Flodesk recently put out an emaIl marketing trends report based on over 3 million campaigns and 14billion email deliveries: January 2025 – June 2026 delivered on their platform. And while I have plenty of options about Flodesk as a platform for eCommerce businesses, when someone publishes data at that scale, I pay attention.
I went through the entire report and pulled out the findings that are most relevant to you as a product-based business owner. Some of it confirmed what I’ve been saying for years, some of it challenged a few of the rules we’ve all been following, and some of it… honestly, I think they got the wrong takeaway entirely.
So today I’m going to walk you through the biggest findings, give you my honest take on each one and tell you what actually matters for your ecommerce business vs. what you can ignore.
Before we get into it, there are a few things I want you to keep in mind about this data.
Most of Flodesk users are businesses like mine – course creators, online educators, and B2B service providers. Or small businesses like photographers, interior designers, etc.
Yes, there are some product based businesses using Flodesk, but it’s a pretty small percentage
They’re only looking at email engagement metrics, not revenue. One, they don’t track revenue from other platforms. It’s why I’m not a fan of using Flodesk for eCommere. If someone is also using Flodesk checkouts, then maybe they can see revenue attributed to email, but it doesn’t have any bearing on their insights. I’ll point out when and where that matters.
PREFER TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE? CLICK HERE
Do Image Heavy Emails Hurt Deliverability?
This is a claim Flodesk has been trying to debunk since its creation. If you didn’t already know, all those pretty layouts and non-web fonts people use in Flodesk are converted to images before they’re actually sent. It’s the reason why sometimes I just treat Flodesk like Canva – creating layouts inside their platform and then saving the image once it’s delivered.
This is a debate that has been going on for as long as I’ve been sending emails. And I’ve never given a definitive answer one way or another, instead recommending you test it to see what works best for your audience. Working with so many different clients and industry verticals, for some I’ve seen more text-based emails outperform, and for others, image based does best.
Here’s the good news. According to Flodesk’s findings, images have very little impact on performance. In fact, they only account for .3% of the difference between campaign engagement, which basically means nothing.
They also looked at spam reports as that has been a long-time argument against image heavy emails. According to their data, “spam complaints stayed roughly 10 times below the levels that providers watch for, no matter how many images the email had.”
And all of those metrics stayed true regardless of the email provider. So whether it was gmail, yahoo, even outlook. They found no evidence that image based emails performed worse.
In fact, Flodesk’s overall findings says that emails that actually followed the 80/20 rule of text to image ratio opened 19% below average and earned 24% fewer clicks. Before you take that data to heart, remember that correlation does not equal causation.
Should You Use Image-Heavy Emails in eCommerce?
So, what’s the lesson here? It’s that you should create the types of emails that are easiest for you to put together and the most effective for your audience. And ultimately, you have to test it.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve seen this go both ways for different clients. If I were to try and pinpoint a pattern of when images worked better vs. not, I’d have to say it’s based on what you sell. The more visual your product, the more important images are.
For example, I worked with a jewelry client who was spending so much time and energy creating image based emails. We ran a couple of tests using their standard designed emails vs. some text-based ones. And their image-first emails outperformed the text-based dramatically.
Now, there are other variables for this. Like the fact that they had been sending image-based emails for a really long time and their audience was used to it. But still, at the end of the day we decided they should continue to send image-heavy emails.
How to Optimize Your Image Heavy Emails
If you are going to use image-heavy emails, there are still some things you’ll want to consider, watch out for, and do to optimize those emails.
First, I would still shy away from full image emails with absolutely zero web-safe text or html code. And when I say html code I don’t mean that you have to build that on your own, that’s what your email platform will create when you use their drag and drop builder.
The two main reasons I prefer this is because it automatically optimizes your email for mobile, allowing content to stack, and two, it lets you take advantage of more of your platform’s features. For example product feeds and recommendations in Klaviyo.
And the truth is, there is a lot you can do in your builder to make things look pretty such as colored backgrounds, side-by-side columns, etc. When I design emails, I typically use images for hero graphics, unique design treatments, and script font. Otherwise I’ll use as much of the builder as possible.
Plus, once you get a few standard templates created, it becomes pretty quick and easy to whip up new campaigns vs. having to design all the images.
