Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026: Open, Click & Conversion Rates by Industry
Short answer: across industries, the average email open rate sits near 36% and the average click rate near 2.6% (Mailchimp benchmarks). A healthy click-to-open rate (CTOR) is generally 10–15%(GetResponse). B2B email tends to run slightly ahead of B2C on engagement rates. Below are the numbers by industry, what counts as “good,” and how to read them in an era of Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflating opens.
What is an email marketing benchmark?
An email marketing benchmark is a published reference rate (open, click, click-to-open, bounce, or unsubscribe) that lets you compare your campaign performance against a peer group, usually segmented by industry and audience type (B2B vs B2C). Benchmarks answer the question “is this number good?” They are directional, not absolute: list quality, sending cadence, and tracking method (especially privacy-driven open inflation) all shift the baseline. Use them to spot outliers and trends, not as a pass/fail grade.
Email benchmarks by industry (2026)
Mailchimp’s published email marketing benchmarks put the all-industry average at roughly 36% open and 2.6% click, with a wide spread by sector. Non-profit, education, and government sit at the top, e-commerce and retail toward the bottom:
| Industry | Open rate | Click rate | Unsub rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| All industries (average) | 35.6% | 2.6% | 0.22% |
| Government (highest opens) | 40.6% | 4.6% | n/a |
| Non-profit | 40.0% | 3.3% | 0.18% |
| Education & training | 35.6% | 3.0% | 0.18% |
| Business & finance | 31.4% | 2.8% | 0.15% |
| E-commerce / retail | 29.8% | 1.7% | 0.19% |
| Vitamin supplements (lowest opens) | 27.3% | 1.2% | n/a |
Source: Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry (accessed 2026). Government and vitamin-supplement extremes are from Mailchimp’s own FAQ on the same page. Figures are rounded and vary with list quality and sending practices.
B2B vs B2C email benchmarks
B2B email generally edges out B2C on engagement rates because lists are smaller and more targeted. Published figures vary by provider and methodology, so read these as directional:
| Metric | B2B | B2C |
|---|---|---|
| Average open rate | ~37% | ~34% |
| Average click rate | ~3.0% | ~2.0% |
| Average bounce rate | ~0.7% | ~0.6% |
| Average unsubscribe rate | ~0.2% | ~0.1% |
Sources: GetResponse Email Marketing Benchmarks and Mailchimp. Directional averages. The method and audience mix vary by provider.
How to read open rates in 2026
Open rate is the most-cited and least-reliable email metric in 2026. Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads tracking pixels, registering an “open” even when no human reads the message, which inflates reported opens across the board. The practical response is to lean on click-based signals, which a machine cannot fake on a recipient’s behalf:
- Weight CTR and CTOR over raw open rate when judging campaign health.
- Filter bot and prefetch opens. MarketAmp classifies opens by IP range to separate human engagement from automated pixel loads.
- Track conversions, not vanity metrics. The only rate that pays the bills is the one tied to revenue or a qualified action.
Benchmarks from real sends, not survey panels
The industry figures above come from third-party reports. The numbers we’re most excited to publish are our own: anonymized, aggregated benchmarks computed from real campaigns sent through MarketAmp. We’re building this out and will surface, by segment:
- • Open, click, and click-to-open rates by industry and list size
- • Engagement by device, email client, and operating system
- • Funnel: delivered → opened → clicked → converted
- • Time-to-open distributions and best-send-time signals
We will only ever publish privacy-safe, combined figures, never individual sender or recipient data.
Frequently asked questions
- 01What is a good email open rate in 2026?
- A good email open rate is roughly 30–45%, with the all-industry average near 36% per Mailchimp’s published benchmarks. Non-profit, education, and government sit at the high end (~40%); e-commerce and retail sit lower (~30%). Note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates reported opens, so treat open rate as a directional signal rather than a precise measure of attention.
- 02What is a good email click-through rate (CTR)?
- The all-industry average email click rate is about 2.6% per Mailchimp’s benchmarks, ranging from roughly 1.2% (vitamin supplements) to 4.6% (government). Click rate counts unique clicks against emails delivered. Because it depends on the open first, many teams pair it with click-to-open rate (CTOR) to separate subject-line performance from content performance.
- 03What is the difference between CTR and CTOR?
- Click-through rate (CTR) is clicks divided by emails delivered; click-to-open rate (CTOR) is clicks divided by emails opened. CTR measures whole-campaign effectiveness (subject line plus content); CTOR isolates how compelling the message and call-to-action were once someone opened. A healthy CTOR benchmark is generally 10–15% (GetResponse).
- 04How does Apple Mail Privacy Protection affect open rates?
- Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) pre-loads tracking pixels, so it registers an "open" whether or not the recipient actually read the message. Since iOS adoption is high, this inflates reported open rates by a meaningful margin. The practical fix is to weight click-based metrics (CTR, CTOR, conversions) more heavily and to filter known bot and prefetch opens, which MarketAmp does for you behind the scenes.
- 05Are B2B or B2C email benchmarks higher?
- B2B email generally shows slightly higher engagement rates than B2C, because B2B lists tend to be smaller, more targeted, and permission-based. Exact figures vary a lot by source and methodology (especially with privacy-driven open inflation), so treat the B2B-vs-B2C gap as directional rather than precise. B2C usually wins on total volume and revenue rather than per-send rates.
- 06How can I improve my email benchmarks?
- The highest-leverage moves are list hygiene (remove hard bounces and dormant contacts), tight segmentation, a recognizable from-name, and subject lines tested against a real audience. Reaching the inbox matters too: signed, authenticated sending on a trusted setup keeps you out of the spam folder. MarketAmp drafts campaigns in your brand voice, segments your audience, and sends every email so it reaches the inbox, so these fundamentals are handled by default.
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