Email Marketing Benchmarks

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What’s a good email open or click-through rate? How do your email marketing and automation campaigns stack up against others in your industry? These are questions we discuss in the Build Business Results (BBR) Network members.

Get Response, is a cost effective and highly scalable email automation tool and as experts in the field they have great global Email Marketing Benchmarks - their new report has you covered – with the tips, tactics and insights to improve your email campaigns’ performance. If you don't have and email automation system, reach out or sign up for this free trial.

See you on the action- field.
Raksha Sukhia, SMB Business Growth Strategist, Founder BBR Network.

About the new Email Marketing Benchmarks report

What’s a good email open or click-through rate? How do your email marketing and automation campaigns stack up against others in your industry?

Our new global Email Marketing Benchmarks report has you covered – with the tips, tactics and insights to improve your email campaigns’ performance.

Keep scrolling for loads of useful data on emails, marketing automation, and landing pages.

Can’t find what you need? Just send us an email! We love to know what's important to our fellow marketers.

What we did

We analyzed around 4 billion emails sent by our customers from July to December 2018, in 126 countries across 19 industries.

For the best insights, we only looked at active senders with at least 1,000 contacts.

We also used the unique values for average email opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and spam (abuse) complaints. That means we only count each action once – even if a subscriber clicked or opened a newsletter many times.

Average results by continent

Oceania

Open rate
24.19%
Click-through rate
3.51%
Click-to-open rate
14.53%
Unsubscribe rate
0.28%
Spam rate
0.01%

North America

Open rate
19.49%
Click-through rate
3.32%
Click-to-open rate
17.05%
Unsubscribe rate
0.19%
Spam rate
0.02%

Europe

Open rate
26.91%
Click-through rate
4.61%
Click-to-open rate
17.12%
Unsubscribe rate
0.27%
Spam rate
0.03%

Africa

Open rate
18.69%
Click-through rate
2.48%
Click-to-open rate
13.27%
Unsubscribe rate
0.16%
Spam rate
0.01%

Asia

Open rate
20.95%
Click-through rate
2.88%
Click-to-open rate
13.74%
Unsubscribe rate
0.13%
Spam rate
0.01%

South America

Open rate
24.88%
Click-through rate
3.50%
Click-to-open rate
14.06%
Unsubscribe rate
0.15%
Spam rate
0.02%

Continent	Open rate	Click-through rate	Click-to-open rate	Unsubscribe rate	Spam rate
All	22.86%	3.71%	16.23%	0.21%	0.02%

Average results by continent

Country	Open rate	Click-through rate	Click-to-open rate	Unsubscribe rate	Spam rate
Australia	25.08%	3.50%	13.94%	0.29%	0.01%
Belgium	23.72%	5.38%	22.68%	0.22%	0.01%
Brazil	27.51%	4.47%	16.24%	0.18%	0.02%
Canada	19.76%	3.46%	17.52%	0.19%	0.02%
Colombia	20.82%	2.46%	11.82%	0.11%	0.01%
France	39.41%	6.65%	16.88%	0.43%	0.02%
Germany	37.59%	6.54%	17.40%	0.33%	0.01%
Great Britain	18.84%	2.68%	14.24%	0.20%	0.01%
India	17.21%	2.39%	13.89%	0.14%	0.01%
Indonesia	23.90%	2.39%	9.99%	0.10%	0.01%
Israel	22.14%	3.58%	16.16%	0.22%	0.01%
Italy	32.66%	4.11%	12.59%	0.27%	0.01%
Malaysia	27.68%	3.74%	13.50%	0.17%	0.01%
Mexico	23.90%	2.71%	11.35%	0.13%	0.01%
Netherlands	42.65%	7.35%	17.24%	0.40%	0.01%
Peru	17.79%	1.32%	7.42%	0.10%	0.01%
Philippines	20.68%	2.16%	10.44%	0.18%	0.01%
Poland	27.11%	4.46%	16.45%	0.22%	0.02%
Romania	16.38%	3.00%	18.34%	0.14%	0.02%
Russia	24.77%	5.98%	24.15%	0.34%	0.08%
Singapore	14.22%	2.41%	16.98%	0.13%	0.01%
Spain	34.81%	4.64%	13.34%	0.25%	0.01%
Ukraine	28.39%	5.96%	21.00%	0.34%	0.05%
United States	18.89%	3.18%	16.85%	0.19%	0.02%
Vietnam	25.41%	3.24%	12.74%	0.09%	0.01%
All	22.86%	3.71%	16.23%	0.21%	0.02%

