Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026: Open Rates, Click Rates, and What They Mean
By Vincencia Anyango · Founder & Lead Reviewer
Last updated: September 2026 · 8 min read
Your open rate says 45%. A colleague’s dashboard says 21%. Both of you might be right.
Email marketing benchmarks in 2026 are messy because every platform measures differently. This guide pulls the latest numbers from Litmus, HubSpot, Statista, and the major email platforms, then explains what they actually mean for your list.
Key takeaways
- Average open rates range from about 20% to 43%, depending on whose data you trust.
- Average click rates sit between 2% and 2.5% for regular campaigns.
- Apple Mail accounts for over 62% of tracked opens, which inflates open rates.
- Click rate is now the most reliable engagement metric.
- Automated emails get roughly three times more clicks than one-off campaigns.
Why email still matters in 2026
Email is not fading. Statista data shows global email users are expected to reach 4.89 billion by 2027.
Marketers are still investing too. About 75% of marketers plan to maintain or increase their email investment in 2026, according to HubSpot.
$36Average return for every $1 spent on email marketing, according to Litmus.
If you are still choosing a platform, start with our complete guide to email marketing tools.
Email marketing benchmarks 2026: the headline numbers
Here is how the biggest platforms report average open and click rates this year.
| Source | Avg. open rate | Avg. click rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | 43.46% | 2.09% | 3.6M campaigns, includes Apple MPP opens |
| ActiveCampaign | 39.26% | 6.21% | Campaigns sent in 2025 |
| Mailchimp | 35.63% | 2.6% | All industries average |
| Klaviyo | 31% | 1.69% | Ecommerce campaigns |
| Brevo | 20.73% | 2.27% | Excludes Apple MPP (33.87% with it) |
| HubSpot | N/A | 2.5% | Cross-industry click average |
The spread is huge. Open rates swing by more than 20 points between sources.
Click rates tell a calmer story. Most regular campaigns land between 2% and 2.5%.
Why open rate benchmarks disagree
The short answer is Apple. Specifically, Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP).
MPP preloads tracking pixels before a person reads the email. Litmus notes that opens from users opted into MPP are not considered reliable.
This matters because Apple dominates the inbox. In Litmus’s July 2026 data from over 1 billion opens, Apple held 62.26% of email client market share, followed by Gmail at 27.03% and Outlook at 5.83%.
Litmus also reports that MPP now affects roughly 55 to 60% of all email opens. So a large share of “opens” may be machines, not people.
Brevo shows the gap clearly. Its average open rate is 20.73% without MPP, but 33.87% when Apple opens are included.
Average email open rate in 2026
If your platform counts MPP opens, expect a higher number. MailerLite’s benchmark puts the global average open rate at 43.46%, based on 3.6 million campaigns from 181,000+ accounts.
If your platform filters out bot opens, expect about half that. WebFX puts the cross-industry average open rate at 19.21%.
Rule of thumb: Compare your open rate only against benchmarks from the same platform. Comparing Mailchimp numbers to Brevo numbers is apples to oranges.
Average email click rate in 2026
Click rate is harder to fake. A real person usually has to tap a link.
HubSpot reports the average email click-through rate across industries is 2.5%. MailerLite puts the global click-to-open rate (CTOR) at 6.81% in 2026, up from 5.63% in 2024.
Automation changes everything. Klaviyo reports a 5.58% average click rate for automated flows versus 1.69% for campaigns.
That is more than three times the clicks. Welcome series, abandoned cart emails, and follow-ups consistently beat one-off blasts.
Email benchmarks by industry
Your industry shapes your numbers. Here is a sample from ActiveCampaign’s customer data.
| Industry | Avg. open rate | Avg. click rate |
|---|---|---|
| Media / Publishing | 43.16% | 7.32% |
| Non-profit | 42.68% | 5.51% |
| Blogger / Author | 41.99% | 7.73% |
| Accounting / Financial | 37.74% | 4.40% |
| Software | 36.20% | 6.67% |
| E-Commerce / Retail | 35.66% | 5.07% |
Source: ActiveCampaign 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks
Publishers and bloggers lead on engagement. Readers signed up for the content itself, so they click more.
