Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026: Open and Click Rates
The median email open rate is 43.46% and click rate 2.09%, per MailerLite's 2026 report. Here are industry figures and what to measure instead of opens.
The median email open rate across industries was 43.46% and the median click rate 2.09% in MailerLite’s 2026 benchmark report, which covers more than 3.6 million campaigns sent between December 2024 and November 2025. Those figures are a useful starting point, but open rates are inflated by Apple’s privacy features, so click rate and revenue per email are now better measures of how your emails perform.
This guide collects the most recent benchmarks by industry, explains which numbers to trust, and lists the deliverability rules that affect every sender in 2026.
Overall email benchmarks for 2026
MailerLite’s report uses medians from 181,000 accounts across 46 industries and seven regions.
| Metric | Median (all industries) |
|---|---|
| Open rate | 43.46% |
| Click rate | 2.09% |
| Click-to-open rate | 6.81% |
| Unsubscribe rate | 0.22% |
Ecommerce platforms report lower opens because their senders mail larger lists more often. Omnisend’s 2026 ecommerce marketing report, based on 150,000 brands and 27 billion emails sent in 2025, put the average open rate at 30.7%, up from 26.6% in 2024.
Benchmarks by industry
| Industry | Open rate | Click rate | Click-to-open | Unsubscribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce | 32.67% | 1.07% | 4.01% | 0.18% |
| Retail | 37.47% | 1.27% | 4.51% | 0.22% |
| Software and web apps | 39.31% | 1.15% | 5.40% | 0.20% |
| Marketing and advertising | 37.23% | 1.30% | 6.09% | 0.15% |
| Health and fitness | 47.81% | 1.45% | 4.45% | 0.30% |
| Medical, dental and healthcare | 43.75% | 2.25% | 7.31% | 0.20% |
| Higher education | 43.98% | 2.15% | 9.15% | 0.10% |
| Non-profit | 52.38% | 2.90% | 8.24% | 0.19% |
Source: MailerLite 2026 benchmarks (2025 data). Ecommerce and retail sit at the bottom for clicks because promotional emails go to large lists several times a week. Non-profits and education sit at the top because their audiences opted in for content they want.
How each rate is calculated
Platforms do not always use the same formulas, so check yours before comparing.
- Open rate: unique opens divided by emails delivered.
- Click rate: unique clicks divided by emails delivered.
- Click-to-open rate: unique clicks divided by unique opens. It shows how well the content worked for people who opened.
- Unsubscribe rate: unsubscribes divided by emails delivered.
Some tools divide by emails sent rather than delivered, which lowers every rate slightly. Others report total rather than unique clicks, which raises it.
Why open rates are not reliable
Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads email content on Apple’s servers, which registers an open whether or not the person read the email. MailerLite notes that this marks emails sent to Apple Mail users as opened, so real open rates are lower than reported and click-to-open rates look higher than they are.
In practice this means:
- Do not judge subject line tests on opens alone. Use clicks or revenue as the deciding metric where your platform allows it.
- Do not define “engaged subscribers” by opens only. Add clicks, site visits or purchases in the last 90-180 days.
- Compare your open rate with your own history, not with other senders, since your share of Apple Mail users affects it.
Automated flows beat one-off campaigns
The clearest finding in 2025 data is the gap between automated emails (welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase) and scheduled campaigns.
- Klaviyo’s benchmarks show flows averaging a 5.58% click rate against 1.69% for campaigns. Flows make up 5.3% of sends but about 41% of email revenue.
- Omnisend found automations were 2% of email sends and 30% of email revenue in 2025, earning US$2.87 per send against US$0.18 for campaigns.
If you send only newsletters and promotions, setting up a welcome series and an abandoned cart flow is likely to do more for revenue than any subject line test. For ecommerce brands, pair this with our guide to a good ecommerce conversion rate so you can see where email traffic drops off on site.
Deliverability rules you must meet
Benchmarks assume your email reaches the inbox. Mailbox providers have tightened rules for bulk senders.
- Gmail: senders of about 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts need SPF, DKIM and a DMARC record, plus one-click unsubscribe processed within 48 hours. Spam complaint rates should stay below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%. Google increased enforcement from November 2025.
- Outlook: since 5 May 2025, Microsoft requires SPF, DKIM and DMARC for domains sending more than 5,000 emails a day to Outlook.com, Hotmail.com and Live.com addresses. Non-compliant mail can be sent to junk or rejected.
Even small senders should set up all three records now. Your email platform’s help pages will show the exact DNS entries.
How to improve your numbers
- Clean your list. Remove addresses that have not clicked or bought in six months, after one re-engagement attempt. Smaller, active lists get better inbox placement.
- Segment by behaviour. Send product launches to past buyers of that category, not everyone.
- One message, one action. Emails with a single clear call to action are easier to click.
- Build the core flows first. Welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment and post-purchase.
- Track revenue per recipient. It combines open, click and conversion into one number you can compare across sends.
Measure email alongside your other channels so you see its full contribution. If you need help with that, Squarebase’s team works on email and paid media together.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good email open rate in 2026?
MailerLite’s 2026 report gives a median of 43.46% across industries and 32.67% for ecommerce. Because Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, compare against your own history rather than other senders.
What is a good email click rate?
The cross-industry median is 2.09%. Ecommerce is lower at 1.07%, while non-profits reach about 2.9%. Automated flows typically get several times the click rate of campaigns.
Why is my open rate so high but clicks are low?
Apple Mail Privacy Protection registers opens automatically for Apple Mail users, so open rates can look strong even when few people read the email. Focus on click rate and revenue per recipient.
What is an acceptable unsubscribe rate?
The median is 0.22% per campaign in MailerLite’s data. Consistently higher rates suggest you are sending too often or to the wrong segment.