Average results by industry

Industry	Open rate	Click-through rate	Click-to-open rate	Unsubscribe rate	Spam rate
Agencies	19.13%	2.38%	12.42%	0.17%	0.02%
Arts & Entertainment	30.00%	4.90%	16.32%	0.22%	0.02%
Automotive	31.28%	4.40%	14.06%	0.32%	0.02%
Communications	27.57%	5.99%	21.72%	0.13%	0.01%
Education	31.59%	5.04%	15.96%	0.25%	0.03%
Financial Services	25.05%	4.54%	18.13%	0.20%	0.02%
Health & Beauty	23.88%	4.15%	17.36%	0.26%	0.02%
Health Care	26.24%	3.97%	15.15%	0.24%	0.03%
Internet Marketing	18.41%	2.94%	15.99%	0.22%	0.02%
Legal Services	26.65%	2.60%	9.76%	0.22%	0.01%
Non-profits	33.86%	3.89%	11.48%	0.18%	0.02%
Publishing	33.29%	8.86%	26.61%	0.18%	0.02%
Real Estate	24.27%	2.85%	11.75%	0.20%	0.03%
Restaurants & Food	37.40%	5.02%	13.43%	0.26%	0.02%
Retail	21.82%	3.31%	15.18%	0.20%	0.02%
Sports & Activities	28.41%	3.91%	13.76%	0.23%	0.01%
Technology & High Tech	25.67%	3.54%	13.81%	0.25%	0.02%
Travel	22.79%	2.63%	11.52%	0.18%	0.01%
All	22.86%	3.71%	16.23%	0.21%	0.02%

Make it relevant and interesting – and get results!
When comparing your average email open and click-through rates, look at other companies within your industry.
Things like legal regulations, competition, or simply the nature of the industry will affect average performance.
In terms of industry trends, restaurants and food, non-profits, and publishers are still on top.
This suggests brands that send content about things we like and care about, will always have the most engagement.
At the same time, legal services, agencies, and healthcare have seen a drop. This could be because of their campaigns – or the nature of the industry.
If you’re seeing the same, take a look at what’s changed over the past two quarters. It could be as simple as how often you send emails – or how much (or little) you personalize them.
Either way, it’s a good idea to compare your average stats with your industry. You might spot an opportunity to outperform your competitors.
Mateusz Ruzik Product Manager @GetResponse

Landing page conversion

Industry	Average conversion rate
Agencies	6.10%
Arts & Entertainment	6.10%
Automotive	6.60%
Communications	10.78%
Education	5.40%
Financial Services	4.48%
Health & Beauty	6.76%
Health Care	4.42%
Internet Marketing	5.76%
Legal Services	11.56%
Non-profits	3.58%
Publishing	11.28%
Real Estate	5.53%
Restaurants & Food	8.21%
Retail	4.74%
Sports & Activities	9.49%
Technology & High Tech	6.55%
Travel	3.94%
All	6.05%

Use of double opt-in by industry

Industry	double opt-in	single opt-in
Agencies	6.08%	93.92%
Arts & Entertainment	10.02%	89.98%
Automotive	2.70%	97.30%
Communications	3.30%	96.70%
Education	13.45%	86.55%
Financial Services	11.00%	89.00%
Health & Beauty	8.19%	91.81%
Health Care	10.98%	89.02%
Internet Marketing	7.44%	92.56%
Legal services	4.48%	95.52%
Non-profits	20.91%	79.09%
Publishing	17.80%	82.20%
Real Estate	4.75%	95.25%
Restaurants & Food	8.17%	91.83%
Retail	5.35%	94.65%
Sports and Activities	11.87%	88.13%
Technology & High Tech	7.09%	92.91%
Travel	6.05%	93.95%

Number of newsletters per week

# of newsletters	Open rate	Click-through rate	Click-to-open rate	% of messages
1	34.26%	4.88%	14.26%	49.01%
2	27.23%	3.53%	12.96%	19.50%
3	23.21%	2.92%	12.57%	9.32%
4	21.08%	2.74%	12.99%	5.50%
5	20.24%	3.02%	14.93%	3.93%
6	18.63%	2.30%	12.36%	3.01%
7	17.03%	2.16%	12.68%	3.04%
8	18.54%	2.40%	12.95%	1.58%
9	16.23%	2.04%	12.60%	1.09%
10	14.91%	2.12%	14.20%	0.91%
11	16.24%	3.16%	19.46%	0.66%
12	16.24%	2.19%	13.48%	0.66%
13	13.98%	2.37%	16.96%	0.51%
14	11.55%	1.92%	16.66%	0.87%
15	13.25%	2.01%	15.20%	0.41%

The fewer, the better
They say in sales, persistence pays off.
Is it also true for email marketing? Without knowing conversion rates, we say it’s email relevance that pays off. Why?
Your audience will reward you with higher open and click rates if you don't send more than five newsletters a week.
Bear in mind we’re only talking about percentages here. When analyzing your messages, you should also look at the total number of conversions.
It may turn out that sending one more message lowers your opens and increases unsubscribe rates. Or it could generate more conversions, outweighing the cost of getting new subscribers. This is especially true with high-value offerings, where each sale makes a big difference to revenue.
Przemysław Depka ProndzinskiSenior Account Manager @GetResponse

