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This Year's 58 Most Surprising Digital Marketing Statistics

October 5, 2020
Erin Ryan
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Billions of people around the world are online these days. In the U.S. alone, nearly 8 in 10 adults go online at least daily, with 3 in 10 indicate that they’re almost always online, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Arguably, getting digital marketing right has never been more important. With that in mind, we’re revealing some of the most eye-opening digital marketing statistics for 2020. 

Email Marketing Statistics

Whether newsletters or automated sequences, email marketing is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy. Check out these stats to see why.

  1. Email marketing has a return on investment (ROI) equivalent to about Ł42 ($53) for nearly every Ł1 (about $1.30) spent. - Data & Marketing Association, U.K.
  1. Subject line alone accounts for 47% of opened emails. - Invesp
  1. Emails with subject lines of only 4 words had the highest open rates, while the highest click-through rates and engagement were emails with subject lines of 7 words. - Marketo
  1. Welcome emails are opened 4 times as often and clicked through 5 times more than other email campaigns. - Invesp 
  1. Email newsletters are the highest-performing content for getting and nurturing leads in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space and second to in-person events for converting leads. - Content Marketing Institute
Welcome emails are opened 4 times as often and clicked through 5 times more than other email campaigns, according to Invesp
Source: Invesp

Video Marketing Statistics

  1. In terms of video content, businesses publish at the following frequency:
  • Monthly (36.7%)
  • Weekly (24.3%)
  • Daily (12.9%)
  • Every other week (11.6%)
  • Never (14.5%)
  1. Factors that keep businesses from producing more video content include the following:
  • Not enough time (66.5%)
  • Lack of budgeting dollars (41.6%)
  • Unsure of content to create (23.7%)
  • Unsure of how to create a video (15.1%)
  • Poor engagement or performance (10.1%)
  • Nothing (9.2%)
  • Other (5.4%)

     - Buffer

  1. When learning about a product or service, 72% of buyers prefer video content. - Social Media Week
  1. Websites with video content see users who spend 88% more time browsing. - Social Media Week
  1. By 2022, online videos will generate 82% of all consumer traffic on the web.  - Social Media Week
  1. Video is the content preferred by 59% of executives. - Social Media Week
  1. Use of interactive video leads to positive results for 83% of marketers, with 90% of interactive videos viewed all the way through. However, only 2% of marketers currently use this video style. - Social Media Week
Bar graph with a percentage breakdown of the most popular platforms for posting video content. Facebook topped it at 81.2%.
Source: Buffer, State of Social Report, 2019

Influencer Marketing Statistics

  1. Roughly 68% of marketers say that influencer marketing is somewhat-to-very effective. -Buffer
  1. Marketers found that following platforms to be most effective for influencer marketing:
  • Instagram (70%)
  • Facebook (35.1%)
  • Twitter (29.5%)
  • YouTube (20.5%)
  • Snapchat (3.4%)
  • Twitch (2.3%)
  • Other (8.1%)
  1. The most important measurements when running influencer campaigns include:
  • Reach (31.7%)
  • Clicks (28%)
  • Comments (14.5%)
  • Impressions (9.8%)
  • Views (9.1%)
  • Other (6.8%)

     - Buffer

  1. Micro-influencers, those with 5,000-30,000 followers, accounted for 90% of all branded partnerships. - Klear
  1. The top 10 industries to partner with influencers include:
  • Fashion
  • Travel
  • Fitness
  • Beauty
  • Art
  • Parenting
  • Food
  • Music
  • Interior design
  • Wellness
  1. Beauty, fashion and food were the top 3 industries using sponsored stories. - Klear
Source: Buffer, State of Social Report, 2019

Content Marketing Statistics

If you don’t have a content strategy in place, you’re missing out. Here are a few content marketing ROI statistics to consider when you’re building yours.

