Indiemark Market Share Analysis for February 2026

Okay, bodacious is a dated word but I’m old and it’s a good fit for my point: Marketers should be striving to master the basics before chasing the latest and greatest email trends that will make them bold, audacious, bodacious. Yet the industry articles that show up in my inbox and feeds indicate otherwise, telling marketers they are behind the times if they don’t have or do or measure that latest whizbang thing.I’m starting to cringe every time I see an article about extremely sophisticated email marketing technology and trends when I know for a fact that most businesses haven’t even mastered the basics of email marketing yet. I see firsthand how these organizations lag behind in even the simplest best practices, and the last thing they need is distraction in the form of some sexy new trend some expert says they “should” be following.Summing up why email is one of the most underused, underrated channels is a post by digital strike called "Here is why email marketing ROI is so much better than any other tactic".But think about the stats of how people are using email marketing:One in eight major retailers still doesn't send welcome emails. Less than a third of these retailers send a welcome series. The use of triggered emails is low and slow-growing. About half of major B2C brands still use desktop-centric email design. Many brands still struggle with permission and email security and engagement.Let’s see, which best practices are missing here… Only welcome emails, automated emails, permission-based lists, mobile-friendly emails, and finally engagement at the inbox. Should any marketer struggling to master these basics be concerned with the hottest trends in email marketing? I don’t think so.Sure there are marketers who are investing in their email programs, using email analytics, segmenting their audiences, understanding their customer lifecycles and more, much more. But they are not in the majority, so we need to be really careful when we’re espousing the latest tr