That said, if you find that image heavy emails are faster and easier for you to create, there are a few things you’ll want to do to optimize them.
One, make sure you add alt text to every image. This is important for those that use screen readers, and if your images don’t load by default which is still a thing.
Two, check how your image renders on mobile, especially if you’re using a side-by-side two column layout. In most cases, when it shrinks for mobile it will be difficult to read. If your email platform allows you to set device visibility on sections or blocks, I’d make separate desktop and mobile versions.
Ultimately, I don’t think image-heavy vs. not image-heavy is the most important decision you have to make in terms of your email success. But if it’s something that’s been bugging you, you’ve been wondering about, while I still recommend you test it with your own audience, the Flodesk data says it won’t negatively impact you on its own.
So, if images don’t affect email engagement, what does?
How Does Segmentation Affect Email Engagement
According to the Flodesk data members who send to segmented lists see significantly better results than full-list sends. This stat is a bit misleading, but we’ll talk about that in a second.
They also mention the obvious that members who exclude unengaged subscribers consistently see higher engagement and lower bounce rates. Open rates run 11% higher, and click rates about 30% higher. I mean, duh.
I obviously agree on the unengaged. I generally recommend you send to your 90-day engaged segment and clean your list every six months on average.
What I want you to be careful of is taking their segmenting findings at face value.
That’s not to say segmenting is inherently bad. But the way in which you do this is important, especially for eCommerce. I’m not going to get into all the nitty gritty of that here today, I’ll stick some links in the show notes to other episodes where I talk about this, but the TL’DR is. If you’re going to segment in your eCommerce business, focus on the lifecycle of where that customer is in their journey with you. For example, engaged subscribers who still haven’t made their first purchase with you, or those who stopped shopping with you. Not necessarily based on what they bought… UNLESS you have very distinct categories that you sell.
For example, at my previous day job, I excluded certain people from emails based on product categories or the lifestyle we were talking about. But that’s because I had multiple different customer avatars who had strong feelings about these different topics.
In my own business, if I were doing a sales campaign around one of my digital products, I would naturally exclude people who have already purchased it. Assuming I did have anything new to tell my existing students.
Recently I sent out an email about my Q4 Badassery course. It’s where I walk you through how to strategize a profitable holiday campaign. Because I made a bunch of updates recently that I wanted my existing students to know about, I didn’t exclude them from the email. It kinda served as an announcement for them and a sales opportunity for everyone else.
But, excluding someone from an email about a new pair of earrings because they have only purchased bracelets from you in the past, likely isn’t going to make much of a difference. Unless they explicitly stated they didn’t want to receive emails about your earrings.
When it comes to segmenting, I really want to make sure that the juice is worth the squeeze as they say. That the time, energy, and effort will make a difference in the ROI. And in my experience, that’s not always the case, especially with smaller email lists.
And remember, Flodesk is speaking only about engagement, not revenue. And they didn’t elaborate on the types of segments people were using. Just something to keep in mind.
Ultimately, when it comes to segmenting, I recommend you focus on creating mini-lifecycle specific campaigns on a quarterly basis, excluding unengaged subscribers from the majority of your sends, and focus on excluding people when the email message isn’t the right message for them vs. trying to create different emails for every different possible segment.
Remember, a lot of times email serves as a reminder to your audience that you exist and staying top of mind, so that when they are ready to buy, you’re the first business that they think of.
How Does Your Subject Line Strategy Affect Open Rates
Email open rates are one of the most talked about metrics in regard to your overall email performance, despite the fact that they’re less reliable since the iOS15 privacy updates.
There are endless conversations about what makes a great subject line, how to grab attention in the inbox, and lots of people – including me – even sell products to help you craft catchy subject lines.
And this focus makes sense. If someone doesn’t open your email, there’s no way you’ll be able to sell them what’s inside.
But I have the unpopular opinion that subject lines don’t matter as much as we’re led to believe. That’s it’s actually the relationship you have with your subscriber and their interest in hearing what you have to say that will outperform any subject line, no matter how good.
That said, Flodesk shared a lot of data around how common strategies impacted open rates, so let’s talk about them.
