Email marketing benchmarks are a great way to see how your email campaigns compare to the competition.
By analyzing key performance metrics, you can pinpoint your email marketing strategy’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, it’s possible to optimize your email marketing campaigns.
Email marketing platforms usually let you see your conversion rates and engagement rates (e.g. opens, bounces, and clicks). But what makes a good open rate? How can you tell if your campaign performance holds up against industry standards?
To help you out, we’ve pulled together email marketing data from the latest industry benchmarks. Read on to learn more.
Email marketing benchmarks: Table of contents
- Methodology
- Email marketing benchmark by metric
- Email marketing benchmark by region
- Email marketing benchmark by industry
- Email marketing benchmark by day of the week
- Email marketing benchmark by deliverability
- Key takeaways from Brevo's 2026 email marketing benchmarks
- How to optimize your email marketing metrics
- Stack up against email marketing benchmarks
Methodology
Most of the data you will find in this article comes from Brevo's 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark, which is built on first-party data — real campaign performance from real businesses actively sending through Brevo.
The benchmark is built on aggregated, anonymized messaging data from over 175,000 active Brevo customers across 2025. We calculated unweighted averages and eliminated extreme outliers to give you a realistic, baseline view of typical performance. By analyzing active senders across all channels, this report reflects how modern marketing pressure is being distributed today.
A note on open rates:
We report two figures throughout this benchmark. The standard open rate excludes Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) bot-triggered opens; the MPP-inclusive rate includes them. Apple MPP, active since September 2021, pre-fetches emails and registers an "open" even if the recipient never views the message. Reporting both figures lets you compare consistently against other benchmarks and track your own performance over time.
Email marketing benchmark by metric
Email marketing benchmarks look at the industry average for the following email marketing metrics (all numbers based on Brevo's 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark):
- Average open rate: percentage of recipients who open your email campaign.
- Average click-through rate (CTR): percentage of recipients who click on a link in your campaign (based on the total number of recipients).
- Average click-to-open rate (CTOR): the percentage of recipients who both open your email and click on a link (based on the total number of email opens).
- Average unsubscribe rate: percentage of recipients who click the unsubscribe link.
- Average bounce rate: percentage of email that were not delivered successfully. Soft bounces are due to temporary reasons (e.g. full inbox, large attachments). Hard bounces are caused by permanent factors (e.g. invalid email addresses).
Here’s the average email open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate across industries.
Note: Automation/Transactional emails average open rate is 30.63% and click-through rate is 7.39%.
Source: Brevo 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark
Email marketing benchmark by region
Email marketing metrics differ slightly across regions. Here are a few findings to keep in mind.
Source: Brevo 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark
Want to dive deeper? Download the full 2026 benchmark and get insights into key industries and multichannel KPIs (from SMS and WhatsApp to push notifications).
Email marketing benchmark by industry
Email marketing metrics can also vary widely by industry. Here are the highest and lowest industries according to different industry benchmarks.
Top-performing industries
These are the top industries based on Brevo’s 2026 Marketing Benchmark:
- Government & Public Administration has the highest click-through rate (CTR) due to perceived importance and relevant content.
- Non-profits have the second highest open rate because subscribers opt in out of genuine passion for the cause, making them highly motivated to stay informed and engaged.
- Government & Public Administration as well as Nonprofit & NGO have the lowest unsubscribe rate because their audiences self-select based on real interest or necessity.
Here’s more campaign performance data from some of the highest-performing industries. More detailed statistics can be found in the full report.
Source: Brevo 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark
Email marketing benchmark by day of the week
Across most industries, Monday and Tuesday consistently show the highest open and click-through rates, while Saturday and Sunday see the lowest engagement. For a deeper analysis including optimal send hours by industry, see our dedicated guide: Best Time to Send an Email.
Email marketing benchmark by deliverability
Different factors can determine whether your campaigns end up in the inbox or the spam filter. Here are the main email deliverability statistics, relative to the total number of emails sent.
- Inbox placement rate: percentage of emails delivered to the inbox
- Spam placement rate: percentage of emails delivered to the spam folder
- Missing rate: percentage of emails that did not arrive in the inbox or spam folder
Email deliverability by mailbox provider
Mailbox providers can also have a big impact on email deliverability. The following deliverability data is sourced from Validity's 2025 Email Deliverability Benchmark, a study tracking inbox placement rates across major mailbox providers and regions.
