Email marketing continues to punch well above its weight. Despite the noise around social media, influencer campaigns, and AI-driven ads, email remains one of the most profitable and reliable channels available to B2B marketers. For UK businesses looking to sharpen their prospecting in 2025, the data tells a clear story: email still delivers.
Why Email Outperforms Other Channels
The financial case for email marketing is compelling. On average, every £1 invested returns between £35 and £40. That ROI dwarfs social media and even pay-per-click campaigns, which explains why 87% of B2B marketers still use email as their primary distribution channel. Nearly 60% of marketers also say it’s their single best-performing channel for ROI.
Who’s Reading, and HowS
Email isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Over 4.3 billion people globally use email, projected to hit 4.6 billion by 2025. In the UK, 93% of adults check their inbox regularly.
Engagement rates are healthy: average open rates sit at 18–22%, while B2B campaigns often climb as high as 25–30% with proper targeting. Click-through rates hover around 2–4%, with more committed prospects engaging above that range when content is relevant.
The Mobile-First Shift
Nearly 46% of all email opens now happen on mobile devices. That makes responsive design non-negotiable—emails not optimised for mobile see 15% lower engagement. Still, desktops hold an edge for conversions: users on larger screens are more likely to click through and complete key actions.
The Power of Personalisation
Numbers show the difference between generic blasts and thoughtful outreach. Personalised campaigns deliver 6x higher transaction rates. Even simple touches, like including a first name in the subject line, can boost open rates by 26%.
Segmentation multiplies results even further. Businesses using advanced segmentation—by behaviour, industry, or company size—report revenue lifts of up to 760% and click-through improvements of 100%.
Crafting Subject Lines That Work
Subject lines are often the make-or-break factor. Data shows the sweet spot is 30–50 characters or 6–10 words. Urgency helps, driving 22% higher open rates, while question-based subject lines see 10–15% lifts. But heavy-handed tactics—like overusing exclamation points—risk being flagged by spam filters.
B2B-Specific Insights
For cold outreach, realistic benchmarks matter. Well-executed cold campaigns yield 1–5% response rates, but pairing email with LinkedIn outreach can increase responses by up to 30%.
Timing plays a role, too. Midweek is best—Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays consistently outperform. Within the workday, 10–11 AM and 1–2 PM are peak engagement windows.
Automation and Workflows
Automation has transformed email performance. Automated campaigns generate 320% more revenue than manual sends. Welcome sequences alone achieve 50%+ open rates, while drip campaigns can drive 80% higher conversions than one-off blasts.
Companies embracing marketing automation report 451% more qualified leads, proving that structured nurturing sequences pay off far more than sporadic efforts.
What’s Next for Email Marketing
AI is beginning to reshape the landscape. AI-powered personalisation already improves click-through rates by up to 29%, while predictive analytics optimises send times, lifting engagement by 25%.
Interactive emails—polls, surveys, and mini experiences embedded directly in the inbox—are also gaining traction, showing 73% higher engagement than static formats.
Bringing It All Together
For B2B marketers, the lesson is simple: email isn’t going anywhere. It continues to deliver some of the highest returns of any channel when combined with personalisation, segmentation, automation, and strategic timing.
At SendIQ, we pair email with LinkedIn automation, cold calling, and website visitor identification to build multi-channel campaigns that consistently outperform. The data proves it: email remains the cornerstone of modern lead generation.