  1. When compared with traditional marketing, content marketing delivers 3 times the number of leads and costs 62% less. - Demand Metric
  1. Content marketing is actively invested in by 70% of marketers, with 60% indicating it is a very-to-extremely important part of their marketing strategy as a whole. - HubSpot
  1. When it comes to blog posts, listicles earn 2 times more shares and traffic. In second and third place? Guides and how-to articles. What’s more, headlines of 14-plus words work best at increasing traffic, backlinks and social shares. - SEMrush
  1. Marketers sees these factors as the most important when creating content:
  • Image/video (35.8%)
  • Narrative (34.1%)
  • Calls to action (21.7%)
  • Captions (8.3%)

     - Buffer

  1. B2C marketers create content to cater to varying audiences, with most content developed to generate brand awareness and interest.
  • 41% for 2-3 audiences
  • 28% for 6 or more audiences
  • 26% for 4-5 audiences 
  • 5% for 1 audience
  1. Additionally, the most popular organic content distribution channels include:
  • Social media (93%)
  • Company website or blog (85%)
  • Email (79%)
  • Influencer or media relationships (39%)
  • Speaking engagements or events (37%)
  • Guest posts or articles in other publications (31%)
  • Other (11%)

     - Content Marketing Institute

  1. Marketers measure content performance using the following key performance indicators:
  • Organic traffic - 76%
  • Leads - 62%
  • Sessions/pageviews - 60%
  • Conversion rate  - 47%
  • Time on page - 39%
  • Social shares - 37%
  • Bounce rate - 31%
  • ROI - 25%
  • Backlinks - 22%
  • Comments - 19%
  • Other (e.g., sales, newsletter subscriptions, reach, impressions, keyword rankings, click-through rate) - 6%

     - SEMrush

Three graphs showing the impact content length has on average unique monthly pageview, social share and backlink performance.
Source: SEMrush, The State of Content Marketing 2019

Social Media Marketing Statistics

There are nearly 4 billion active social media users. So how do you reach them? Here’s what you need to know to build your reach.

  1. For the first quarter of 2020, on average people spent 2 hours and 22 minutes each day on social media and messaging apps. - GlobalWebIndex
  1. Most marketers use social media for content distribution, specifically 94%. - SEMrush
  1. Forty-two percent of internet users take to social networks to research a brand, and 21% have discovered a new brand based on a recommendation on social media. - GlobalWebIndex
  1. Social media videos help 64% of online buyers make a purchase decision. - Omnicore
  1. Snapchat users are more likely to impulse shop, to the tune of 60%. - Snapchat
  1. Facebook delivers the best content marketing results and is the top organic and paid social media platform in B2C. - Content Marketing Institute
Line graph charting online social media platform use in the U.S. from 2012-2019, with YouTube and Facebook in the lead.
Source: Pew Research Center

Paid Media Statistics

Paid media is a way to quickly drive conversions and brand awareness. Take a look at these online advertising growth statistics and consider how your social and paid media strategies compare. 

  1. Facebook offers the highest ROI of all social channels, with marketers indicating a Facebook Business Page, Facebook advertising and Facebook Groups as the top 3 most valuable platform features for hitting their goals. Google Paid Search offers the second-highest ROI. - HubSpot
  1. Marketers see advertising on Amazon as an opportunity for growth, with display advertising as the most popular format. What’s more, 60% of digital marketers are increasing their Amazon ad budget. - Marin Software 
  1. Most marketers (84%) plan to or currently use responsive search ads on Google, estimated to generate up to 10% more clicks and conversions when used with expanded text ads. - Marin Software
  1. Shoppable ads and images are growing in paid search and paid social, 65% and 62% respectively. - Marin Software
  1. Among marketers polled, 86.5% indicated that pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns help with search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, including helping to identify target keywords. - Databox
  1. Costs-per-click for keyword bidding across industries averaged as follows:
  • Insurance - $17.55
  • Online education - $12.08
  • Marketing - $6.45
  • Home and garden - $2.28
  • Car dealerships - $2.18
  • Jewelry - $1.90
  • Health and fitness - $1.81
  • Travel - $1.74
  • Real estate - $1.40
  • Pharmaceuticals - $1.15

     - SEMrush

Bar graph showing digital advertising revenue from 2012-2019 for Google, Facebook, Twitter, AOL and Yahoo.
Source: Graphic designed by Omnicore

SEO Statistics

To get eyes and traffic on your pages, you need to rank on search engines. Here are a few digital marketing stats about how you can do that and why. 

