Email marketing benchmarks by industry (2026)
Across millions of campaigns, a typical email sees roughly a 40% open rate and a 2–3% click rate, but it varies a lot by industry — non-profits run well above average, ecommerce well below. Treat published benchmarks as a rough compass, not a target: methodologies differ and Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens.
“Is 30% good?” is the most common question in email, and the honest answer is it depends on your industry, your list, and how the number was measured. Here is what the big providers actually publish, and how to read it.
By industry
The spread is bigger than the average.
Notice the pattern: causes people care about (non-profits) get opened; shops sending frequent promotions get opened less. Neither is “bad” — they are different jobs. Full tables are published by MailerLite, GetResponse and Mailchimp.
Which numbers actually matter
Opens are the weakest. Revenue is the strongest.
- Open rate — inflated by Apple MPP. Useful as a trend line only.
- Click rate — far more honest. Someone chose to act.
- Click-to-open — did the people who opened find it worth clicking?
- Unsubscribe + complaint rate — your early-warning system.
- Revenue per recipient — the number that pays the bills.
“Segment by behavior and value, not demographics… And measure on revenue per recipient, not open rate.”
The benchmark most people miss
How much of your revenue comes from automations?
Industry data shows automated emails driving a wildly outsized share of sales — Omnisend found 37% of email sales came from just 2% of sends. So the most useful benchmark isn't your open rate at all; it's what share of your email revenue comes from flows.
“The biggest red flag is when flow revenue is under 20% of total email revenue.”
How to use benchmarks properly
Compare yourself to yourself.
- Find your industry row, then treat it as a rough compass.
- Compare this month to your last three months — that's the real benchmark.
- Below average on opens? Check deliverability before you rewrite subject lines.
- Below average on clicks? That is usually a segmentation problem, not a copy problem.
Benchmark health check
Common questions
What is a good email open rate in 2026?
Roughly 40% is a common average across providers, but non-profits run above 50% and ecommerce nearer 33%. Because Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, treat the number as a trend rather than a score.
What is a good click rate?
Around 2–3% is typical, depending on the report and industry. Clicks are a far more honest measure than opens because someone actively chose to act.
Why do benchmark reports disagree with each other?
Because they measure different senders in different ways. MailerLite reports around a 42% open rate and roughly 2% clicks; GetResponse reports about 39.6% opens and 3.2% clicks. Compare within one report, not across them.
Are open rates still reliable?
Not on their own. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads images, which marks emails opened whether or not a human read them. Use opens directionally and lean on clicks and revenue.
What should I benchmark against instead?
Yourself. Your last three months is the most useful comparison you have. After that, the best single benchmark is what share of your email revenue comes from automated flows.
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