The most-requested historical table is Mailchimp’s email marketing benchmarks by industry, updated February 1, 2017. Average open rates ran from 15.22% (Daily Deals/E-Coupons) to 28.46% (Hobbies) and click rates from 1.25% (Restaurant) to 5.13% (Hobbies), counting only campaigns sent to at least 1,000 subscribers. Mailchimp’s October 2019 update put the all-industry average at 21.33% opens and 2.62% clicks. The 2022 numbers look very different: Constant Contact’s December 2022 average was 34.51% opens and 1.33% clicks. MailerLite’s current medians (December 2024 to November 2025) are 43.46% opens and 2.09% clicks.
Opens did not double because people started reading more email. Apple shipped Mail Privacy Protection with iOS 15 on September 20, 2021, and it loads email content in the background whether or not anyone reads the message. So compare clicks, unsubscribes and bounces across years, and treat any open rate measured after 2021 as an upper bound. This page gives every all-industry average from 2017 to 2026 in one table, the full historical tables exactly as published, the current 2025 and 2026 datasets with their sample and method, a table for choosing the right benchmark, and a worksheet for comparing your own numbers.
Email benchmarking data by year: every all-industry average, 2017 to 2026
Each row is the headline figure exactly as the publisher stated it, with the statistic and sample it describes. Rows above the 2021 line come from before Apple Mail Privacy Protection. Rows below it carry inflated opens.
| Data period | Publisher | Avg. open rate | Avg. click rate | Statistic and sample | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To Feb 1, 2017 | Mailchimp industry table | No all-industry row; industries 15.22% to 28.46% | 1.25% to 5.13% | Average unique rates, campaigns to 1,000+ subscribers | Historical, before MPP |
| To Oct 2019 | Mailchimp industry table | 21.33% | 2.62% | Average unique rates, campaigns to 1,000+ subscribers | Historical, before MPP |
| 2021 | GetResponse 2022 report | 19.66% | 2.02% | Almost 7 billion of 35 billion+ messages; senders with 1,000+ contacts; total (not unique) actions | Historical; MPP from late 2021 |
| 2021 | Campaign Monitor 2022 report | 21.5% | 2.3% | 100 billion+ emails across Marigold platforms | Historical; MPP from late 2021 |
| 2022 | GetResponse 2023 report | 26.80% | 1.89% | Almost 7 billion of nearly 30 billion messages; senders with 500+ contacts; total actions | Opens inflated by MPP |
| As of Dec 2022 | Constant Contact | 34.51% | 1.33% (clicks/delivered) | 200 million+ emails a month from customers who set a business type | Opens inflated by MPP |
| 2023 | GetResponse 2024 report | 39.64% | 3.25% | 4.4 billion+ messages; senders with 500+ contacts; total actions | Latest GetResponse edition |
| As of Dec 2023 | Mailchimp | 35.63% | 2.62% | Billions of emails; campaigns to 1,000+ subscribers | Latest Mailchimp public table |
| 2024 | MailerLite (prior-year figures) | 42.35% | 2% | Prior-year figures quoted in MailerLite’s 2025 benchmarks | Opens inflated by MPP |
| Dec 2024 to Nov 2025 | MailerLite | 43.46% | 2.09% | Median of 3.6 million+ campaigns from 181,000 accounts | Current |
| 2025 | Omnisend 2026 report | 30.7% (26.6% in 2024) | Not stated as a single figure | 27 billion emails from 150,000 ecommerce brands | Current, ecommerce only |
| 2026 report (period not stated) | Klaviyo | 31% campaigns; 32.2% flows | 1.69% campaigns; 5.58% flows | 183,000+ Klaviyo customers | Current, ecommerce only |
Two patterns stand out. First, the all-industry open rate climbs from about 20% before 2021 to between 35% and 43% after it, while click rates stay inside a 1.3% to 3.3% band. Second, the same year can produce very different averages because each publisher measures a different customer base with a different formula: Mailchimp reports average unique rates, MailerLite reports medians, and GetResponse counts every reopen and every click (its reports say it used “total values”).
Historical email marketing benchmarks by industry (2017 to 2022 data)
Historical data, labeled as such. The tables in this section are reproduced exactly as their publishers stated them, read from archived copies of the original pages. Use them for year-over-year reporting, for checking a figure someone quotes, or for comparing a pre-2021 program. Do not use them as targets for sends today.