  1. Organic search is the highest source of traffic across industries, followed by direct traffic. - SEMrush
  1. When evaluating SEO vs. PPC advertising, 70% of marketers say that SEO is more effective at driving sales compared with 30% for PPC. - Databox
  1. Image SEO is on the rise as visual search, such as through Google Lens or Pinterest, is becoming more popular. At 36% usage, it’s on par with voice search. - Businesswire
  1. Optimizing video content is also important. In fact, featured video clips on Google often contain the exact keyword in the title, 80% according to a recent study. - HubSpot
  1. Get cracking on pillar content. A recent study showed that content with 3,000 or more words sees better results than articles between 901 and 1,200 words. Specifically, they earn 3.5 times more backlinks and 4 times more shares. - SEMrush
  1. Prioritizing backlinks can pay off. The No. 1 reason why nearly 91% of pages don’t get any traffic from Google is that they don’t have any backlinks. - Ahrefs
Pie chart showing that 66.31% of web pages have zero referring domains, with others having 1-3 to more than 101.
Source: Ahrefs

Mobile Marketing Statistics

We’d be remiss not to review mobile marketing and advertising statistics, since desktop has long since taken a backseat. In our on-the-go society, mobile functionality and responsive designs are critical. Here’s how people are using mobile in 2020.

  1. Voice searches and mobile searches for images are growing. In fact, the use of “image search” via a mobile device increased more than 60% from 2016-2018, while voice search on mobile rose 27%. - Think with Google
  1. Google data also showed that mobile searches with the term “podcast(s)” have increased more than 80%. - Think with Google
  1. Ninety-two percent of mobile users share video content, and video viewing through mobile devices has risen annually by 100%. - Social Media Week
  1. Simultaneous multidevice usage is reported among 85% of adults. - Social Media Week
  1. When people have a poor mobile experience, they’re 62% less likely to be future customers. - Toptal
  1. When comparing special offers on mobile versus print, people are 10 times more likely to use mobile ones. - Omnicore
  1. Ad blocking on mobile devices has increased more than 60% since 2017, with 527 million currently using the technology. - CNET
Line graph showing mobile adblock use from 2010 through 2019, rising incrementally each year, to $527 million.
Source: Blockthrough

UX Statistics

Online users want intuitive designs that are easy on the eyes and perform well. That’s why UX can make or break you. Check out these advertising statistics related to the online user experience.

  1. Poor user experience (UX) design is responsible for 35% of lost ecommerce sales. - CareerFoundry
  1. In 2020, projected global ecommerce sales with good UX is more than $5 trillion, with $1.42 trillion lost due to bad UX. - CareerFoundry
  1. A majority of enterprise chief executives view UX as a competitive differentiator, 70% specifically. - UserZoom
  1. More than $2 billion in sales are lost each year due to websites that are slow to load. What’s more, 88% of users who have a bad website experience typically don’t return, while 90% of people discontinue using apps that perform poorly. - Toptal
Graphic showing that the return on investment from UX design is $100 for every $1.
Source: CareerFoundry, The Trillion Dollar UX Problem: A Comprehensive Guide to the ROI of UX

Omnichannel Statistics

In an age where most people have a cell phone, a laptop, a tablet and more, being able to stop browsing on one device and later access another device and pick up where you left off makes the buyer experience easy and pleasant. Here are some omnichannel digital marketing stats to consider in 2020.

  1. Omnichannel is becoming crucial for businesses. In fact, 83% of people say it’s important they have a seamless experience across devices. - Toptal
  1. Omnichannel support could increase a company’s return on investment more than 100%. - Zendesk
  1. Nearly 48% of omnichannel campaigns that employ text messaging are more likely to experience conversions. - Omnisend
  1. Marketers using 3 or more channels in a campaign as opposed to 1 benefited from a 287% higher purchase rate. - Omnisend
Graph showing customer purchase rates with 3 or more marketing channels is 12.43%, while only 3.21% for 1 channel.
Source: Omnisend

What Do These Marketing Statistics Mean for You?

Now that you’ve got the low-down on the year’s best marketing and advertising statistics, take a look at how you can improve your digital strategy. 

If you’re like so many others who don’t have a set plan in place, you’re not alone — and we can help. Let our dedicated team of marketing specialists get to work strategizing how best to grow your brand across channels and delivering the results you want to see.

About

Erin Ryan

A prolific and versatile wordsmith, Erin crafts persuasive copy that entices and converts. Her repertoire includes SEO-optimized content, including blog posts, guides, content refreshes and website copy, as well as marketing emails, video scripts and landing pages, to name a few. In her free time, Erin enjoys gardening, yoga and riding around on her rusty but reliable beach cruiser, "Old Faithful."

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