The Ultimate List of Digital Marketing Statistics for 2024
The time of traditional marketing is long gone – print, direct mail, broadcasting, phone, and billboard advertising are simply not enough for modern businesses and organizations to keep up with the current trends. Instead, digital marketing is taking over.
A successful marketing strategy simply isn’t complete without addressing the digital channels. With an ever-growing number of Internet users, it’s easy to understand why it’s so crucial for brands to be present online.
With a powerful website, attractive social media platforms, and a killer search engine optimization strategy, any business can put itself in front of its target audience.
This blog is going to cover some of the most important digital marketing statistics, including email marketing statistics, SEO statistics, and key points to know about social media, content, and video marketing.
Digital Marketing Statistics (Highlights)
- A website is the second most utilized marketing channel after paid search ads
- The average open rate of welcome emails is 82%
- Facebook is the most popular social media platform
- The main objectives of content marketers were to increase brand awareness (45%) and attract more website traffic (37%)
- Almost 90% of consumers stated they would like to see more videos from the brands they follow
- 67% of clicks go to the top 5 websites displayed in SERPs
Digital Marketing Industry Statistics
1. Digital advertising and content creation are the most sought-after digital marketing skills
(Digital Marketing Institute)
It’s no doubt that digital marketing is becoming increasingly popular and that digital marketing skills are in demand now more than ever. In the US alone, the digital advertising and marketing market is currently estimated at around $460 billion.
Digital marketing statistics show that digital display marketing has a compound annual growth rate of 15.5%, while search marketing is projected to reach a 12.2% CAGR.
It’s also worth mentioning that search accounts for more than 40% of the global digital marketing and advertising market.
2. A website is the second most utilized marketing channel after paid search ads
(Eliasson Marketing)
Digital marketing channels are growing in popularity, with 72% of all marketing budgets being put towards digital marketing channels. Aside from paid search ads, websites are the next most utilized marketing tool.
Digital marketing statistics show that approximately 55% of all marketing is digital. This includes various marketing channels, such as email marketing, video marketing, social media advertising, and social media marketing.
Marketing jobs are in demand now more than ever, and the demand is set to grow by 10% by 2026, which is more than average compared to other career choices.
3. Digital marketing and advertising are expected to reach a market value of approximately $786.2 billion by 2026
(PR News Wire)
It is no surprise that the digital marketing and advertising market is so huge. In fact, the majority of digital marketing professionals (86%) stated that they actively use more than one digital marketing channel for their marketing tactics.
These digital marketing strategies have one clear goal, which is to get a brand in front of the target audience, which in turn boosts engagement and conversions.
After all, it is necessary for people to get to know your brand first, which is why increasing brand awareness is such a crucial part of any digital marketing strategy.
4. 63% of businesses increased their marketing budgets in the past year
(LocaliQ)
When it comes to marketing budgets, the total amount spent on digital marketing in 2021 was $436 billion, compared to $196 billion spent on offline or traditional marketing.
Along with increasing their marketing budgets, approximately 87% of marketers also increased social media activity once the COVID-19 pandemic began.
This social media activity includes posting more regularly, along with posting more videos and various other forms of visual content for their audiences.
5. 75% of all businesses currently use some form of marketing automation tool
(Social Media Today’s State of Marketing Automation)
Additionally, up to 17.4% of marketers said that automating their marketing efforts was their most effective digital marketing technique, more effective than SEO or social networks.
Almost 50% of marketers use automation to create a more personalized customer experience for their target audiences, helping them achieve longer-lasting relationships and grow more revenue.
Even though some businesses have cut their digital marketing budget, almost 27% of Chief Marketing Officers stated that they would increase their digital marketing budget for the purposes of purchasing automation tools.
Email Marketing Statistics
6. Email marketing campaigns have a potential ROI of 4400%
(Optin Monster)
Digital marketing statistics show that each $1 spent on an email marketing campaign brings about $44 in revenue, which represents a huge profit margin. A return on investment that high is exactly why email marketing is part of any global marketing strategy.
