How Much Revenue Should Ecommerce Email Generate?

People love asking what percentage of ecommerce revenue should come from email.

I understand why. A benchmark feels like a quick answer.

I do not think there is a useful universal percentage.

Why the benchmark varies so much

A repeat-purchase brand with a large active customer base should behave differently from a high-ticket retailer where customers buy once every few years.

Email contribution also depends on list size, discounting, send frequency, lifecycle maturity and how the platform attributes revenue.

Two businesses can both report 25% of revenue from email while having completely different levels of CRM quality.

Reported revenue is not the same as incremental revenue

If a loyal customer receives three emails in a week and buys something they already intended to buy, the email platform may still claim the order.

That does not mean the email had no influence. It means the reported number needs context.

What I care about instead

I want to understand:

• how customers move through lifecycle stages
• engagement and fatigue
• conversion by segment
• repeat purchase
• reactivation quality
• revenue per customer, not only per send
• whether triggered programmes add value
• whether incentives are genuinely necessary

I have worked in high-frequency email environments where simply increasing volume was not a meaningful strategy. Better audience selection produced one of the strongest email revenue results of the period, with a 23% open rate in the targeted group.

The better question

Instead of asking “what percentage of revenue should email generate?”, ask:

What additional customer value should our CRM programme be creating, and how do we know?

That leads to a much healthier conversation.

If you are not sure whether your CRM programme is genuinely adding value, I can help you find out.