- Most organizations cannot reliably track returns from email campaigns
- Strong ROI only exists for companies that actively measure performance
- Many teams rely on content generation without deeper optimization strategies
Email marketing continues to generate strong returns, but many organizations are still unsure if those returns actually materialize.
Sinch Mailgun’s recent Email Impact Report 2026 analyzed insights from more than 400 billion emails sent in 2025 and surveyed more than 1,200 email senders, revealing that fewer than half of organizations can reliably track the ROI of their email programs.
It’s in this gap between email’s proven potential and its actual execution that many businesses lose out.
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The Surprising Numbers Behind Email ROI
“Email delivers exceptional results, but many organizations are not set up to fully realize its value,” said Kate Nowrouzi, vice president of deliverability at Sinch.
Among companies that measure email ROI, 60% report a return of more than $10 for every dollar spent. More than one in ten people see returns of up to 40×1, figures that suggest email remains one of the most effective marketing channels available.
Yet despite these impressive numbers, a large portion of businesses continue to send promotional emails without knowing whether these messages are actually working.
These organizations are essentially blind to their own email performance, but they shouldn’t remain blind.
AI adoption in email marketing is widespread, but its impact remains uneven across different applications.
Many teams focus only on basic use cases like content generation, while higher-impact applications like optimization, segmentation, and deliverability remain underutilized.
Just under half (41%) of teams use AI to generate email content, but only 23% say AI has significantly improved their email programs.
“Using AI to generate content is a good place to start, but it’s not where the biggest impact happens,” Nowrouzi said.
Organizations that apply AI for optimization and segmentation achieve much better results.
This measurement gap becomes even more concerning when combined with poor deliverability, since nearly 18% of all marketing emails don’t arrive in the inbox at all, meaning organizations can’t track the ROI of messages that never arrive.
Even if a business tracks email performance perfectly, up to a fifth of the potential return remains at risk simply because messages are never seen.
Although 78% of respondents say email is critical to business success, poor deliverability practices and poor ROI measurement persist.
79% of organizations plan to maintain or increase their investment in email despite these tracking and execution gaps.
For a channel that delivers exceptional returns when done right, leaving money on the table due to poor tracking and deliverability is a choice, not a necessity.
The tools exist to fill this gap, from appropriate email hosting infrastructure to sophisticated email service platforms.
It remains unclear whether companies that ignore ROI will ever invest in proper tracking, but the data suggests that those who measure their returns see clear results.
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