How Do Emojis Affect Email Open Rates
Adding emojis to your subject lines has long been considered a great way to make your emails stand out in the inbox, but when everyone is doing it, how much does that actually help?
Looking at my own inbox, there are definitely emojis scattered throughout, but I see them more in the emails I receive in my personal inbox vs. my work one.
But what’s interesting is the majority of those emojis either come at the end of the subject line, or as bookends.
Flodesk found that emojis anywhere but at the beginning of the subject line can cost you up to 31% in opens. But, if you lead with 2 emojis at the beginning of your subject line, you can see an 11% lift above average.
If you’re on my email list you may have noticed I sent an email with two emojis at the front of my subject line when announcing the updates to Q4 Badassery. Yes, I had just seen the Flodesk report.
I actually saw a lower open rate than usual, but I also sent that email on a Friday and in the afternoon vs. my usual Tuesday morning. So I don’t think it’s a fair comparison.
Am I gonna continue to test the emoji theory? Probably. When I tested it years ago at my day job it made basically zero difference, but different audience, different business, different time. We’ll see what happens.
How do Numbers in Subject Lines Affect Email Open Rates?
Numbers have also long been a trick to increase excitement for emails and a way to increase open rates. For example, calling out a top 5 or something similar.
Flodesk’s findings show the opposite with subject lines without numbers seeing a 14% higher open rate. They did find however that numbers with a currency symbol outperform plain numbers by 12% though.
How Many Words Should You Use in a Subject Line?
According to the Flodesk data the sweet spot for subject lines is 6-9 words, with a max of 12.
Once you get over 12 words or 90 characters, open rates decline by 6 and 4% respectively.
Interestingly they say the reason we should do this is because of short attention spans. Which is true to a degree. But let’s not forget that subject lines get cut off. If the important stuff isn’t at the beginning, you’ve wasted prime real estate.
What Words Trigger Spam?
The most interesting finding they reported is that not all “spam words” are guilty.
Flodesk tested 70+ phrases that are often blamed for triggering spam filters and only found 7 that actually hurt open rates.
- Work from home
- Make money
- Limited time
- Guaranteed
- Hurry
- Don’t miss out
- Act now
Each one lowered open rates by 5-20 points.
How spam filters actually work is often commonly misunderstood. I’ve had people tell me they had 1 spam complaint and then felt like all of their emails were going to spam. That’s not how that works. Plus, spam folders are more personalized than most realize. What goes to my spam folder is going to be different than what goes to your spam folder.
Now of course, it is possible to get all of your emails landing in spam. One of my first clients in eCommerce Badassery, before it was called eCommerce Badassery, had all of her emails going to spam.
But it wasn’t because of the words she used in her subject lines. It was her overall sending habits. Refer back to the unengaged subscribers and list cleaning we talked about earlier.
And it’s a lot more rare than you think.
That said, should you avoid using spammy words if possible? Yes, of course. If one slips through does that automatically mean your deliverability will tank and none of your emails will get delivered? No.
So while I think this is good information to use as a filter for your own subject line writing habits. Don’t stress over it too much. Focus on sending to engaged subscribers who have opted-in to receive email from you and you should be good to go.
When is the Best Day and Time to Send Emails?
One of the questions I get most often when it comes to email optimization is when is the best day and time to send emails.
There are 3 main findings Flodesk published based on their analysis.
- Tuesday is best for conversion with a 31% increase in click rates.
- Friday is best for visibility and awareness with a 10% lift in open rates.
- Early mornings between 5-8AM Eastern time see open rates up to 21% higher than the rest of the day.
This is the data you need to take with the biggest grain of salt. The main reason being, this is based only on email engagement, not conversion to actual sales. And, with a different type of subscriber. Many of the people who use Flodesk are emailing other business owners, not the end consumer who has a day job.
What I have found with many eCommerce businesses, is that while they might see higher open rates during earlier hours of the day, they often see higher conversion later in the evening. When you’re sending emails to the end consumer, sure, they’re happy to read your email in the afternoon because it gives them a reason to ignore their work for a sec, but are they actually going to whip out their credit card and buy? Not usually.
Of course, this is something you have to test in your own business, but historically I have found Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings around 6PM eastern time to be the best overall send time for product-based businesses.
