May 29th, 2025
RGE survey data is in: email marketing is evolving into a smarter, AI-driven field, navigating burnout, complexity, and rapid growth.
Welcome, email geeks. Gather ‘round.
Email isn’t dead. It just swapped hoodies for compression shorts. While marketers chase the next shiny platform, email keeps grinding, delivering reliable ROI and quietly dominating the marketing world.
And the numbers? They’re in. The 2025 RGE Survey Thingy captured insights from 1,677 email pros, and it’s loaded with truth bombs, data drops, and a few inbox-induced tears. Let’s dive into the 10 trends shaping email this year (with a few spicy slides to boot).
Gone are the days of email as a side hustle. In 2025, 52.4% of marketers are full-time email pros, a 40% jump from 2018. That’s a big shift, and it’s no coincidence. Brands have finally realized that email isn’t just a channel, it’s a growth engine. So they’re hiring CRM nerds, Lifecycle wizards, and retention strategists to give it the respect it deserves.
The multi-hat era is fading. In its place, we see specialized roles, especially Strategists and Designers. Strategists are now leading the charge because AI can write but cannot plan. Designers are back in demand, too, as brands want emails that pop, move, and sparkle.
If you’ve got 2 to 4 years in email and feel like you’re doing five jobs with zero backup, you’re not imagining it. These folks, often hired during the pandemic boom, are juggling tools, tests, strategy, and expectations without the support or team size to match. They’re stuck in burnout purgatory. Meanwhile, email the elders with 6 or more years? Cool as cucumbers.
Most email teams are still tiny. Like “two people and a hope” tiny. But we’re seeing a glow-up.
More complexity = more people needed. Especially when you’re personalizing every email like it’s a love letter. Also, let’s talk about the Solo Tweeners—those running lists around 750k alone. Too big for one person, too small for an enterprise squad. These folks deserve a nap and a raise.
Long-term career optimism dipped for the first time ever. Instead, teams are laser-focused on winning the day. With AI accelerating, privacy tightening, and new channels crowding the inbox, email pros are asking, “How do I thrive now?” Not “Where will I be in five years?” It’s a shift from vision to survival.
Biggest struggles? The same old playlist: organizing assets and coming up with ideas. But rendering issues are climbing the charts. New annoyances include:
Good news: code issues are down, thanks AI and drag-n-drop builders, like Beefree.
Yes, really. It now takes 8.21 business days to launch a single email. That’s nearly 3 extra days per campaign compared to 2018. Why? Ballooning approval chains, intricate personalizations, and too many cooks in the QA kitchen.
Click-through rate still ranks number one, but metrics like Revenue per Subscriber and LTV are quickly gaining traction. This signals a deeper focus on email’s bottom-line impact rather than just engagement fluff. Different industries care about different stuff:
There’s consistency, though. Teams that track clicks usually care about opens, too. Teams chasing revenue are all in on dollars and cents.
Klaviyo is the cool kid right now, especially for small/medium-sized businesses. Salesforce still rules the enterprise scene.
But no one’s monogamous. Most teams supplement their ESPs with:
Average tool satisfaction? A solid “meh” at 6/10. Despite all the fancy features, joy hasn’t increased. The tools are getting better, but the vibes? Not yet.
Last year, 78% said “no thanks” to AI. This year, 66% say it’s the future. That’s a 144-point sentiment swing.
The biggest use case is copywriting (87%), followed by campaign ideas, trend discovery, and even light coding. But here’s the kicker: AI hasn’t replaced writers. It’s simply changed their role from keyboard to the editor’s chair.
Email has officially leveled up. What used to be a scrappy side hustle is now a strategic core of digital marketing. Roles are sharpening, teams are growing, and AI is transforming how we work. Burnout is still very real, but so is progress. With the right investment in people, strategy, and smarter workflows, we won’t just keep up. We’ll lead.
So go forth, fellow email nerds. The future is messy. But hey, so is your inbox.
👉 Get the full picture with the complete 2025 RGE Industry Report. It’s packed with role-specific insights, tech breakdowns, and real talk from your peers. (It's password-protected because you know we keep it classy).
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