Mailchimp email marketing benchmarks by industry, 2017 and 2019
The 2017 version of Mailchimp’s page (archived July 14, 2017) is marked “Updated: February 1, 2017”. Mailchimp says it “scanned hundreds of millions of emails delivered by our system (where campaign tracking was activated, and where users reported their industry)” and only tracked campaigns that went to at least 1,000 subscribers. The 2019 version (archived December 14, 2019) states the data “was last updated in October 2019”. Both report average unique open and click rates. The original URL now redirects to Mailchimp’s December 2023 table.
| Industry | 2017 open | 2017 click | 2017 unsub. | 2019 open | 2019 click | 2019 unsub. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and Food Services | 24.71% | 2.98% | 0.29% | 23.31% | 2.94% | 0.28% |
| Architecture and Construction | 24.78% | 2.90% | 0.36% | 22.51% | 2.51% | 0.32% |
| Arts and Artists | 27.23% | 2.85% | 0.29% | 26.27% | 2.95% | 0.28% |
| Beauty and Personal Care | 18.48% | 1.96% | 0.32% | 16.65% | 1.92% | 0.30% |
| Business and Finance | 20.97% | 2.73% | 0.23% | 21.56% | 2.72% | 0.20% |
| Computers and Electronics | 20.87% | 2.16% | 0.31% | 19.29% | 2.08% | 0.27% |
| Construction | 22.10% | 1.95% | 0.43% | 21.77% | 2.26% | 0.39% |
| Consulting | 19.54% | 2.26% | 0.29% | 20.13% | 2.49% | 0.27% |
| Creative Services/Agency | 22.41% | 2.61% | 0.38% | 21.39% | 2.66% | 0.35% |
| Daily Deals/E-Coupons | 15.22% | 2.39% | 0.10% | 15.06% | 2.23% | 0.10% |
| E-commerce | 16.75% | 2.32% | 0.23% | 15.68% | 2.01% | 0.27% |
| Education and Training | 22.00% | 2.63% | 0.20% | 23.42% | 2.90% | 0.21% |
| Entertainment and Events | 21.21% | 2.33% | 0.28% | 20.51% | 2.36% | 0.26% |
| Gambling | 18.75% | 3.35% | 0.17% | 21.62% | 3.30% | 0.15% |
| Games | 20.82% | 3.33% | 0.25% | 21.10% | 3.66% | 0.25% |
| Government | 26.33% | 3.62% | 0.13% | 28.77% | 3.99% | 0.13% |
| Health and Fitness | 21.93% | 2.57% | 0.39% | 21.48% | 2.69% | 0.40% |
| Hobbies | 28.46% | 5.13% | 0.23% | 27.74% | 5.01% | 0.23% |
| Home and Garden | 23.82% | 3.47% | 0.37% | 21.60% | 3.03% | 0.35% |
| Insurance | 21.56% | 2.11% | 0.26% | 21.36% | 2.13% | 0.25% |
| Legal | 22.49% | 2.99% | 0.23% | 22.00% | 2.81% | 0.22% |
| Manufacturing | 21.74% | 2.33% | 0.36% | 19.82% | 2.18% | 0.31% |
| Marketing and Advertising | 17.81% | 1.92% | 0.28% | 17.38% | 2.04% | 0.27% |
| Media and Publishing | 22.14% | 4.70% | 0.12% | 22.15% | 4.62% | 0.12% |
| Medical, Dental, and Healthcare | 22.43% | 2.42% | 0.30% | 21.72% | 2.49% | 0.28% |
| Mobile | 19.43% | 2.10% | 0.36% | 19.29% | 2.27% | 0.37% |
| Music and Musicians | 22.86% | 2.84% | 0.29% | 21.88% | 2.94% | 0.26% |
| Non-Profit | 24.98% | 2.76% | 0.19% | 25.17% | 2.79% | 0.20% |
| Other | 23.06% | 2.81% | 0.28% | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Pharmaceuticals | 20.02% | 2.51% | 0.22% | 18.58% | 2.25% | 0.17% |
| Photo and Video | 25.36% | 3.49% | 0.40% | 23.24% | 3.23% | 0.40% |
| Politics | 22.23% | 2.17% | 0.21% | 22.94% | 2.37% | 0.21% |
| Professional Services | 20.89% | 2.47% | 0.31% | 21.94% | 2.55% | 0.31% |
| Public Relations | 20.12% | 1.64% | 0.21% | 21.02% | 1.98% | 0.17% |
| Real Estate | 20.84% | 1.91% | 0.31% | 19.17% | 1.77% | 0.27% |
| Recruitment and Staffing | 20.73% | 2.18% | 0.32% | 21.14% | 2.53% | 0.30% |
| Religion | 26.46% | 3.11% | 0.13% | 27.62% | 3.16% | 0.15% |
| Restaurant | 21.17% | 1.25% | 0.26% | 19.77% | 1.34% | 0.28% |
| Restaurant and Venue | 21.71% | 1.33% | 0.42% | 20.39% | 1.40% | 0.39% |