Ever since the pandemic started, around 37% of brands actually increase their email marketing budget, and only about 1.3% have cut it. Similarly, businesses also started using email marketing software (approximately 85% of B2B companies).
In 2021, email marketing efforts generated approximately $8.5 billion in revenue around the globe, which is a huge increase compared to the times before the pandemic.
7. The average open rate of welcome emails is 82%
(Wish Pond)
The most popular types of emails are welcome emails, as digital marketing statistics show. They have an average clickthrough rate of 26%, and an average click-to-open rate of just shy of 29%.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that triggered emails receive 8 times more opens, along with bigger earnings when compared to typical bulk emails. Triggered emails include any kind of email that’s sent automatically based on pre-defined events or when meeting a certain condition.
Interestingly, newsletter emails have the lowest open rate of them all – just 20.48%. The open rate is even lower for text-based newsletters – only 15%, with a clickthrough rate of just 1.56%.
8. 91% of users unsubscribed from emails they have previously subscribed to
(HubSpot)
When it comes to unsubscribing rates, the real estate industry has the highest one. On the other hand, the real estate industry also has the highest open rate, as users open up to 26% of real-estate-related emails.
As for other industries, the unsubscribing rates are as follows: software (0.5%), telecom (0.5%), retail (0.5%), electronics (0.5%), business(0.5%), manufacturing (0.5%), and education (0.4%).
The electronics and computer categories have the highest bounce rate (0.9%), which refers to the number of emails that never get successfully delivered.
9. More than 100 trillion emails are sent and received each year
(Optin Monster)
There’s no doubt that email is one of the most popular means of communication, especially in the corporate world. However, it is also popular in everyday life, with more than 4.3 billion people using email daily.
On a global daily level, there are approximately 333 billion emails sent and received. This number is set to rise to 376 billion by the end of 2025.
Digital marketing statistics also show that almost 95% of people check their email inbox every single day on their mobile devices. Surprisingly, some people check their email inbox as many as 20 times per day.
10. 66% of all emails sent get opened on mobile devices
(Mar Tech)
Statistically, people use their email more frequently on mobile devices compared to laptops and desktop computers. Yet, approximately 20% of email marketing campaigns are properly optimized for mobile device consumption.
Still, almost 40% of email users stated that they have at least 50 unopened and unread emails just sitting in their inbox. The majority of people actually check their email as a complementary activity, meaning they do so while doing something else primarily.
Moreover, approximately 58% of those surveyed stated that they check their email first thing in the morning, and only about 14% of people check a social media platform beforehand.
11. 60% of consumers subscribe to email newsletters in order to receive promotional deals and messages
(Marketing Sherpa)
Digital marketing statistics show that approximately 86% of people like to receive promotional emails at least once per month. Similarly, 15% of those surveyed stated that they would like to receive promotional emails daily.
A little over 50% of those who subscribed stated that advertising and marketing emails provided them with invaluable insights about the products or services they’re interested in, which in turn influenced their decision to purchase.
Social Media Marketing Statistics
12. Facebook is the most popular social media platform
(Our World In Data)
Social media is always a crucial part of any viable digital marketing strategy. That’s why it is of utmost importance to choose which social media platform to invest time and money in. Depending on your industry or niche, certain social media platforms will perform better than others.
Social media statistics and Facebook statistics show that there are approximately 2.9 billion Facebook users worldwide, making it one of the most popular social media apps in the world.
Additionally, as of July 2021, statistics show that over 48 million social media users on Facebook are between the ages of 25 and 34, making Facebook marketing one of the most popular platforms to use for social media ads.
13. There were 4.26 billion total social media users across all platforms in 2021
(Statista)
The COVID19 pandemic brought on a significant increase in social media usage, starting from March 2020. Social media marketing statistics show that up to 30% of users spent an extra hour or two on social media apps.
Social media marketers also upped their digital marketing efforts, with 87% of them increasing social media activity since the pandemic started, and 65% of them utilizing videos specifically.
