Email Marketing Benchmarks46 statistics28 sources#Email Benchmarks#Email Metrics#email KPIs#Email Marketing
46 Email Marketing Benchmarking Statistics (2026)
Compare your email open rates, click-through rates, and engagement metrics against 2026 benchmarks. Industry-specific data from MailerLite, Klaviyo, and ActiveCampaign.
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Key Takeaways
- 43.46% average email open rate recorded across 3.6 million campaigns in 2025
- 43.46% was the average email open rate across all industries in 2025
- 2.09% average email click-through rate recorded across 3.6 million campaigns in 2025
- Email flows generate 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends
- 55.71% open rate: Religion leads all industries in email engagement in 2025
Overall Email Marketing Benchmarks
These cross-industry metrics provide your baseline for evaluating email campaign performance. Whether measuring open rates, click-through rates, or unsubscribe activity, these aggregate figures represent what millions of campaigns achieved in 2025-2026.
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43.46% average email open rate recorded across 3.6 million campaigns in 2025
MailerLite's 2025 benchmark study, covering over 3.6 million campaigns, found the median open rate rose from 42.35% in 2024 to 43.46% in 2025. Marketers should note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates these figures by pre-loading tracking pixels, so click-based metrics remain the more reliable engagement signal.
2
2.09% average email click rate across all industries in 2025
The cross-industry average click rate reached 2.09% in 2025, up slightly from 2.00% in 2024, based on MailerLite data from 3.6 million campaigns. Industry click rates ranged from 0.83% to 4.90%, making click rate the most reliable engagement metric in the post-Apple MPP era since it requires deliberate human action.
3
6.81% average click-to-open rate (CTOR) reported for 2025 campaigns
The median CTOR across all campaigns rose from 5.63% in 2024 to 6.81% in 2025, spanning a range of 2.96% to 14.82% across industries. CTOR is a particularly useful benchmark because it filters out privacy-inflated open counts, measuring how compelling email content is specifically for those who actually open it.
4
0.22% average unsubscribe rate in 2025, more than double the 2024 figure of 0.08%
The median unsubscribe rate jumped sharply in 2025, driven largely by Gmail's updated one-click unsubscribe feature that lets users opt out directly from the inbox without opening an email. While the rate more than doubled, it still means fewer than 3 out of every 1,000 recipients unsubscribed per send, keeping the metric well within acceptable range.
5
Email marketing delivers an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent
Litmus consistently cites a $36 return per dollar as the average email marketing ROI, a figure that outperforms every other major digital channel. For context, paid social typically returns $2 to $5 per dollar, making email's ROI advantage significant for businesses allocating limited marketing budgets.
Email Open Rates and Engagement
Open rates remain a key engagement signal, though Apple Mail Privacy Protection has inflated these numbers. Industry leaders use open rates alongside click-to-open rates (CTOR) to assess true content relevance and subject line effectiveness.
9
43.46% was the average email open rate across all industries in 2025
MailerLite's benchmark report, drawn from millions of campaigns across hundreds of thousands of accounts, recorded a cross-industry average open rate of 43.46% in 2025, up from 42.35% in 2024. Marketers should note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates these figures, so open rate alone is not a reliable standalone measure of engagement.
10
49.29% of all tracked email opens in January 2025 came from Apple Mail
According to Litmus data, Apple Mail accounted for nearly half of all email opens in January 2025, making it the most-used email client by a wide margin. Because Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads tracking pixels regardless of whether the recipient reads the email, this level of market share significantly distorts reported open rate benchmarks across the industry.
11
Open rates nearly doubled in some cases after Apple MPP launched, jumping from around 22% to 40%
When Apple's Mail Privacy Protection rolled out in September 2021, many senders saw their reported open rates surge almost overnight because Apple's proxy servers pre-load email content and fire tracking pixels before a recipient ever views the message. This structural inflation means that a rising open rate trend after 2021 reflects a privacy technology change, not necessarily improved content performance.
12
6.81% was the average click-to-open rate (CTOR) across all industries in 2025
MailerLite's 2025 benchmark data shows the median CTOR rose to 6.81%, up from 5.63% in 2024. Industry CTOR ranged from a low of 2.96% (politics) to a high of 14.82% (manufacturing), confirming that CTOR is a more discriminating signal of content relevance than open rate alone, since it measures action taken specifically by people who opened the email.