| Retail | 20.96% | 2.50% | 0.28% | 18.39% | 2.25% | 0.25% |
| Social Networks and Online Communities | 21.71% | 3.33% | 0.23% | 21.06% | 3.32% | 0.22% |
| Software and Web App | 20.95% | 2.29% | 0.39% | 21.29% | 2.45% | 0.37% |
| Sports | 25.41% | 3.19% | 0.29% | 24.57% | 3.09% | 0.28% |
| Telecommunications | 21.57% | 2.43% | 0.27% | 20.92% | 2.27% | 0.23% |
| Travel and Transportation | 20.69% | 2.17% | 0.24% | 20.44% | 2.25% | 0.24% |
| Vitamin Supplements | 17.26% | 1.80% | 0.25% | 15.03% | 1.62% | 0.27% |
| All non-labeled accounts | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | 22.71% | 2.91% | 0.25% |
| Average totals | Not published | Not published | Not published | 21.33% | 2.62% | 0.26% |
Sources: Mailchimp, archived February 2017 and October 2019 tables. Mailchimp also published hard bounce, soft bounce and abuse complaint rates in both years; in 2019 the averages were 0.40% hard bounce and 0.58% soft bounce. The 2017 page added a company-size table: firms with 1 to 10 employees averaged 21.53% opens and 2.84% clicks, firms with 50+ averaged 22.83% and 2.75%.
A quick way to date a figure: if an article labeled “2022” or “2024” quotes 21.33% opens and 2.62% clicks as the current average, it is quoting this October 2019 table. The click rate alone will not tell you, because Mailchimp’s December 2023 all-user click rate is also 2.62%. The open rate will: 21.33% in 2019 against 35.63% in 2023.
Email marketing benchmarks by industry 2021: Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor’s 2022 benchmarks report covers “over 100 billion emails sent across our platforms in 2021” (Campaign Monitor is part of Marigold). It is the cleanest 2021 dataset because it straddles the Apple change: the report says it saw small upticks after the iOS 15 developer beta (June 7) and public beta (June 30), then “a huge uptick in open rates” after the public release on September 20.
| Industry | Open rate | Click-through rate | Click-to-open rate | Unsubscribe rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising & Marketing | 20.5% | 1.8% | 9.0% | 0.2% |
| Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Hunting | 27.3% | 3.4% | 12.5% | 0.3% |
| Consumer Packaged Goods | 20% | 1.9% | 11.1% | 0.1% |
| Education | 28.5% | 4.4% | 15.7% | 0.2% |
| Financial Services | 27.1% | 2.4% | 10.1% | 0.2% |
| Restaurant, Food & Beverage | 18.5% | 2.0% | 10.5% | 0.1% |
| Government & Politics | 19.4% | 2.8% | 14.3% | 0.1% |
| Healthcare Services | 23.7% | 3.0% | 13.4% | 0.3% |
| IT/Tech/Software | 22.7% | 2.0% | 9.8% | 0.2% |
| Logistics & Wholesale | 23.4% | 2.0% | 11.7% | 0.3% |
| Media, Entertainment, Publishing | 23.9% | 2.9% | 12.4% | 0.1% |
| Nonprofit | 26.6% | 2.7% | 10.2% | 0.2% |
| Other | 19.9% | 2.6% | 13.2% | 0.3% |
| Professional Services | 19.3% | 2.1% | 11.1% | 0.2% |
| Real Estate, Design, Construction | 21.7% | 3.6% | 17.2% | 0.2% |
| Retail | 17.1% | 0.7% | 5.8% | 0.1% |
| Travel, Hospitality, Leisure | 20.2% | 1.4% | 8.7% | 0.2% |
| Wellness & Fitness | 19.2% | 1.2% | 6.0% | 0.4% |
| Average totals | 21.5% (+3.5%) | 2.3% (-0.3%) | 10.5% (-3.6%) | 0.1% |
Source: Campaign Monitor, Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2022 (2021 data). Bracketed figures are Campaign Monitor’s own year-over-year changes. Notice the signature of Mail Privacy Protection already in 2021: average opens up 3.5 points while click-to-open fell 3.6 points, because opens rose without matching clicks.
Email marketing benchmarks 2022: Constant Contact, as of December 2022
Constant Contact’s “Average industry rates for email as of December 2022” (read via a May 10, 2023 archive copy; the live URL no longer shows the table) is built from “over 200 million emails sent from Constant Contact customers who have indicated their business type”, examined each month. Its definitions: open rate is emails opened against emails sent, click rate is clicks against emails delivered, and bounce rate compares emails sent with emails delivered.
| Business type | Open rate (total) | Click rate (clicks/delivered) | Bounce rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative & Business Support Services | 27.17% | 1.66% | 10.25% |
| Child Care Services | 42.60% | 1.61% | 9.20% |
| Consulting Services | 26.94% | 1.08% | 11.19% |
| Dining and Food Services | 38.03% | 0.68% | 9.16% |
| Education | 36.89% | 1.36% | 10.35% |
| Faith-Based Organizations | 43.36% | 2.28% | 8.77% |
| Family and Social Services | 36.91% | 1.38% | 9.17% |
| Financial Services | 28.12% | 1.03% | 8.98% |
| Health and Wellness | 35.32% | 0.77% | 10.16% |
| Home & Building Services | 37.88% | 1.08% | 12.65% |
| Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers | 36.96% | 1.79% | 5.13% |
| Legal Services | 32.14% | 1.29% | 16.76% |
| Manufacturing and Distribution | 27.17% | 1.13% | 13.86% |
| Nonprofit Membership Organizations | 39.40% | 1.70% | 11.56% |
| Nonprofit Services | 38.00% | 1.31% | 10.40% |
| Personal Care Services | 34.88% | 0.70% | 11.72% |
| Real Estate | 33.25% | 0.85% | 12.63% |
| Recreation, Sports & Entertainment | 39.39% | 0.96% | 9.61% |
| Repair and Maintenance | 28.62% | 0.77% | 5.83% |
| Retail | 33.11% | 0.88% | 8.00% |
| Technology Services | 19.01% | 2.30% | 12.46% |
| Transportation Services | 35.53% | 0.65% | 12.78% |
| Travel & Tourism | 39.99% | 0.88% | 7.21% |
| All industries, overall average | 34.51% | 1.33% | 10.28% |
Source: Constant Contact, as of December 2022 (archived). Category names are shortened; the original lists examples in brackets, such as “Consulting Services (management, marketing, advertising, blogging)”. Constant Contact’s bounce rates (5.13% to 16.76%) sit far above GetResponse’s 1% to 7% range, so never compare bounce rates across these two publishers. The Legal Services row (32.14% opens, 1.29% clicks, 16.76% bounces) is the one we use in our guide to email marketing for estate planning attorneys, where old client lists explain the high bounce rate.
GetResponse benchmarks by industry: 2021, 2022 and 2023 data
GetResponse publishes one report a year, each covering the previous calendar year, at the same URL. The 2022 report analyzed “almost 7 billion messages out of over 35 billion emails” sent in 2021, from senders with at least 1,000 contacts. The 2023 report analyzed almost 7 billion out of nearly 30 billion sent in 2022, and the 2024 report more than 4.4 billion sent in 2023; both lowered the threshold to 500 contacts. All three count total actions, so a subscriber who opens twice counts twice.
| Industry | Open 2021 | Open 2022 | Open 2023 | CTR 2021 | CTR 2022 | CTR 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agencies | 24.02% | 31.12% | 39.26% | 2.36% | 2.3% | 4.69% |
| Arts & Entertainment | 25.97% | 37.41% | 51.19% | 3.17% | 2.69% | 4.16% |
| Automotive | 23.71% | 33.81% | 39.69% | 2.35% | 2.54% | 5.76% |
| Communications | 19.56% | 48.8% | 65.14% | 2.42% | 5.77% | 8.66% |
| Education | 22.42% | 28.17% | 41.33% | 1.96% | 2.09% | 3.17% |
| Financial Services | 24.94% | 26.5% | 34.70% | 3.22% | 4.42% | 5.34% |
| Health & Beauty | 23.58% | 27.73% | 38.16% | 2.72% | 1.78% | 2.14% |
| Health Care | 26.88% | 30.85% | 43.95% | 3.01% | 1.72% | 3.08% |
| Internet Marketing | 14.97% | 21.9% | 32.62% | 1.66% | 1.68% | 3.18% |
| Legal services | 25.49% | 32.42% | 47.26% | 2.90% | 3.16% | 12.11% |
| Non-profits | 30.85% | 39.71% | 54.54% | 3.60% | 3.18% | 6.70% |
| Publishing | 22.17% | 37.51% | 39.89% | 4.29% | 5.43% | 5.76% |
| Real Estate | 28.37% | 37.23% | 42.71% | 2.42% | 2.17% | 3.51% |
| Restaurants & Food | 30.09% | 35.34% | 38.52% | 2.99% | 2.28% | 2.44% |
| Retail | 23.28% | 31.64% | 41.77% | 2.69% | 1.95% | 5.10% |
| Sports and Activities | 25.15% | 32.62% | 37.28% | 3.32% | 2.7% | 6.87% |
| Technology & High Tech | 19.87% | 33.92% | 44.72% | 2.51% | 3.99% | 7.40% |
| Travel | 22.48% | 29.09% | 32.83% | 1.61% | 2.24% | 2.52% |
| All (industry table) | 22.02% | 33.1% | 42.53% | 2.13% | 2.89% | 5.14% |
Sources: GetResponse Email Marketing Benchmarks, 2022, 2023 and 2024 reports (2021, 2022 and 2023 data); the first two read from archived copies. Two cautions. First, each report quotes a different “average” in its FAQ than the All row of its industry table: 19.66% against 22.02% for 2021, 26.80% against 33.1% for 2022, 39.64% against 42.53% for 2023. In the 2024 report, 39.64% matches the All row of the regional table, so the industry table likely covers only accounts that set an industry. Quote whichever you use with its label. Second, the 2021 column used a 1,000-contact floor and the later columns a 500-contact floor, so the jump is partly a sample change. GetResponse itself called Legal Services’ click-through jump from 3.2% to 12.1% “a leap we’ve not observed before”.
Why open rates jumped after September 2021: Apple Mail Privacy Protection
Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection on June 7, 2021, saying it “stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user” and helps users “prevent senders from knowing when they open an email” (Apple Newsroom). It reached iPhones with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, which Apple lists as released on 20 Sep 2021 in its security updates log. The mechanism is in Apple’s privacy disclosure: rather than downloading remote content only when you open a message, Protect Mail Activity “downloads remote content in the background by default”, regardless of whether you engage with the email. The open-tracking pixel is remote content, so the sending platform records an open. Apple’s iPhone user guide puts it plainly: the feature “prevents senders from seeing if you’ve opened the email message they sent you.”
Every benchmark publisher on this page now says so in its own report. Mailchimp: “The accuracy of email open rates may be impacted by Apple’s privacy changes and their Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) feature.” GetResponse’s 2024 report says average open rates rose 12.84 percentage points and that the growth “can partially be attributed to the growing popularity of Apple’s devices”. MailerLite says MPP “automatically marks emails sent to Apple Mail clients as opened. This means real open rates are lower than the metrics you see in your dashboard,” and that your real click-to-open rate is higher than reported.
What that means for comparisons:
- Never compare an open rate across the 2021 line. A 2019 newsletter at 22% and a 2025 newsletter at 44% may have the same real readership.
- Click rate is the cross-year metric, provided both figures use the same denominator (delivered or recipients) and both count unique clicks.
- Click-to-open rate is distorted too, in the opposite direction: inflated opens shrink it. Campaign Monitor’s 2021 data shows opens up 3.5 points and CTOR down 3.6.
- Unsubscribe and bounce rates are not affected by MPP, but they are affected by mailbox changes. MailerLite’s median unsubscribe rate went from 0.08% in 2024 to 0.22% in 2025, which MailerLite links to Gmail making unsubscribing easier.
Current email marketing benchmarks (2025 and 2026 data)
Five publishers have current or most-recent public data. Each measures a different customer base, so pick the one closest to your business instead of averaging them. The chart shows MailerLite’s median click rates for business-facing industries, the cleanest current cross-industry comparison.
MailerLite benchmarks by industry (December 2024 to November 2025)
MailerLite’s benchmarks cover “over 3.6 million campaigns sent from 181,000 approved accounts”, a full year from December 2024 to November 2025, and show “the median value for all benchmarks”. Medians are less distorted by a few huge senders than averages. Across all industries: 43.46% open, 2.09% click, 6.81% click-to-open and 0.22% unsubscribe. Selected industries from its 46:
| Industry | Open rate | Click rate | Click-to-open | Unsubscribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal | 42.58% | 4.9% | 14.72% | 0.09% |
| Manufacturing | 37.36% | 4.22% | 14.82% | 0.3% |
| Construction | 39.95% | 3.53% | 12.38% | 0.27% |
| Non-profit | 52.38% | 2.9% | 8.24% | 0.19% |
| Government | 48.52% | 3.05% | 8.44% | 0.22% |
| Consulting | 45.96% | 2.41% | 7.67% | 0.23% |
| Business and finance | 43.34% | 2.37% | 7.96% | 0.16% |
| Medical, dental, and healthcare | 43.75% | 2.25% | 7.31% | 0.2% |
| Higher education | 43.98% | 2.15% | 9.15% | 0.1% |
| Real estate | 40.37% | 1.72% | 6.72% | 0.16% |
| Coaching | 48.07% | 1.42% | 4.9% | 0.3% |
| Insurance | 44.4% | 1.36% | 3.19% | 0.27% |
| Marketing and advertising | 37.23% | 1.3% | 6.09% | 0.15% |
| Software and web app | 39.31% | 1.15% | 5.4% | 0.2% |
| Retail | 37.47% | 1.27% | 4.51% | 0.22% |
| e-commerce | 32.67% | 1.07% | 4.01% | 0.18% |
| All industries | 43.46% | 2.09% | 6.81% | 0.22% |
Source: MailerLite Email Marketing Benchmarks, medians, December 2024 to November 2025. Legal had the highest click rate (4.90%) and the lowest unsubscribe rate (0.09%) of all 46 industries. E-commerce had the second-lowest open rate (32.67%).
Klaviyo email marketing benchmarks 2026 (ecommerce)
Klaviyo’s 2026 benchmarks are “based on over 183,000 Klaviyo customers” and written for ecommerce marketers. The page does not state the data period. Flows are Klaviyo’s automations; campaigns are scheduled sends.
| Metric (2026) | Campaigns, average | Campaigns, top 10% | Flows, average | Flows, top 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 31% | 45.1% | 32.2% | 45.8% |
| Click rate | 1.69% | 3.38% | 5.58% | 10.48% |
| Share of email sends | 94.7% | 5.3% | ||
| Share of email revenue | Nearly 41% |
Per flow, Klaviyo’s 2026 Omnichannel Benchmark Report (October 2, 2026, more than 110,000 customers) gives email revenue per recipient (RPR) and click rate, average and top 10%:
| Email flow | RPR, average | RPR, top 10% | Click rate, average | Click rate, top 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abandoned cart | $6.77 | $13.70 | 6.0% | 11.3% |
| Welcome series | $5.75 | $13.27 | 6.5% | 13.3% |
| Browse abandonment | $2.08 | $4.32 | 5.6% | 9.8% |
| Post-purchase | $1.80 | $2.77 | 5.1% | 10.5% |
| Win-back | $0.82 | $1.60 | 2.8% | 5.8% |
Win-back runs at about half the click rate of the average flow, which is why our win-back campaign guide judges it on incremental profit against a holdout, not on clicks. One Klaviyo caution: its FAQ also lists “average ecommerce email conversion rates, or order rates, by industry” (for example 1.34% for campaigns and 2.17% for flows in home and garden) without defining the denominator. Those put flows at under twice campaigns, while the same page says flows have “13x higher placed order rates”. They cannot be the same metric, so do not mix them.
Omnisend 2026 Ecommerce Marketing Report (2025 data)
Omnisend’s report is based on 150,000 brands and 27 billion emails sent through Omnisend in 2025. Open rates “rose for the fifth consecutive year, climbing from 26.6% in 2024 to 30.7% in 2025”, while click-to-open and click-to-send rates declined and click-to-conversion rose from 5.9% to 9%. Automations were 2% of email sends but 30% of email revenue, earning $2.87 per send against $0.18 for campaigns. Abandoned cart and welcome messages drove 76% of automation orders, back-in-stock emails converted at 6.46%, the highest of any automation type, and birthday messages produced an average order value of $744.37.
Mailchimp benchmarks now: still the December 2023 table
Mailchimp has not published a newer public table. Its benchmarks page says the data “was last updated in December 2023” and comes from campaigns sent to at least 1,000 subscribers:
| Industry | Avg. open rate | Avg. click rate | Unsubscribe rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Profits | 40.04% | 3.27% | 0.18% |
| Education + Training | 35.64% | 3.02% | 0.18% |
| Business + Finance | 31.35% | 2.78% | 0.15% |
| Ecommerce | 29.81% | 1.74% | 0.19% |
| All Users | 35.63% | 2.62% | 0.22% |
The same page names Government as highest (40.55% opens, 4.58% CTR) and Vitamin Supplements as lowest (27.34% opens, 1.19% CTR). It also says “you should aim for somewhere around 34.23 percent” for opens and that the “optimal CTR” is 2.66%. Those figures do not match its own All Users row, so cite the table, not the prose.
GetResponse latest: the 2024 report on 2023 data
GetResponse’s live page is still titled “Updated for 2024”; there is no 2025 edition. Its FAQ figures for 2023: 39.64% open, 3.25% click-through, 8.62% click-to-open, 0.15% unsubscribe, spam complaints below 0.01% and a 2.33% bounce rate. By message type, newsletters averaged 40.08% opens and 3.84% clicks, triggered emails 45.38% and 5.02%, and welcome emails an 83.63% open rate.
Email automation benchmarks: flows versus campaigns
Every publisher that splits automated from scheduled email finds the same direction, measured in different units, so compare within one row only. If you are building the automations themselves, our triggered emails guide covers trigger setup in Klaviyo, Mailchimp and HubSpot.
| Source | Automated | Scheduled campaigns | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo 2026 | 5.58% | 1.69% | Click rate |
| Omnisend 2026 report | $2.87 | $0.18 | Revenue per send |
| Omnisend 2026 report | 30% of revenue from 2% of sends | 70% of revenue from 98% of sends | Share |
| GetResponse 2024 report | 5.02% (triggered) | 3.84% (newsletters) | Click-through rate |
Which email marketing benchmark to use
Match the publisher to your business model and list, then compare the metric that publisher measures cleanly. Using the wrong population is the most common benchmarking mistake: an accounting firm comparing itself with Klaviyo’s ecommerce averages will always look like an outlier.
| If you are… | Primary benchmark | Compare this metric | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| A B2B or professional-services firm sending a newsletter | MailerLite 2025, your industry row (consulting 2.41%, business and finance 2.37%) | Click rate, unsubscribe rate | Medians across 181,000 accounts, broken out by industry |
| A law firm | MailerLite legal (4.90% click); Constant Contact Legal Services Dec 2022 as history | Click rate; bounce only against Constant Contact’s own history | Two independent legal rows; GetResponse’s 12.11% legal CTR counts total clicks |
| A Shopify or DTC store | Klaviyo 2026 campaigns and flows; Omnisend 2026 per-send revenue | Click rate, revenue per recipient | Both samples are ecommerce brands |
| A nonprofit | MailerLite non-profit (2.90% click); Mailchimp Non-Profits (3.27%, Dec 2023) | Click rate | Both rank nonprofits above their all-industry click rate |
| An education or training provider | Mailchimp Education + Training (35.64% open, 3.02% click, Dec 2023); MailerLite higher education | Click rate | Mailchimp’s industry label fits this business type; no 2025 Mailchimp update exists |
| Reporting a 2017 to 2019 program | Mailchimp 2017 or 2019 table | Open and click, unique | Same publisher, before MPP |
| Measuring automations | Klaviyo flows (5.58% click, 10.48% top 10%) | Click rate per flow, RPR | Klaviyo is the only source here with per-flow averages and top-10% figures |
| Sending to fewer than 500 people | None directly | Your own 6-month trend | GetResponse excludes lists under 500 and Mailchimp campaigns under 1,000 |
For the full program view behind the B2B row, including the six newsletter and nurture programs and their KPIs, see our guide to B2B email marketing. For ecommerce flows and their build order, use the ecommerce email marketing flow map.
How to compare your numbers: a benchmark worksheet
Run this once a quarter from a campaign export of your email platform.
- Export 90 days of scheduled campaigns (not automations) with delivered, unique opens, unique clicks, unsubscribes and bounces per send.
- Apply the benchmark’s floor. Drop sends to fewer than 1,000 recipients if you compare with Mailchimp, or lists under 500 contacts for GetResponse.
- Calculate each rate per send with the benchmark’s denominator: Constant Contact divides clicks by delivered; MailerLite reports the share of recipients who clicked.
- Take the median of your sends when comparing with MailerLite, which reports medians, and the mean for Mailchimp, which reports averages.
- Pick one row from the table above and record its source and year next to your number.
- Score click, unsubscribe and spam rate first. Record the open rate but do not act on it alone.
| Metric | Formula | Worked example | Benchmark (MailerLite consulting, 2025) | Pass rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Click rate | Unique clicks / delivered | 63 / 2,400 = 2.63% | 2.41% | At or above the median on 2 of 3 sends |
| Click-to-open | Unique clicks / unique opens | 63 / 1,140 = 5.53% | 7.67% | Directional only; MPP inflates opens |
| Unsubscribe rate | Unsubscribes / delivered | 5 / 2,400 = 0.21% | 0.23% | At or below the median |
| Open rate | Unique opens / delivered | 1,140 / 2,400 = 47.5% | 45.96% | Record only; never the deciding metric |
| Spam complaint rate | Complaints in Google Postmaster Tools | Read from Postmaster Tools | Google: below 0.10%, never 0.30% or higher | Below 0.10% |
The worked example is illustrative: a consulting firm’s median newsletter, 2,400 delivered, 1,140 unique opens, 63 unique clicks and 5 unsubscribes. Its click rate beats the consulting median by 0.22 points and its unsubscribe rate is just under it, so the newsletter passes. The low click-to-open rate is not a fail on its own: a list with more Apple Mail readers than MailerLite’s average records more machine opens, which pulls CTOR down. The spam threshold comes from Google’s sender guidelines, which apply the stricter rules to senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts. I would treat a click rate below half your benchmark row for two quarters running as the signal to fix the list or the content, not the subject lines. If you want a second opinion on what your numbers say, you can book a consultation.
Frequently asked questions
What were the email marketing benchmarks by industry in 2017?
Mailchimp's table updated February 1, 2017 is the standard reference. Average open rates ranged from 15.22% for Daily Deals/E-Coupons to 28.46% for Hobbies, and click rates from 1.25% for Restaurant to 5.13% for Hobbies. Government averaged 26.33% opens, Legal 22.49% and Consulting 19.54%. Mailchimp counted only campaigns sent to at least 1,000 subscribers.
What were the email marketing benchmarks for 2022?
Constant Contact's December 2022 figures averaged 34.51% opens, 1.33% clicks (clicks divided by delivered) and a 10.28% bounce rate across all industries. GetResponse's 2023 report on 2022 data put the average at 26.80% opens and 1.89% clicks. Both are inflated by Apple Mail Privacy Protection, so compare clicks rather than opens.
What were email marketing benchmarks by industry in 2021?
Campaign Monitor's 2022 report, based on over 100 billion emails sent in 2021, averaged 21.5% opens, 2.3% click-through and 10.5% click-to-open. Education led at 28.5% opens and 4.4% clicks; Retail was lowest at 17.1% opens. GetResponse's 2021 data averaged 19.66% opens and 2.02% clicks across senders with at least 1,000 contacts.
What was the average open rate for email marketing in 2024 for B2B?
No major platform publishes a single B2B figure. MailerLite reported a 42.35% open rate and 2% click rate across all industries for 2024. Its current data, December 2024 to November 2025, shows consulting at 45.96% opens and 2.41% clicks and business and finance at 43.34% and 2.37%. Opens are inflated by Apple Mail Privacy Protection, so benchmark clicks.
What are Mailchimp's benchmarks for education and training open rate and click rate?
Mailchimp's current table, last updated December 2023, gives Education + Training a 35.64% average open rate, 3.02% click rate and 0.18% unsubscribe rate. Mailchimp has not published a 2025 update. Its October 2019 table showed Education and Training at 23.42% opens and 2.90% clicks, before Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflated opens.
What is a good email automation benchmark?
Klaviyo's 2026 data puts automated flows at a 5.58% average click rate against 1.69% for campaigns, with top-10% flows at 10.48%. Omnisend's 2025 data shows automations earned $2.87 per send against $0.18 for campaigns and produced 30% of email revenue from 2% of sends. Both samples are ecommerce brands.
What are the email deliverability benchmarks for B2B senders?
The hard thresholds come from mailbox providers, not surveys. Google's sender guidelines say to keep the spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid ever reaching 0.30%. Senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts must also support one-click unsubscribe. For bounces, GetResponse's 2023 all-sender average was 2.33%.
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