14. TikTok is the fastest growing social media network with a user growth rate of 105% in the United States over the past two years
(eMarketer)
Experts believe that TikTok is only going to continue to grow. Currently, they predict that all social media apps will reach a staggering amount of users by 2027 – 4.4 billion people.
Additionally, internet users are expected to spend roughly ⅓ of their time, if not more, on social media. This provides social media marketers will endless opportunities to reach and engage with potential customers.
What’s also interesting is the fact that most users do not limit themselves to only one social network. Up to 56% of people who use the Internet have more than one social media account.
15. Facebook activity and usage are down to 33 minutes per day as of 2022, compared to 39 minutes per day in 2017
(Statista)
Statistics show that the total number of people who use Facebook every month increased by approximately 24 million users since February 2022. These figures also indicate that approximately 37% of the global population uses Facebook nowadays.
However, even though Facebook has a growing user database, it’s still not the most popularly used social media network. Currently, Instagram is the most frequently used social media app, especially among younger generations.
Instagram also has a potential advertising reach of 1.45 billion users, making it a very profitable network for digital advertising and social media ads.
16. The average adult uses social media for approximately 95 minutes every day
(eMarketer)
The amount of hours is even greater with younger generations, who spent anywhere between 2 and 3 hours using social media. As Facebook’s popularity continues to decline with young and middle-aged people, Twitter is gaining influence again.
Content Marketing Statistics
17. 66% of marketers are expecting a content marketing budget increase in 2022
(HubSpot)
Additionally, approximately 90% of marketers plan to continue using content marketing and investing in the same marketing channels in 2022. When it comes to challenges that marketers often face with content marketing, the top one is lead generation.
Other challenges include finding ideas for new content and being able to deliver content that has high levels of engagement online.
18. More than 60% of marketers measure their content marketing strategy success through sales
(HubSpot)
When it comes to measuring the success of content marketing strategies, marketers typically strive for increasing awareness, engagement, and sales. Additionally, they also strive to increase trust and build credibility, as well as educate their audience.
The most successful content marketers typically use videos, images, infographics, and blogs for their content strategy.
19. The main objectives of content marketers were to increase brand awareness (45%) and attract more website traffic (37%)
(Semrush)
More statistics and data show that 36% of content marketers are focused on generating leads through content marketing, 27% of respondents want increased sales and revenue, and 23% strive for improved customer loyalty and engagement with their brand.
Data from the Content Marketing Institute show that up to 91% of B2B (business to business) marketers use content marketing to reach their target audience.
20. As of 2021, there are more than 600 million blogs on the Internet
(Web Tribunal)
Every single month, there are around 410 million people who view more than 20 billion pages on the Internet. On a monthly basis, there are around 70 million blogs published by WordPress users.
Additionally, 71% of all WordPress websites are written in English. On average, 38% of bloggers stated that they were well above the benchmark, and around 30% of them reported success with their blogging efforts.
21. 79% of organizations use content marketing for high-quality lead generation purposes
(Semrush)
These strategic efforts mainly focus on creating and then distributing relevant and engaging content, which is supposed to attract new customers and generate new leads.
In order for any content marketing strategy to be successful, content must be educational and inspirational to its users.
Video Marketing Statistics
22. Around 92% of marketers who use video stated it was a crucial part of their marketing strategy
(Wyzowl)
In 2020, approximately 96% of users increased their online video consumption, mostly due to the pandemic, and 9 out of 10 people stated that they’d like to see more videos from brands they follow.
These statistics prove that using videos is an irreplaceable part of any digital marketing strategy. What’s more, up to 83% of people in the United States access some form of digital video as of 2020 every single day.
23. 87% of video marketers stated that they had a positive ROI
(Wyzowl)
Additionally, video marketers get up to 66% more qualified leads every single year, when compared to other forms of digital marketing. Statistics show that including a video on your landing page can significantly boost your conversion rate (by up to 80%).
Also, digital marketing tactics that include the usage of video content provide marketers with revenue growth that’s 49% faster than not using video.
