{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "id": "email-40x-more-effective-than-facebook-and-twitter",
  "slug": "email-40x-more-effective-than-facebook-and-twitter",
  "url": "https://groundedkit.com/claims/email-40x-more-effective-than-facebook-and-twitter/",
  "api_url": "https://groundedkit.com/api/claims/email-40x-more-effective-than-facebook-and-twitter.json",
  "claim": "Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring customers than Facebook and Twitter",
  "commonly_cited_as": "\"Email is 40x more effective than social media\"",
  "verdict": "outdated",
  "verdict_definition": "Source found and quoted correctly, but old enough that the market has changed.",
  "confidence": "medium",
  "rating": {
    "value": 3,
    "best": 5,
    "worst": 1
  },
  "origin": {
    "publisher": "McKinsey & Company",
    "title": "Why marketers should keep sending you e-mails (Jan. 1, 2014)",
    "year": "2014"
  },
  "quote": "E-mail remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media—nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined (exhibit).",
  "method": "McKinsey article (adapted from a 2013 Forbes piece) comparing customer-acquisition shares by channel; the underlying dataset is not described in the text.",
  "drift": [
    "About customer acquisition only, not overall effectiveness",
    "Age: 2013 data, before paid social matured",
    "Organic social, not paid social ads"
  ],
  "interest": "McKinsey sells marketing consulting.",
  "safe_rephrasing": "A 2014 McKinsey article said email acquired nearly 40 times as many customers as Facebook and Twitter combined; it is pre-2014 data on organic social, so don't present it as current.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "McKinsey — Why marketers should keep sending you e-mails (2014)",
      "url": "https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/why-marketers-should-keep-sending-you-emails",
      "primary": true
    }
  ],
  "kind": "stat_check",
  "as_of": "Data from around 2013",
  "last_checked": "2026-10-16",
  "stale": false,
  "date_reviewed": "2026-10-16",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}