Number of autoresponders in a cycle

# of messages	% of cycles	Open rate	Click-through rate	Click-to-open rate	Unsubscribe rate	Spam rate
1	34.50%	96.05%	39.29%	40.91%	0.82%	0.08%
2	11.04%	79.47%	24.74%	31.13%	0.86%	0.06%
3	7.78%	71.95%	21.54%	29.94%	0.69%	0.06%
4	6.59%	57.32%	13.76%	24.00%	0.73%	0.05%
5	6.27%	60.96%	15.86%	26.02%	0.70%	0.05%
6	4.92%	61.05%	13.35%	21.87%	0.61%	0.04%
7	5.12%	47.10%	10.97%	23.29%	0.51%	0.04%
8	4.88%	56.04%	13.51%	24.11%	0.51%	0.04%
9	3.06%	45.33%	11.77%	25.96%	0.49%	0.06%
10	3.10%	50.74%	10.24%	20.18%	0.61%	0.05%
11	2.14%	44.11%	8.49%	19.26%	0.48%	0.05%
12	2.14%	43.49%	9.69%	22.27%	0.50%	0.04%
13	1.55%	38.03%	5.84%	15.35%	0.43%	0.02%
14	1.98%	42.96%	8.21%	19.12%	0.45%	0.03%
15	1.63%	50.43%	11.51%	22.83%	0.48%	0.04%
16	1.31%	39.20%	7.67%	19.56%	0.38%	0.03%
17	1.11%	45.47%	9.77%	21.49%	0.47%	0.04%
18	0.87%	36.17%	7.22%	19.97%	0.55%	0.03%

Email opens and clicks over time

Opens by hour	% of all message opens	Cumulative %	% of all message clicks	Cumulative %
0	18.72%	18.72%	28.14%	28.14%
1	9.11%	27.83%	8.70%	36.84%
2	6.41%	34.24%	6.02%	42.86%
3	4.95%	39.19%	4.69%	47.54%
4	3.90%	43.09%	3.67%	51.21%
5	3.20%	46.29%	3.03%	54.25%
6	2.68%	48.97%	2.58%	56.82%
7	2.35%	51.32%	2.52%	59.34%
8	2.06%	53.38%	2.13%	61.48%
9	1.85%	55.23%	1.83%	63.30%
10	1.69%	56.92%	1.70%	65.00%
11	1.56%	58.48%	1.58%	66.58%
12	1.46%	59.94%	1.45%	68.03%
13	1.37%	61.30%	1.35%	69.39%
14	1.28%	62.58%	1.28%	70.66%
15	1.18%	63.76%	1.15%	71.81%
16	1.08%	64.84%	1.06%	72.86%
17	1.01%	65.85%	1.02%	73.88%
18	0.96%	66.82%	0.95%	74.84%
19	0.95%	67.76%	0.94%	75.77%
20	0.95%	68.72%	0.94%	76.71%
21	0.98%	69.70%	0.99%	77.70%
22	1.01%	70.71%	1.01%	78.71%
23	0.97%	71.68%	0.93%	79.64%
24	0.89%	72.57%	0.77%	80.41%
25+	27.43%	100.00%	19.59%	100.00%

Average results by message type

Triggered

Open rate 46.53%
Click−through rate 10.98%
Click−to−open rate 23.60%
Unsubscribe rate 0.54%
Spam rate 0.05%

Autoresponder

Open rate 33.05%
Click−through rate 6.72%
Click−to−open rate 20.32%
Unsubscribe rate 0.36%
Spam rate 0.03%

Open rate 20.92%
Click−through rate 3.07%
Click−to−open rate 14.65%
Unsubscribe rate 0.19%
Spam rate 0.02%

RSS

Open rate 25.09%
Click−through rate 6.21%
Click−to−open rate 24.74%
Unsubscribe rate 0.10%
Spam rate 0.01%

Use of video

Open rate 29.60%
Click-through rate 6.62%
Unsubscribe rate 0.24%
Spam rate 0.03%

Open rate 36.99%
Click-through rate 8.13%
Unsubscribe rate 0.29%
Spam rate 0.02%

Open rate 9.79%
Click-through rate 2.41%
Unsubscribe rate 0.20%
Spam rate 0.02%

Other / None

Open rate 22.30%
Click-through rate 3.47%
Unsubscribe rate 0.21%
Spam rate 0.02%

Image-based vs. text-based emails

Has Graphic?	% of messages	Open rate	Click-through rate	Unsubscribe rate	Spam rate
YES	68.71%	25.16%	4.11%	0.22%	0.02%
NO	31.29%	17.80%	2.87%	0.19%	0.01%

Average results by list size

List size	Open rate	Click-through rate	Click-to-open rate	Unsubscribe rate	Spam rate
1,000 - 2,499	29.48%	5.32%	18.05%	0.33%	0.02%
2,500 - 4,999	24.44%	3.98%	16.30%	0.23%	0.02%
5,000 - 9,999	20.07%	3.14%	15.62%	0.17%	0.02%
10,000 - 24,999	17.25%	2.59%	15.02%	0.13%	0.01%
25,000 - 49,999	14.46%	1.80%	12.41%	0.11%	0.01%
50,000 - 99,999	13.85%	1.90%	13.72%	0.10%	0.01%
100,000+	12.91%	1.61%	12.49%	0.13%	0.01%
All	22.89%	3.78%	16.50%	0.22%	0.02%

Source: Michal Leszczynski, Getresponse

Email Marketing Benchmarks