-focused emails<\/a> without doing the work to build awareness, trust, and relationships along the way.<\/p>\n<div class=\"container py-5\">\n<div class=\"row blog-cta-green rounded-5 p-4\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9 mx-auto\">\n<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Calculate your missing email ROI<\/p>\n<p>How much marketing revenue are you missing out on? Use our free <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/roi-calculator\">ROI Calculator<\/a> to see how much email-driven revenue you&#8217;re leaving on the table.<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"button-blue arrow\"><a class=\"text-decoration-none text-white\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/roi-calculator\">Learn more<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/roi-calculator-07152024-768x482.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"132\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n  \t\t\t<\/div>\n  \t\t<\/div>\n  \t<\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":100043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"blog_category":[9770],"class_list":["post-99938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog_category-leading-fwd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why CMOs Should Rethink Email Marketing Beyond ROI | Litmus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover why email ROI is top-notch but only part of the story. Learn how email builds relationships and drives long-term brand success for brands.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Email Return on Investment (ROI) Is the Best There Is\u2014But That\u2019s Only Part of the Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover why email ROI is top-notch but only part of the story. Learn how email builds relationships and drives long-term brand success for brands.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Litmus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-14T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-14T17:02:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Leading-FWD-ROI.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why CMOs Should Rethink Email Marketing Beyond ROI | Litmus","description":"Discover why email ROI is top-notch but only part of the story. Learn how email builds relationships and drives long-term brand success for brands.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Email Return on Investment (ROI) Is the Best There Is\u2014But That\u2019s Only Part of the Story","og_description":"Discover why email ROI is top-notch but only part of the story. Learn how email builds relationships and drives long-term brand success for brands.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building","og_site_name":"Litmus","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp","article_published_time":"2024-08-14T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-14T17:02:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1380,"height":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Leading-FWD-ROI.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@litmusapp","twitter_site":"@litmusapp","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building"},"author":{"name":"efischer","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/379834ac83bcea502c0c9d59c1ac81cd"},"headline":"Email Return on Investment (ROI) Is the Best There Is\u2014But That\u2019s Only Part of the Story","datePublished":"2024-08-14T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-14T17:02:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building"},"wordCount":18,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Leading-FWD-ROI.png","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building","name":"Why CMOs Should Rethink Email Marketing Beyond ROI | Litmus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Leading-FWD-ROI.png","datePublished":"2024-08-14T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-14T17:02:01+00:00","description":"Discover why email ROI is top-notch but only part of the story. Learn how email builds relationships and drives long-term brand success for brands.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Leading-FWD-ROI.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Leading-FWD-ROI.png","width":1380,"height":725},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/roi-of-email-marketing-relationship-building#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Email Return on Investment (ROI) Is the Best There Is\u2014But That\u2019s Only Part of the Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/","name":"Litmus","description":"Are you getting the most out of your email marketing?","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization","name":"Litmus Software","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/featured-image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/featured-image.png","width":600,"height":314,"caption":"Litmus Software"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp","https:\/\/x.com\/litmusapp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/379834ac83bcea502c0c9d59c1ac81cd","name":"efischer"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99938"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100288,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99938\/revisions\/100288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99938"},{"taxonomy":"blog_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_category?post=99938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}