24. Almost 90% of consumers stated they would like to see more videos from the brands they follow
(UpCity)
Video marketing is an excellent tool for connecting and engaging with your existing audience. But not only that – it’s also a great way to attract new customers and generate more leads.
Considering the fact that people watch 16 hours of video on average every single week and that more than 75% of all videos are played on a mobile device, it’s only logical to include videos as part of your digital marketing tactics.
25. Nearly half of all businesses reported growing revenue faster when using video content
(Forbes)
Additionally, 87% of business-related videos are viewed on desktop computers, whereas other forms of content are more frequently watched on mobile devices. Videos that are up to 2 minutes in length get the most engagement from users.
Up to 64% of potential customers make a purchase after watching social media videos created by businesses and up to 80% of users can remember a video ad they’ve seen in the past month.
SEO Statistics
26. 72% of marketing professionals believe that content creation is the most effective SEO strategy
(Marketing Profs)
Nowadays, the digital marketing industry and any digital marketing effort can’t be imagined without search engine optimization. One of the most powerful SEO tactics is content creation.
But, it’s important to note that search engines are constantly evolving and changing. Google’s organic search results are constantly being optimized and curated to fit the needs of the user searching for a specific product or service.
The average article located on the first page of Google contains around 1,447 words, proving that long-form content is still dominating search results.
27. 67% of clicks go to the top 5 websites displayed in SERPs
(Zero Limit Web)
In order to get in front of consumers using organic search traffic, digital marketers are rigorously applying search engine optimization efforts to their pages, images, texts, and more.
After all, there are two effective ways of getting your website in front of your target audience: dominating organic traffic with search engine optimization strategies and SEO tools or investing in Google Ads.
28. 50% of all search queries are four words or more
(Profound Strategy)
Most people who are searching for a service or product on Google are not looking for one or two-word terms. They’re usually searching phrases that are four words or more, which are also called long-tail keywords.
Also, users typically tend to search for specific things, so in order to rank highly for these particular terms, digital marketers need to do proper keyword research and their content needs to reflect this.
29. Around 90% of websites do not get any traffic from organic search
(Ahrefs)
Unfortunately, many businesses fail to understand just how important it is to have good SEO practices, which is why the vast majority of sites don’t get any traffic from organic searches.
Up to 75% of marketers increased brand awareness by deploying various SEO strategies and more than half of them felt that their strategy was extremely effective at helping them reach more online consumers.
30. Around 12% of search queries have a featured snipped box on Google SERPs
(Ahrefs)
Additionally, up to 32% of all voice search answers came from featured snippets, which have been around since 2014. Their dominance in voice search continues to grow each day.
Similarly, images are returned for almost 30% of all search queries on Google, and videos are 50 times more likely to get ranked organically than plain text results.
How Can These Digital Marketing Statistics Help You or Your Business Thrive?
All of these statistics combined are there to help anyone or any business create and execute a stellar digital market strategy that will ultimately help them increase brand awareness, generate more quality leads, and finally grow more revenue.
The digital marketing field is ever-expanding. That’s precisely why it’s important to keep up with the latest digital marketing trends and statistics that will help you improve your marketing efforts and take things to the next level.
While certain concepts remain the same, such as creating meaningful and engaging content for your target audience, it’s still necessary to keep up with the constant changes and adjustments in terms of both social media and search engine algorithms.
While each form of digital marketing has its benefits and downsides, it’s up to your to choose whether you should invest more in social media marketing, SEO, paid media, content marketing, or even email marketing to get the most bang for your buck.
Source
- Digital Marketing Institute
- Optin Monster
- Wish Pond
- HubSpot
- Social Media Today’s State of Marketing Automation
- Mar Tech
- Marketing Sherpa
- Marketing Profs
- Zero Limit Web
- Profound Strategy
- Ahrefs
- Ahrefs
- Our World in Data
- Eliasson Marketing
- PR News Wire
- LocaliQ
- Statista
- eMarketer
- Statista
- HubSpot
- HubSpot
- Semrush
- Web Tribunal
- Wyzowl
- UpCity
- Forbes