Further reading: How to Prepare for Gmail and Yahoo! Sender Requirements
Email deliverability by region
Email deliverability rates also vary by region. There are also significant differences between countries within the same region. Here are a few insights to keep in mind.
- Europe has among the highest inbox placement rates in the world. This is due in part to the GDPR, which wrote several digital marketing best practices into the law.
- North America deliverability rates differ between countries. Canada has higher inbox placement rates than the US. However, this is starting to change with recent US privacy laws (e.g. CAN-SPAM, CCPA).
- APAC deliverability rates also vary greatly within the region. Australia and China have higher inbox placements compared to India.
If your inbox placement is below benchmark, the right email deliverability tools can help you identify what's holding you back.
Key takeaways from Brevo's 2026 email marketing benchmarks
Here are the most important findings from the Brevo 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark — first-party data from real campaigns sent through Brevo:
- The average open rate is 20.73% (33.87% including Apple MPP). Top 10% performers reach 44.02% — more than double the average, showing that list quality and segmentation matter enormously.
- The average CTR is 2.27% for marketing campaigns. Top 10% performers reach 5.22% — over twice the average. The gap is achieved primarily through better targeting and content relevance.
- Automation emails dramatically outperform standard marketing campaigns: 30.63% open rate and 7.39% CTR vs. the 20.73% / 2.27% averages. This is the clearest signal in the data — behavioral triggers convert.
- Europe leads for engagement with a 22.83% open rate and 2.29% CTR (36.90% / 2.29% including MPP). GDPR-driven consent practices result in higher-quality lists and more engaged subscribers.
- Government & Public Administration has the highest open rate (34.19%) and lowest unsubscribe rate (0.20%) of any industry — relevant, trusted content drives both engagement and retention.
- Retail and ecommerce sit below average (16.67% and 15.50% open rates respectively), reflecting the competitive inbox environment and the importance of personalization and automation to stand out.
- The average unsubscribe rate is 0.46%, with top performers as low as 0.05%. If your unsubscribe rate is rising, it's the earliest warning sign of inbox fatigue and list quality issues.
Want the full picture? Get the full Brevo 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark for complete industry breakdowns, omnichannel KPIs, and the Orchestration Playbook.
How to optimize your email marketing metrics
The benchmarks above tell you where you stand. This section tells you what to do about it.
How to improve your email open rate
Your open rate measures how many recipients actually open your email. According to Brevo's 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark, the overall average open rate is 20.73% (33.87% including Apple MPP). Top 10% performers reach 44.02% — more than double the average. If you're below average, here's how to close the gap.
1. Write subject lines that earn the click. Your subject line is the single biggest lever for open rates. Keep it under 50 characters so it displays fully on mobile. Use personalization — the recipient's first name, company, or recent action. Create curiosity or urgency, but avoid clickbait. A/B test at least two variants per campaign — even a 0.5% lift compounds over time.
2. Personalize the sender name. A significant share of subscribers decide whether to open an email based on who it's from. Test "Lea from Brevo" vs. "Brevo" alone — a human sender name often outperforms a brand name by itself.
3. Optimize your preview text Preview text is your second subject line. Don't let it default to "View this email in your browser." Write it as a continuation of your subject line — together they should tell a mini story that makes opening feel worthwhile.
4. Leverage automation. Brevo's 2026 data makes the case plainly: automation emails achieve a 30.63% open rate vs. 20.73% for standard campaigns. Behavioral triggers — welcome emails, post-purchase follow-ups, re-engagement sequences — reach subscribers at the right moment, which is why they consistently outperform batch-and-blast sends.
5. Segment your list Sending the right email to the right person is more powerful than any subject line tweak. Use engagement-based segmentation: active openers, clickers, and lapsed subscribers each deserve different messaging.
6. Clean your list regularly. Sending to disengaged subscribers hurts your sender reputation and dilutes your open rate metric. Remove contacts who haven't opened in 6–12 months, or run a re-engagement campaign first.
7. Test your send time. Use Brevo's Send Time Optimization to send at the individually optimal time for each contact.
How to improve your click-through rate (CTR)
Your CTR measures the percentage of recipients who click a link in your email. Brevo's 2026 benchmark puts the average at 2.27% for marketing campaigns — with top 10% performers reaching 5.22%. Automation and transactional emails average 7.39% CTR, showing the outsized impact of reaching subscribers at the right moment.
