Email marketing is a fundamental touchpoint, but it’s rated by digital marketing leaders as one of the least effective channels in driving conversion. The cause? Marketers lost their grip on email personalization amid the customer churn and rapidly changing habits of the pandemic. Struggling brands went for quantity over quality and sent generic product email blasts, while leaders continued to activate their customer data and drive segmentation, yielding high engagement. Facing cross-industry challenges, digital marketing leaders can’t afford to silo comparisons within a small set of close competitors.

Gartner’s Digital IQ: Email Benchmarks for 2021 serves as a critical starting point for marketing teams looking to capture a greater share of consumer attention while navigating these new and evolving challenges. Our cross-industry benchmarks measure and compare the email marketing performance of nearly 1,200 brands. Brands are scored and ranked alongside each other to uncover  the top digital marketers across the following six industries: