2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry: The Complete Reference [Updated October 2026]
Think your 31% open rate is bad? It depends on your industry — Religion hits 55.71%, Travel sits at 30.10%, and all of those numbers are inflated by 15-20 points anyway. This is the complete 2026 benchmark reference: 10 tables covering open rates, CTR, RPR, deliverability, regional data, SMS vs. email, AI impact, and send times — sourced from 183K+ brands and 3.6M campaigns. Bookmark it and stop Googling "average email open rate" every quarter.
Key benchmarks at a glance
| Metric | Figures |
|---|---|
| Email open rate by industry | Religion 55.71% and Hobbies 53.25% (highest); Travel 30.10% (lowest of the leaders). |
| Email click-through rate by industry | Legal 4.90% and Manufacturing 4.22% lead; Politics 0.83% and Beauty 0.95% trail. |
| Gmail primary-inbox placement rate | 53.7% — Share of marketing email reaching Gmail's Primary tab: 53.70%, down from 58.72% in Q1 2024. Distinct from inbox-vs-spam placement, which Validity 2026 puts at 89.8% for Gmail. |
| Automated flow vs. campaign revenue multiplier | Klaviyo 2026 (183,000+ brands): automated flows place orders at 13.2x the campaign rate (2.11% vs 0.16%) and earn nearly 18x the revenue per recipient. |
| Regional engagement (open rate) | Oceania leads at 46.34%; Asia-Pacific trails at 19.14%. |
Every benchmark table you need — by industry, flow type, region, and channel. The definitive reference for email marketers in 2026.
Part 11 of 11 in the 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks. Previous: SMS vs. Email ←
Key Findings
- Automated flows place orders at 13x the campaign rate and earn nearly 18x the revenue per recipient (Klaviyo 2026)
- Religion (55.71%) and Hobbies (53.25%) lead open rates; Travel (30.10%) trails
- Legal (4.90%) and Manufacturing (4.22%) dominate CTR; Politics (0.83%) and Beauty (0.95%) trail
- Gmail primary-tab placement dropped to 53.7% — nearly half of marketing emails miss the Primary tab, even though 89.8% clear spam filtering
- Oceania leads regional engagement (46.34% open rate); Asia-Pacific trails (19.14%)
This page collects the 2026 email marketing benchmarks in one place. All data is sourced from Klaviyo (183,000+ brands), MailerLite (3.6 million campaigns from 181,000+ accounts), Omnisend, GetResponse, Mailchimp, Litmus, and the Validity Deliverability Report. Flow figures come from Klaviyo's October 2026 abandoned cart flow benchmarks (110,000+ customers). We update it quarterly, so bookmark it.
Apple Mail Privacy Protection accounts for 49% of opens, and it inflates every open rate in these tables by an estimated 15-20 percentage points. Use the open rates to compare one industry with another rather than as absolute performance targets. Are Email Open Rates Dead in 2026? covers the inflation in detail.
This post is part 11 of 11 of our 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks series.
Table 1: Campaign Benchmarks by Industry
Source: MailerLite 2025-2026, 3.6M campaigns, 181,000+ accounts
| Industry | Open Rate | CTR | CTOR | Unsub Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Religion | 55.71% | 2.95% | — | 0.13% |
| Hobbies | 53.25% | 3.30% | 8.45% | 0.24% |
| Non-profit | 52.38% | 2.90% | 8.24% | 0.18% |
| Art Gallery & Museum | 50.43% | — | — | 0.33% |
| Artist | 49.23% | — | — | — |
| Government | 48.52% | 3.05% | 8.44% | — |
| Coaching | 48.07% | — | — | 0.30% |
| Health & Fitness | 47.81% | — | — | 0.30% |
| Creative Services/Agency | 47.69% | — | — | — |
| Sports | 47.69% | 1.27% | 3.35% | — |
| Consulting | 45.96% | — | — | — |
| Agriculture & Food | 45.51% | — | — | — |
| E-commerce | 44.78% | 1.07% | 4.01% | ~0.22% |
| Insurance | 44.40% | — | 3.19% | — |
| Higher Education | 43.98% | — | 9.15% | 0.10% |
| Medical/Dental/Healthcare | 43.75% | — | — | — |
| Business & Finance | 43.34% | — | — | — |
| Retail | 37.47% | 1.27% | — | — |
| Manufacturing | 37.36% | 4.22% | 14.82% | 0.30% |
| Marketing & Advertising | 37.23% | — | — | 0.15% |
| Telecommunications | 37.21% | — | — | 0.34% |
| Computers & Electronics | 35.29% | — | — | — |
| Publishing Company | 34.24% | — | 9.12% | — |
| Travel & Transportation | 30.10% | — | — | 0.13% |
Industries with passionate, self-selected audiences (Religion, Hobbies, Non-profit) lead on open rates. Industries with high-stakes, actionable content (Legal, Manufacturing) lead on CTR. Visual/browse-heavy industries (E-commerce, Beauty, Retail) have low CTR because subscribers consume content without clicking through.
Embed This Chart on Your Site
<a href="https://www.geysera.com/blog/email-marketing/2026-email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry-the-complete-reference-updated-march-2026"><img src="https://dliqujzbgyvclfdcjvdm.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/blog/1776994884079-auilmc.png" alt="Email open rates by industry 2026 — 24 industries ranked from 3.6M campaigns" width="800">
</a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://www.geysera.com/blog/email-marketing/2026-email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry-the-complete-reference-updated-march-2026">2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks</a> by Geysera. Data: MailerLite (3.6M campaigns).</small></p>
Table 2: Ecommerce Campaign Benchmarks by Sector
Source: Klaviyo 2026, 183,000+ brands: open and click rates from the benchmarks page, placed order rates from Klaviyo's benchmark guide
| Sector | Open Rate | Click Rate | Placed Order Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clothing & Accessories | 33.13% | 1.83% | 0.12% |
| Food & Beverage | 31.17% | 1.70% | 0.26% |
| Health & Beauty | 30.46% | 1.24% | 0.19% |
| Sporting Goods | 31.91% | 1.88% | 0.11% |
| Automotive | 29.44% | 1.83% | 0.11% |
| Mass Merchant | 28.69% | 1.77% | 0.14% |
| Overall Average | 31.02% | 1.69% | 0.16% |
| Top 10% | 45.12% | 3.38% | 0.36% |
The gap between an average campaign and a top-10% campaign is wider than the gap between sectors. Top-10% campaigns reach a 45.12% open rate and a 0.36% placed order rate, against 31.02% and 0.16% on average, while the six sectors above sit within four and a half points of each other on opens. Moving a program toward the top 10% is worth more than any difference between industries.
Table 3: Automated Flow Benchmarks by Flow Type
Source: Klaviyo 2026 Abandoned Cart Flow Benchmarks (110,000+ customers, published October 2, 2026)
| Flow Type | Avg Click Rate | Top 10% Click Rate | Avg RPR | Top 10% RPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abandoned Cart | 6.0% | 11.3% | $6.77 | $13.70 |
| Welcome Series | 6.5% | 13.3% | $5.75 | $13.27 |
| Browse Abandonment | 5.6% | 9.8% | $2.08 | $4.32 |
| Post-Purchase | 5.1% | 10.5% | $1.80 | $2.77 |
| Win-Back | 2.8% | 5.8% | $0.82 | $1.60 |
Back-in-stock flows sit outside Klaviyo's cart report. Omnisend's 2026 benchmarks put them at a 58.80% open rate, a 21.31% click rate, a 6.72% conversion rate and $9.14 per email, the highest conversion rate and revenue per email of any automation Omnisend tracks. Its 2026 ecommerce marketing report gives 6.46% for the same flow. Omnisend counts revenue per email sent and Klaviyo counts revenue per recipient, so the $9.14 doesn't line up against the table above.
Abandoned cart flows still earn the most per recipient of any flow, at $6.77 on average and $13.70 for the top 10% of brands. The welcome series sits close behind at $5.75 and $13.27, so a store that has built only the cart flow is missing the second-best earner on the list. Jennings notes a welcome series can triple revenue per thousand sends compared to routine campaigns. Omnisend's 2026 report puts birthday emails at a $744.37 average order value, more than four times its platform average.
Email Automation vs. Campaigns: Why Flows Generate 18x More Revenue covers implementation.
Subject lines for each step of the sequence are in 100+ abandoned cart email subject lines sorted by sequence position.
Embed This Chart on Your Site
<a href="https://www.geysera.com/blog/email-marketing/2026-email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry-the-complete-reference-updated-march-2026">
<img src="https://dliqujzbgyvclfdcjvdm.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/blog/1791823191600-og4249.png" alt="Revenue per recipient by email flow type 2026 — abandoned cart leads at $6.77 avg, $13.70 top 10%" width="800">
</a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://www.geysera.com/blog/email-marketing/2026-email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry-the-complete-reference-updated-march-2026">2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks</a> by Geysera. Data: Klaviyo 2026 (110,000+ customers).</small></p>
How the 2026 flow numbers compare with Klaviyo's 2024 report
Klaviyo's 2024 Benchmark Report put the abandoned cart flow at $3.65 average revenue per recipient and $28.89 for the top 10% of brands. The 2026 report puts the same flow at $6.77 and $13.70. The average nearly doubled while the top-10% figure fell by more than half, so the gap between an average cart flow and a top one shrank from about 8x to about 2x.
We think the sample changed. Two figures moving that far in opposite directions within two years is hard to explain through cart emails getting better or worse, and the 2026 report doesn't say how its sample of 110,000+ customers differs from the 2024 one.
Klaviyo's 2024 Benchmark Report, based on 2023 data, put all flows at $1.94 per recipient and campaigns at $0.11. The five flow rows in Table 3 now come from the 2026 report alone.
Table 4: Campaigns vs. Flows — Side-by-Side Comparison
Source: Klaviyo 2026, 183,000+ brands
| Metric | Campaigns | Automated Flows | Flow Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Rate | 31.02% | 32.21% | 1.04x |
| Top 10% Open Rate | 45.12% | 45.8% | 1.02x |
| Click Rate | 1.69% | 5.58% | 3.3x |
| Top 10% Click Rate | 3.38% | 10.48% | 3.1x |
| Placed Order Rate | 0.16% | 2.11% | 13.2x |
| Top 10% Placed Order Rate | 0.36% | 4.3% | 11.9x |
| Revenue per Recipient | — | — | nearly 18x (Klaviyo publishes the ratio, not the dollar figures) |
| Share of send volume | 94.7% | 5.3% | — |
| Share of email revenue | ~59% | ~41% | — |
Flows and campaigns open at almost the same rate, 32.21% against 31.02%. The difference appears at the click, where flows reach 3.3x the campaign rate, and widens at the order, where they reach 13.2x. Klaviyo puts flow revenue per recipient at nearly 18x the campaign figure, and flows bring in about 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends.
Embed This Chart on Your Site
<a href="https://www.geysera.com/blog/email-marketing/2026-email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry-the-complete-reference-updated-march-2026">
<img src="https://dliqujzbgyvclfdcjvdm.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/blog/1791849295401-p5kj9y.png" alt="Email campaigns vs automated flows 2026 — flows place orders at 13.2x the campaign rate" width="800">
</a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://www.geysera.com/blog/email-marketing/2026-email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry-the-complete-reference-updated-march-2026">2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks</a> by Geysera. Data: Klaviyo (183K+ brands).</small></p>
Table 5: Deliverability Benchmarks
Sources: Validity 2026, Mailchimp, MailerLite
| Metric | Benchmark | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email delivery rate | 98.16% | Server acceptance (not inbox) |
| Average inbox placement | 83-85% | 1 in 6 emails never reaches inbox |
| Gmail primary-tab placement | 53.70% | Down from 58.72% (Q1 2024); 89.8% clear spam |
| Corporate email placement | <51% | B2B severely affected |
| DMARC adoption (top 10M domains) | 18.2% | Shockingly low |
| DMARC enforcement | 7.6% | Even lower |
| Spam complaint max threshold | 0.3% | Google/Yahoo enforcement |
| Spam complaint target | <0.10% | Recommended |
Bounce Rate Benchmarks by Industry
| Industry | Soft Bounce | Hard Bounce |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Deals | 0.06% | 0.28% |
| Religion | 0.08% | 0.33% |
| E-commerce | 0.12% | 0.45% |
| Retail | 0.14% | 0.48% |
| Sports | 0.15% | 0.52% |
| Real Estate | 0.26% | 0.71% |
| Education | 0.23% | 0.80% |
| Telecom | 0.50% | 1.31% |
| Software/Web Apps | 0.49% | 1.37% |
Bounce Rate Targets
| Metric | Safe | Warning | Danger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard bounces | <0.3% | 0.3-0.5% | >0.5% |
| Soft bounces | <1% | 1-1.5% | >1.5% |
| Total | <1.5% | 1.5-2% | >2% |
Every other number in this reference depends on the email arriving. Gmail is getting harder to reach, with fewer than 54% of marketing emails landing in the primary inbox. Full authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is the minimum for getting there.
The full deliverability analysis is in Email Deliverability in 2026.
Table 6: Regional Benchmarks
Source: DotDigital, MailerLite 2025-2026
| Region | Open Rate | CTR | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oceania | 46.34% | 2.35% | Highest engagement globally |
| Europe | 41.20% | 2.10% | Strong GDPR-compliant engagement |
| North America | 39.80% | 1.95% | Largest market, moderate engagement |
| Latin America | 35.60% | 1.70% | Growing market |
| Asia-Pacific | 19.14% | 1.09% | Lowest — different email culture |
A 19% open rate is normal for an APAC audience. Send-time optimization by region can lift opens 12-15%. Compare a list with its own region's figures rather than with the global average.
Table 7: SMS vs. Email — Head-to-Head
Sources: Omnisend, Sakari, DotDigital
| Metric | SMS | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 90-98% | 28-39% | SMS |
| Click-through rate | 6-35% | 2-3.8% | SMS |
| Conversion rate | 21-30% | 12-15% | SMS |
| Response rate | 45% | ~6% | SMS |
| Time to read | 90% in 3 min | 90 min avg | SMS |
| ROI | $21-71/$1 | $36-42/$1 | Email (consistency) |
| Unsubscribe rate | 1.5-3.5% | 0.08-0.22% | Email (10-15x lower) |
| Frequency tolerance | 1/week | Daily OK |
SMS leads on engagement metrics, while email leads on sustainability and consistency of ROI. Using both channels together increases CLV by approximately 30%.
SMS vs. Email Marketing in 2026 has the full comparison.
Table 8: AI Impact on Email Metrics
Sources: HubSpot, Litmus, Knak, McKinsey
| AI Application | Measurable Impact |
|---|---|
| Subject line optimization | +22% open rates |
| A/B test optimization (AI) | +49% open rates |
| Send-time optimization | +15-23% open rates |
| 1:1 personalization at scale | +82% conversion rates |
| AI-powered campaigns overall | +41% revenue |
| CTR improvement | +13% |
| Multivariate test accuracy | +22% vs. traditional A/B |
| Inbox placement (AI spam detection) | 94.1% |
| Pre-send prediction accuracy | 81.4% |
| ROI per $1 on AI personalization | $8.70 |
AI Adoption Rates
| Metric | Rate |
|---|---|
| US marketers using gen AI | 70% |
| Using AI for email copy | 34% |
| AI image creation increase (YoY) | 340% |
| Teams needing 2+ weeks per email | 6% (down from 62%) |
AI improves almost every metric in the table, and personalization (+82% conversion) and send-time optimization (+15-23% opens) return the most. The gain shrinks as more senders use the same AI tools and their emails start to look alike.
The full analysis is in AI Email Marketing in 2026.
Table 9: Mobile vs. Desktop Engagement
Sources: Litmus, Genesys Growth
| Metric | Mobile | Desktop | Webmail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of opens | 47-60% | 10-29% | ~29% |
| Average read time | 9.7 sec | 13.2 sec | — |
| Click-through rate | 2.6% | 3.4% | — |
| Median reply time | 28 min | Longer | — |
| Conversion quality | Lower | Higher | — |
Device Preferences by Generation
| Generation | Smartphone Primary |
|---|---|
| Gen Z | 67% |
| Millennials | 59% |
| Gen X | ~45% |
| Boomers | ~30% |
Most first opens happen on mobile, and more of the conversions happen on desktop. 93% of marketing emails are mobile-optimized, and responsive design increases clicks by 15%. Design for reading on a phone, then check that the conversion path works on desktop.
Table 10: Best Send Times
Sources: MailerLite, Omnisend 2025-2026
By Day of Week
| Day | Open Rate | Click Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Friday | 49.72% | 8.09% |
| Monday | 49.44% | 7.20% |
| Tuesday | 49.30% | 7.84% |
| Wednesday | 48.90% | 7.60% |
| Thursday | 48.50% | 7.40% |
| Saturday | ~45% | ~5.80% |
| Sunday | ~44.80% | ~5.50% |
By Time of Day
| Time Window | Best For | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 8-11 AM | Opens | Morning inbox clearing |
| 10 AM | All-around reliability | Peak professional attention |
| 3-4 PM | Clicks | Afternoon decision-making |
| 8-9 PM | Conversions | Evening shopping behavior |
| Friday 6 PM | High-value campaigns | Weekend spending mindset |
Friday leads on both opens and clicks, but midweek differences (Tue-Thu) are small enough to be noise. The 8 PM time slot showed a surprise 59% open rate. AI send-time optimization (+15-23%) outperforms any fixed schedule.
How to Use These Benchmarks
Do
- Compare to your own historical data first — your trend matters more than industry averages
- Benchmark by email type — compare flows to flow benchmarks, campaigns to campaign benchmarks
- Track quarter-over-quarter movement — improving or declining matters more than absolute numbers
- Segment by audience — B2B vs. B2C, new vs. established, high-value vs. standard
- Use as starting baselines — then set targets based on your specific program
Don't
- Use open rates as absolute performance targets — MPP inflates them 15-20 points
- Compare campaign CTR to flow CTR — the two measure different sends (3.3x gap)
- Benchmark a DTC brand against SaaS averages — industry context moves every number
- Trust single-source data — cross-reference across Klaviyo, MailerLite, Omnisend, etc.
- Ignore the gap between reported and real — bot clicks, dark opens, and attribution inflation all widen it
Every rate in the tables above is measured against the people already on your list. The share of your traffic that never joins it is a separate measurement, and our guide to website visitor identification covers how that traffic gets counted and resolved.
Why Benchmarks Can Be Misleading
The Gap Between Reported and Real
- MPP inflation: Open rates sit 15-20 points higher than reality
- Bot clicks: Security scanners and AI crawlers inflate CTR — 3M+ bot clicks/day at peak
- Attribution inflation: Last-click gives email 100% credit for multi-touch journeys
- Survivorship bias: Benchmark reports use data from ESP customers — brands that invest in email, not the full market
- Average vs. distribution: The "average" hides wide variance. Top-10% senders reach about double the average on click, placed order and abandoned cart revenue rates
Use benchmarks to spot whether a program is badly underperforming, then set targets based on your own historical improvement trajectory.
Related: Are Email Open Rates Dead? | Email Attribution Is Broken
Methodology
Data Sources and Collection
| Source | Sample Size | Time Period |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | 183,000+ brands | 2025-2026 |
| Klaviyo (flow benchmarks) | 110,000+ customers | 2026 |
| MailerLite | 3.6M campaigns, 181,000+ accounts | 2025-2026 |
| Omnisend | Ecommerce merchants | 2024-2025 |
| GetResponse | Customer base | 2025 |
| Mailchimp | Enterprise and SMB | 2025 |
| Validity | Deliverability monitoring | 2025-2026 |
| DotDigital | Global campaigns | 2025-2026 |
All benchmark data is aggregated across each platform's customer base. Differences between sources reflect different customer compositions (e.g., Klaviyo skews ecommerce; MailerLite skews SMB/creator). Cross-referencing multiple sources provides a more complete picture than relying on any single report.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good email open rate by industry in 2026?
It varies enormously: Religion (55.71%), Hobbies (53.25%), and Non-profit (52.38%) lead, while Travel (30.10%), Publishing (34.24%), and Computers/Electronics (35.29%) trail. All numbers are inflated by Apple MPP — subtract 15-20 points for estimated real engagement.
What is the average email CTR by industry?
The all-industry average is 1.7-2.1% for campaigns. Legal (4.90%), Manufacturing (4.22%), and Media (4.10%) lead. E-commerce (1.07%), Beauty (0.95%), and Politics (0.83%) trail. Automated flows average 5.58% — always compare flows to flow benchmarks.
How do email benchmarks differ by region?
Oceania leads globally (46.34% open rate, 2.35% CTR). Europe (41.20%, 2.10%), North America (39.80%, 1.95%), and Latin America (35.60%, 1.70%) follow. Asia-Pacific trails (19.14%, 1.09%).
How much better are automated flows than campaigns?
Flows open at 1.04x the campaign rate, click at 3.3x and place orders at 13.2x, and Klaviyo puts their revenue per recipient at nearly 18x. Flows bring in about 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends (Klaviyo 2026, 183,000+ brands).
How often are these benchmarks updated?
This reference page is updated quarterly with fresh data from our primary sources. Last update: October 2026.
Related guides
- What is a good email open rate in 2026?
- Browse abandonment emails: the complete strategy guide
- Abandoned cart email: the ultimate recovery guide
Sources
- Klaviyo 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks (183,000+ brands)
- Klaviyo 2026 Abandoned Cart Flow Benchmarks (110,000+ customers)
- MailerLite 2025-2026 Benchmarks (3.6M campaigns, 181,000+ accounts)
- Omnisend 2025-2026 Ecommerce Marketing Report
- Omnisend 2026 ecommerce marketing report
- Omnisend Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026
- GetResponse Email Marketing Benchmarks
- Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks
- Validity 2026 Deliverability Benchmark Report
- DotDigital Global Benchmark Report 2026
- Litmus State of Email Reports 2025-2026
- HubSpot Email Marketing Statistics 2026
Published by Geysera | March 2026 | Updated quarterly
2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks — Full Series
- The Email Metrics Framework Nobody Uses (But Should)
- Open Rates Are Lying to You
- Click-Through Rates: The Metric That Actually Matters
- Revenue Per Recipient: The Only Email Metric Your CFO Cares About
- Email Deliverability: The Numbers Behind Whether Your Emails Actually Arrive
- Automation vs. Campaigns: The Data Behind the 17x Revenue Gap
- SMS vs. Email Marketing: What the Metrics Actually Say
- Email Attribution Is Broken
- AI Email Marketing in 2026
- The email metrics that actually matter in 2026
- 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry: The Complete Reference (you are here)
Co-Founder and CEO
Bob Thordarson is CEO and Co-Founder of Geysera, a serial entrepreneur with 25+ years and five co-founded ventures, including Cequint (acquired by TNS in 2010 for $112.5M) and Consumerware (acquired by ParkerVision). A graduate of the University of Washington and MIT Entrepreneurial Masters Program, based in Seattle, he serves on the boards of DRY Soda Co. and the Entrepreneurs' Organization Seattle chapter. He is an expert in retention marketing email systems and methodology for ecommerce and B2B brands — measured by incremental revenue, not vanity metrics.