1. Make your CTA impossible to miss. Use a button, not just hyperlinked text. Place your primary CTA above the fold. Use benefit-driven copy: "Get my free report" converts better than "Click here."
2. Limit the number of links. Counter-intuitively, fewer links often means more clicks. When there's one clear action, readers take it. Multiple competing links cause choice paralysis.
3. Match the email content to the landing page. If your email promises a discount, the landing page should open with that offer — not your homepage. A mismatch between email promise and landing page reality kills post-click conversions.
4. Use behavioral triggers. The performance gap in Brevo's data says it all: automation emails achieve 7.39% CTR vs. 2.27% for standard campaigns. Abandoned cart emails, post-purchase follow-ups, and welcome series reach subscribers at peak intent — and the numbers reflect it.
5. Optimize for mobile. Nearly half of all emails are opened on mobile. Ensure CTA buttons are at least 44px tall, text is legible without zooming, and your layout renders correctly on small screens.
6. A/B test your content, not just your subject line. Test CTA wording, button color, image vs. no image, email length, and offer type. Each test compounds into measurable CTR improvement over time.
How to improve your click-to-open rate (CTOR)
The click-to-open rate (CTOR) measures clicks as a percentage of opens — making it a purer measure of content quality than CTR alone, since it filters out people who never saw your email. Industry averages typically range from 10% to 20%.
1. Align your subject line with your content. If openers feel misled by the subject line, they'll close without clicking. Your subject line, preview text, body copy, and CTA should all tell a coherent story.
2. Prioritize relevance over volume. A highly segmented email to 500 people will almost always achieve a higher CTOR than a generic blast to 50,000. Use Brevo's list segmentation to target by behavior, lifecycle stage, or interest.
3. Reduce friction to click. Every extra step between "open" and "click" loses readers. Place your primary CTA early, keep copy concise, and use visuals to guide the eye toward the action you want.
How to reduce your unsubscribe rate
An unsubscribe rate above 0.5% is a warning signal. The Brevo 2026 benchmark average is 0.46%, with top performers as low as 0.05%. Rising unsubscribes are your earliest indicator of inbox fatigue.
1. Use double opt-in. Double opt-in ensures only genuinely interested subscribers join your list, which lowers long-term unsubscribe rates and improves deliverability across the board.
2. Set frequency expectations at sign-up. Tell subscribers upfront how often you'll email them. Surprises — especially unwanted ones — drive unsubscribes.
3. Offer a preference center. Instead of forcing an all-or-nothing choice, let subscribers choose their email frequency or content topics. Many will choose fewer emails rather than unsubscribing entirely.
4. Watch your regional baseline. Brevo's 2026 data shows unsubscribe rates vary by region: Europe averages 0.51%, while LATAM averages just 0.23%. Set realistic expectations based on where your audience is primarily located.
5. Don't batch-and-blast. As email volume increases without better targeting, unsubscribe rates climb. If you're sending mass campaigns frequently, make sure each send is highly relevant to the segment receiving it.
How to improve your email deliverability and reduce bounce rates
Good deliverability is the foundation of everything else. If your emails don't reach the inbox, open rates and CTRs are irrelevant.
1. Authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Email authentication tells inbox providers you are who you say you are. Without it, your emails are far more likely to land in spam. Follow Brevo's authentication setup guide to ensure your domain is fully configured.
2. Remove hard bounces immediately. A hard bounce means the address is permanently invalid. Most platforms, including Brevo, handle this automatically — but always verify your suppression lists are up to date.
3. Monitor soft bounces over time. Soft bounces (full inbox, temporary server issues) are normal. If the same address soft bounces across three or more consecutive sends, treat it as a hard bounce and suppress it.
4. Warm up new sending domains. If you're sending from a new domain or IP, start with small volumes and ramp up gradually. Sudden high-volume sends from new senders trigger spam filters.
5. Maintain list hygiene. Use double opt-in, regularly suppress inactive contacts, and never purchase email lists. Purchased lists carry high bounce rates and damage deliverability for your entire account.
Stack up against email marketing benchmarks
It’s not always easy to get good email marketing rates. That’s why you need the right email marketing platform.
Brevo gives you the tools you need to make your email marketing strategy a success. Use it to send both transactional emails and marketing campaigns. Or go beyond email with Brevo’s multichannel features, from landing pages to social media.