You know what else has a really high impact though… how you have trained your customers.
I remember when I first migrated to Klaviyo at my previous day job I took advantage of their send-time optimization tool. You have to have X number of subscribers to have access to it, but it essentially takes one of your emails and sends it to small groups of people over a 24 hour period to determine the best time for you to send your emails. My results were exactly what I had already determined from tons of manual testing on our previous platforms.
So, the question became… Did I actually find the best send time in my manual testing, or did I train my audience when to expect an email from me?
In my own business I send my emails on Tuesday mornings because that’s when I publish my podcast episode. If I send additional emails on other days of the week, they generally get a bit less engagement. Is that because it’s a worse day for me to send an email, or is it because my audience doesn’t expect to get an email from me that day and so it kinda gets buried in the inbox? If I consistently send two emails per week, would those metrics improve?
What I don’t want you to do is go change up your email sending schedule based on data that isn’t 100% relevant to you as a product-based eCommerce business that should be prioritizing conversion vs. opens and clicks.
If you’re curious whether or not your sending schedule is the right one, start by testing some assumptions. For example, if you’re currently sending earlier in the day, try evenings. If you’re not already sending a Sunday evening email, add one to your rotation.
If you’re based in the US, or sell mostly to the US, I would schedule based on Eastern Time as 50% of everyone in the US lives in the Eastern Time zone. And 80% are in the eastern or central time zone.
You could of course use local time zone sending as a test, though you can’t schedule those as far in advance if you want the group that receives the email to be as accurate as possible since recipients are determined at scheduled time instead of send time. I found focusing on eastern time was good enough, but feel free to play around with it if you want.
Whatever you do, just be sure to test a little bit at a time, especially if you’ve been in business for awhile because you’ve likely trained your audience more than you realize.
Email Templates + Form Performance
Flodesk also shared some information on their best performing templates. While this is obviously platform specific, there’s still some insights I want to chat about.
Two of the findings they published I actually think are kinda dumb. Like, they got the wrong takeaway from it. So they mentioned their lead magnet delivery template saw a click rate 13.5x higher than the rest, and their plain-text post purchase saw an open rate 3.5x higher than others. But it’s not because of the template, it’s because of the message. Obviously, if I just signed up for a freebie I’m going to click the email to get my freebie. And if I just made a purchase, I’m gonna open my purchase confirmation emails.
They also mentioned how that post-purchase text-based email saw 138% increase in clicks. But like, there’s a pretty good chance it’s also a product delivery email.
While those “insights” made me irrationally angry, the truth is a text-based post-purchase email is something I recommend every eCommerce business does. It’s a great way to say thanks and create some human connection. Don’t expect it to do much in terms of clicks or conversion, but it will go a long way to create a deeper relationship with your customers.
They also talked about full-page forms as the top performers for email sign ups. Their average sign-up rates being 31-47%. Again, this data is slightly misleading and not as applicable to product-based eCommerce businesses. In most cases, these full-page forms are being used as landing pages for freebie sign-ups. They’re being directed to that page from somewhere else for the express purpose of signing up for a freebie.
That’s not the same thing as interrupting someone’s shopping experience with a form. Those typically see a 5%-ish signup rate.
Do I think there is a place for full-page sign up forms in eCommerce? Yes. That’s a conversation for another day, but the point is, I didn’t want you to see those results and think damn, maybe I need to switch to all full-page forms because that isn’t the correct lesson.
Your Next Steps
So, what are the biggest takeaways from this data? To me, it’s that you have to test things out to see what works best with your business and customers.
No report, no matter how big the data set, can tell you exactly what’s going to work for your specific audience. What it can do is give you a starting point for what to test, and challenge some assumptions.
If there’s one thing I want you to walk away with today, it’s to stop sweating the small stuff. Whether your emails have more images or text, whether you use an emoji or not, those aren’t the decisions that make or break your email marketing.
Sending consistently, sending to engaged subscribers, cleaning your list, and actually paying attention to what converts into revenue for YOUR business is what will have the biggest impact on your bottom line.
Listen to this Episode
Links Mentioned
Episodes Mentioned
- 19: eCommerce Benchmarks to Gauge Your Success (Includes email benchmarks)