13
Automated emails achieved a 51.05% open rate in 2024, compared to 40.08% for newsletters
GetResponse benchmark data shows a consistent performance gap between triggered automated emails and standard newsletters. The 11-point gap reflects how behavioral relevance, such as a welcome sequence or cart abandonment trigger, earns more attention than broadcast sends. For benchmarking purposes, teams should compare automated and one-off campaigns separately rather than blending them into a single open rate figure.
Click-Through Rates and Content Performance
Click data reveals whether your content actually motivates action. Click-through rate (CTR) and click-to-open rate (CTOR) are now the most reliable indicators of content quality, segmentation accuracy, and call-to-action strength.
17
2.09% average email click-through rate recorded across 3.6 million campaigns in 2025
MailerLite's benchmark report covering over 3.6 million campaigns found the average email click rate (CTR) across all industries was 2.09% in 2025, a modest rise from 2.00% in 2024. Because CTR is not distorted by Apple Mail Privacy Protection the way open rates are, it has become the most reliable measure of genuine audience engagement.
18
6.81% average CTOR in 2025, up 21% from 5.63% the year before
The average click-to-open rate (CTOR) rose from 5.63% in 2024 to 6.81% in 2025 across MailerLite's full dataset, spanning 46 industries and 7 regions. CTOR isolates content quality from subject-line performance, making it the cleaner signal for diagnosing whether your messaging and calls to action are compelling once a subscriber opens.
19
CTR ranges from 0.77% to 4.36% across industries, with a cross-industry average of 2.62%
ActiveCampaign's benchmark analysis shows that a typical email CTR sits between 0.77% and 4.36% depending on industry, with the overall average landing at 2.62%. This wide range signals that using a single universal benchmark is misleading; teams should compare CTR against peers in their specific vertical.
20
Welcome emails average a 16.60% CTR and a 19.85% CTOR, far exceeding standard campaign benchmarks
GetResponse's benchmark data shows welcome emails achieve an average open rate of 83.63%, a CTR of 16.60%, and a CTOR of 19.85%. These figures are 6 to 8 times higher than typical promotional campaigns, confirming that the first email in a subscriber relationship is the highest-leverage content touchpoint in the entire funnel.
21
Segmented email campaigns generate 50% more click-throughs than non-segmented ones
Mailchimp's research across thousands of campaigns found that list segmentation produces 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs compared to unsegmented sends. The data points directly to segmentation as one of the highest-return levers for improving CTR without changing send volume or content format.
Automation and Email Flow Performance
Automated email flows dramatically outperform one-off campaigns on revenue efficiency and engagement. Behavioral triggers like abandoned cart emails, welcome sequences, and product recommendations drive 41 percent of total email revenue while representing only 5 percent of send volume.
25
Email flows generate 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends
According to Klaviyo's 2026 benchmark report based on 183,000+ brands, automated email flows produce a revenue per recipient (RPR) that is nearly 18 times higher than one-off campaigns, despite representing only a small fraction of total send volume. This is the clearest data point available showing why automation, not volume, is the real revenue engine in email marketing.
26
Automated emails deliver 3x higher click rates and 13x higher placed order rates than campaigns
Klaviyo's 2026 data shows flows achieve a 5.58% click rate versus just 1.69% for campaigns, and place orders at 13 times the rate. The gap comes down to behavioral relevance: automated flows reach subscribers at the exact moment of intent, not on a fixed broadcast schedule.
27
Nearly 48% of flow-driven email revenue comes from new buyers, versus just 16% from campaigns
Klaviyo's 2026 benchmarks reveal that automated flows, particularly welcome, browse abandonment, and cart recovery sequences, are the primary driver of first-purchase conversion. This makes building strong entry-point flows a direct lever for customer acquisition, not just retention.
28
Automated emails drove 37% of all email sales from just 2% of send volume in 2025
Omnisend's 2025 Ecommerce Marketing Report, which analyzed nearly 24 billion emails sent by its merchants, found that one in every three people who clicked on an automated message made a purchase, compared to one in 18 for scheduled campaigns. Abandoned cart, welcome, and browse abandonment emails alone accounted for 87% of all automated orders.
