The Role of Email in Digital Marketing
In the age of TikTok, AI-generated content, and omnichannel marketing, email may seem like a dinosaur in the digital world. However, don’t let its age fool you—email marketing remains one of the most effective and high-ROI channels available to businesses today.
As a digital content marketing agency, we see it firsthand: clients investing in flashy social campaigns often find that email is where the real engagement—and conversion—happens. But to unlock that value, marketers need more than just a subscriber list and a slick template. They need to understand the fundamental role of email today—and the metrics that matter.
The Evolving Role of Email in Digital Marketing
Email is no longer just a vehicle for newsletters or promotional blasts. In 2025, it plays a strategic role across the customer journey, from awareness to advocacy. Here’s how:
1. A Personal Touchpoint in an Impersonal World
With so much automation and noise online, email remains one of the few channels where brands can communicate directly and personally. Whether it’s a tailored nurture sequence or a post-purchase follow-up, email enables true one-on-one engagement.
2. Owned and Controlled by You
Unlike social media platforms that change algorithms overnight, your email list is yours. It’s a powerful asset that enables consistent communication without worrying about being filtered out of a news feed.
3. Content Delivery Engine
Email is a natural distribution hub for digital content, including blog posts, guides, videos, webinars, case studies, and more. It amplifies reach and boosts the ROI of every piece of content you create.
4. Revenue Driver
From automated drip campaigns to seasonal promotions, email remains a powerful conversion tool. For e-commerce brands, it’s often the highest-converting channel. For B2B businesses, it’s critical to nurture leads and close deals.
To maximize the effectiveness of email in your marketing stack, it’s essential to track the right metrics. Gone are the days of obsessing over open rates. In 2025, it’s about deeper, behavior-driven insights.
The Big Shift: From Open Rates to Deeper Engagement
Open rates, once considered a cornerstone of email marketing performance, have become increasingly inflated and unreliable due to changes in privacy settings—notably Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), introduced in iOS 15 and widely adopted since. MPP preloads email content (including tracking pixels) on Apple devices regardless of whether the user opens the message, which falsely signals an “open” to email service providers. As a result, marketers see artificially high open rates that no longer reflect real user engagement. As similar privacy features expand across other platforms, relying on open rates can lead to misguided conclusions about subject line effectiveness or campaign performance, making it essential to shift focus to more accurate, behavior-based metrics, such as click-through and conversion rates.
For a digital content marketing business like Bruck Marketing, this means looking beyond the first click and asking: What are users actually doing with our content?
Let’s break down the metrics that deserve your attention.
1. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)
What it is: The percentage of recipients who clicked on a link after opening your email.
Why it matters: Unlike raw click-through rates, CTOR isolates the effectiveness of your content. It tells you how compelling your copy, design, and CTAs are to those who actually open your emails.
Tip: Use A/B testing for headlines and CTA language. A better CTOR often comes down to a more compelling hook or clearer value proposition.
2. Conversion Rate
What it is: The percentage of recipients who completed a desired action—such as downloading a guide, booking a call, or purchasing a product.
Why it matters: Engagement is great, but conversions are what drive ROI. For content marketing businesses, this could mean capturing leads through gated content or converting newsletter subscribers into clients.
Tip: Align your emails with landing pages designed for conversions. Strong CTAs in both places will multiply your success.
3. List Growth Rate
What it is: The net rate at which your email list is growing (new subscribers minus unsubscribes and bounces).
Why it matters: A healthy, growing list means your brand is expanding its reach. It also indicates that your lead magnets, social promotions, and content offers are working.
Tip: Don’t obsess over a big list—focus on a relevant one. Trim inactive users quarterly to maintain high deliverability.
4. Engagement Over Time
What it is: How recipients interact with your emails over a longer period (e.g., the last 3–6 months).
Why it matters: This helps identify trends—whether your audience is getting more or less engaged with your content. It also helps spot the difference between loyal readers and dormant subscribers.
Tip: Use behavioral segmentation to treat engaged and disengaged users differently. Winback campaigns can bring back those slipping through the cracks.
5. Revenue per Email (RPE)
What it is: The total revenue generated divided by the number of emails sent.
Why it matters: RPE gives a dollar-value view of how effective your email marketing really is—essential for e-commerce clients, product marketers, and agencies tracking ROI.
Tip: Tie emails into your CRM or eCommerce platform to get precise attribution data. It’s the metric your CFO will actually care about.
6. Unsubscribe Rate and Spam Complaints
What it is: How many recipients opt out—or worse, report your email as spam.
Why it matters: High unsubscribe or spam rates damage your sender reputation and deliverability. It’s also a warning sign that your content isn’t aligned with audience expectations.
Tip: Make unsubscribing easy and always allow users to update their preferences instead. A clean list is better than a big one.
What Metrics to Deprioritize in 2025
- Open Rates: Now skewed by privacy protection features and not a reliable engagement measure.
- Bounce Rates (unless consistently high): A technical issue more than a marketing one.
- List Size Alone: A large list with poor engagement is worse than a smaller, active one.
Final Thoughts: Measure What Moves the Needle
In a world where inboxes are more crowded than ever, success isn’t about getting seen—it’s about getting acted on. For digital content marketing agencies, smart metrics help refine campaigns, prove ROI to clients, and inform more effective strategies.
Focus on behavioral signals and value-driven actions, not just vanity metrics. Because when you measure what matters, your results start to matter more. For guidance and support in your email marketing campaign, contact us or visit our website.