Credit: Getty Images by Atomic Imagery Email remains one of the most effective marketing channels, generating a 38-to-1 return on investment across all industries, according to Litmus’ Email Marketing ROI: The Factors That Lead to Better Returns whitepaper. Companies in the retail and consumer goods and services industries generate email marketing ROIs nearly as high, getting 37 times their investment back. Our research, which involved more than 430 brands, also provided insights into three issues that are important for retailers to understand. 1. Retailers shouldn’t be afraid that tougher email laws will hurt their email marketing returns. Despite having to comply with the strongest anti-spam and privacy laws in the world, brands in EU countries see an average ROI of 39:1, edging out American brands’ 38:1. Based on that, it would appear that business fears around tougher email and privacy regulations are overblown, whether it’s concern about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) , the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) , or a national law to supercede CCPA. Tighter rules appear to have a neutral to slightly positive effect on the returns seen by legitimate marketers, while improving the overall email environment by reducing spam and giving consumers more control. 2. Stronger permission practices have a sizable effect on email ROI. For example, companies that use a double opt-in (DOI) process for all or most of their subscriber acquisition sources generate a ROI of 50:1, compared to a ROI of 38:1 for those using mostly single opt-in (SOI) processes. DOI requires would-be subscribers to confirm their subscription via an email sent to them. This process generally sacrifices list size to improve quality, while SOI boosts list size at the expense of quality. While a larger list size also correlates with higher ROIs, list quality has a much stronger correlation. […]