29
Abandoned cart emails achieve a 50.5% average open rate on Klaviyo, with top 10% of brands reaching 65.34%
Abandoned cart flows consistently deliver the highest revenue per recipient of any automated email type, averaging $3.65 RPR across all ecommerce industries. A three-email cart recovery sequence generates $24.9 million in revenue compared to just $3.8 million from a single-email send, a 6.5x revenue difference, according to Klaviyo's analysis of over 143,000 flows.
Industry-Specific Benchmarks and Performance Leaders
Email performance varies dramatically by industry. Legal services, nonprofit organizations, religious content, and technology lead in engagement, while certain consumer-facing sectors like beauty and restaurants face lower click and conversion rates.
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55.71% open rate: Religion leads all industries in email engagement in 2025
According to MailerLite's analysis of 3.6 million campaigns, religious organizations posted the highest open rate of any industry in 2025, followed by hobbies at 53.25% and nonprofits at 52.38%. These three sectors have held the top three positions for two consecutive years, reflecting the power of passion-driven, high-intent subscriber bases.
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4.90% click rate: Legal emails rank #1 across all industries for clicks in 2025
MailerLite's 2025 benchmark report found that the legal industry achieved the highest email click rate of any sector at 4.90%, more than double the cross-industry average of 2.09%. Manufacturing (4.22%) and media (4.10%) ranked second and third, all significantly outpacing most B2C verticals.
34
0.95% click rate: Beauty and personal care posts one of the lowest email click rates in 2025
MailerLite's 2025 data shows beauty and personal care achieved only a 0.95% click rate, ranking second-lowest across all industries. Restaurants and cafes were not far behind at 1.06%. Both sectors face high promotional email volume, intense inbox competition, and audiences that browse rather than click through.
35
14.82% CTOR: Manufacturing leads all sectors in click-to-open rate in 2025
Despite posting the lowest open rate among tracked sectors, manufacturing achieved the highest click-to-open rate at 14.82%, meaning nearly 1 in 7 openers clicked through. Legal (14.72%) and media (12.92%) followed. This highlights that manufacturing emails, though less likely to be opened, are highly action-oriented once a recipient engages.
36
30.10% open rate: Travel and transportation ranks last for open rates across all industries in 2025
MailerLite's 2025 benchmark data found travel and transportation had the lowest open rate of any tracked industry at 30.10%, followed by e-commerce (32.67%) and publishing (34.24%). Broad promotional sending and lower audience intent are the primary drivers of weaker engagement in these volume-heavy verticals.
Deliverability, List Health, and Compliance
Clean lists and strong sender reputation drive deliverability above 98 percent. Bounce rates, unsubscribe trends, and list decay metrics reveal whether your email program is maintaining audience quality and respecting Gmail's sender requirements.
40
23% of email lists decay annually, down from 28% in 2024
ZeroBounce analyzed more than 11 billion email addresses verified throughout 2025 and found that nearly one in four contacts becomes invalid or risky within a year. While the rate improved from its 2024 peak, list decay remains a persistent drag on deliverability and sender reputation for any program that skips regular hygiene.
41
60% of email senders actively clean their lists to protect deliverability
Mailgun's 2025 State of Email Deliverability report found that nearly 60% of senders clean their lists regularly, primarily to remove invalid addresses, reduce duplication, and stay compliant with privacy laws. The other 40% who skip this step are the ones most likely pushing bounce rates above acceptable thresholds.
42
Senders who keep bounce rates under 1.5% see 10 to 12% higher inbox placement
Validity's 2025 deliverability research found a direct relationship between bounce rate discipline and inbox placement rates. Strong suppression systems that remove invalid and risky addresses before sending are the primary driver of this performance gap between top and average senders.
43
The average email unsubscribe rate in 2025 rose to 0.22%, more than double the 0.08% recorded in 2024
MailerLite's 2025 benchmark report, covering data across 46 industries, attributed the sharp increase to Gmail's new Subscription Center feature, which rolled out in mid-2025 and made it significantly easier for recipients to opt out. A rate above 0.5% is considered a warning signal requiring immediate attention.
44
As of November 2025, Gmail began permanently rejecting emails from non-compliant bulk senders
Google confirmed that starting November 2025 it moved from educational warnings to active SMTP-level enforcement, issuing 4xx and 5xx rejection codes to senders who fail to meet its requirements. Any sender dispatching 5,000 or more emails per day to Gmail accounts must have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configured, offer one-click unsubscribe, and keep spam complaint rates below 0.3%.
Sources
All statistics on this page are sourced from the following 28 references.