Ecommerce trails on open rates. Frequent promotional sends train people to skim.
What is a good email open rate and click rate?
Use this table as a quick health check.
| Metric | Average | Good | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open rate (with MPP) | 35% to 43% | Above 45% | Below 20% |
| Open rate (MPP filtered) | 19% to 21% | Above 25% | Below 15% |
| Click rate (campaigns) | 2% to 2.5% | Above 3% | Below 1% |
| Click-to-open rate | About 7% | Above 10% | Below 4% |
| Unsubscribe rate | 0.15% to 0.22% | Below 0.2% | Above 0.5% |
These ranges are guides, not rules. Your own trend over time matters more than any single benchmark.
The metrics that actually matter in 2026
Open rates still have a job. Use them to compare subject lines within your own list.
Even marketers are moving on. HubSpot found only about 8.4% of marketers say open rates and click-through rates are their most important measures of success.
Track these instead:
- Click rate: The clearest sign a real person cared.
- Click-to-open rate: Shows whether your content matched the subject line.
- Conversions: Sales, signups, or bookings that came from email.
- Unsubscribe and complaint rates: Early warnings for deliverability trouble.
- Revenue per subscriber: The number your business actually runs on.
How to beat email marketing benchmarks
Personalize beyond the first name
Litmus found brands using personalization reach an email ROI of 43:1, compared to 12:1 for brands that rarely or never do. Segment by interest, purchase history, or signup source.
A/B test regularly
Marketers who often A/B test their emails see an ROI of 42:1, versus 23:1 for those who never test. Test one thing at a time, starting with subject lines and calls to action.
Build automations first
Automated flows are where clicks live. Set up a welcome series before you worry about your next newsletter.
Design for Apple and Gmail
Together these two clients handle nearly 90% of opens. Test every email on an iPhone and in Gmail before you hit send.
Clean your list
Inactive subscribers drag down every metric. Remove or re-engage anyone who has not clicked in six months.
Which email tool helps you hit these numbers?
Your platform affects your stats and how they are reported. Here is where to start:
- Tight budget or beginner: Read our MailerLite review for strong automation at a low price.
- Creators and bloggers: Our Kit (ConvertKit) review covers tagging and creator-focused sequences.
- Advanced automation: The ActiveCampaign review explains why its click rates stand out.
- All-in-one familiarity: See our Mailchimp review before committing.
- Still torn? Compare two favorites in MailerLite vs Kit.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good email open rate in 2026?
It depends on your platform. If Apple MPP opens are counted, 35% to 45% is typical; if they are filtered out, 20% or higher is solid.What is the average email click rate in 2026?
Most campaign data lands between 2% and 2.5%. Automated emails often reach 5% or more.Why did my open rate suddenly jump?
Apple Mail Privacy Protection is the usual cause. It registers opens automatically, even when nobody reads the email.Should I stop tracking open rates?
No, but stop treating them as proof of engagement. Use them for subject line testing and focus on clicks and conversions.
Final thoughts
Email marketing benchmarks in 2026 are useful, but only in context. Compare like with like, and trust clicks over opens.
Beat your own numbers from last quarter. That is the benchmark that pays.
Sources
- Litmus Email Client Market Share
- Litmus State of Email Reports
- HubSpot Marketing Statistics
- Statista: Number of Email Users Worldwide
- ActiveCampaign Email Benchmarks
- Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks
- Brevo Email Marketing Benchmarks
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About Vincencia Anyango
IT graduate and freelance web specialist who has built WordPress sites and run email campaigns for clients since 2020. Every review on SoftwareStackPro is based on hands-on testing. More about how I review →
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