Email Open Rate Statistics for 2026: Industry Benchmarks, Automation vs Campaign Performance, Subject Line Impact, Mobile, Deliverability, and Apple MPP Effects

In 2026, email open rates are simultaneously the most widely tracked and most structurally distorted metric in digital marketing. The headline benchmark figures have shifted dramatically upward since 2021 not because email engagement improved at the same rate, but because Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), launched in September 2021, automatically preloads email images for Apple Mail users, triggering open tracking pixels even when the recipient never actually views the message. A study of over 80,000 email marketing accounts found that open rates jumped 18 percentage points rising above 40% within six months of MPP launch. Since Apple Mail accounts for approximately 46% of all email clients, this technical change has permanently skewed open rate data upward across all platforms, making cross-temporal and cross-platform comparisons unreliable without accounting for the MPP effect.

Against that backdrop, the raw benchmark data is as follows. Klaviyo’s 2025 benchmark study, drawn from analysis of hundreds of millions of email marketing metrics from retail brands across all industries, reports the average email campaign open rate at 37.93% across all industries, with top 10% performers hitting 54.78%. Automated email flows achieve a higher average open rate of 48.57%, with top performers reaching 65.74%. Constant Contact’s October 2024 benchmark report, covering 4.3 billion emails across 297,600 campaigns, puts the cross-industry average at 32.55%. Campaign Monitor’s 2024 benchmark reports 22.7% a figure measured before MPP inflation at scale. The divergence between these figures 22.7% versus 37.93% versus 42.35% illustrates why click-to-open rate, click-through rate, and conversion metrics have largely replaced open rates as the primary engagement indicators for sophisticated email marketing programs.

What the data agrees on universally is that email type, industry, and automation status drive the most significant open rate variation. Welcome emails achieve 50% to 83.63% open rates across platform benchmarks. Abandoned cart emails achieve 39% to 51% open rates. Transactional emails deliver 8x higher opens and clicks than standard marketing emails. B2B email averages 39.5% to 40% open rate, nearly double the B2C average of 20.94%. And education, government, nonprofits, and hobbies consistently outperform retail and ecommerce across all platforms’ industry breakdowns. The strategic insight from the data is clear: triggered, personalized, automated email consistently outperforms broadcast campaigns, because behavioral timing produces relevance that list size and promotional frequency cannot replicate.

This article compiles 75+ email open rate statistics organized across nine thematic sections, drawn from the latest figures published within the last two years by primary data providers including Klaviyo’s 2025 Benchmark Report (hundreds of millions of email metrics, all retail industries), Klaviyo’s 2024 Benchmark Report (325B+ emails), Omnisend’s 2025 Ecommerce Marketing Statistics Report, Campaign Monitor 2024, Constant Contact October 2024 (4.3B emails, 297,600 campaigns), Brevo 2025 Benchmark (11.9B emails, 19,000+ corporate customers), GetResponse, Litmus, Marigold, Mailchimp, ZeroBounce, and HubSpot. Every statistic is atomic, individually sourced, and linked directly to its original study or publication.

Scope and Methodology

Includes only publicly available email open rate statistics relevant for 2026.
Based on the latest figures published within the last two years.
Sources include primary research, first-party platform data, institutional studies, and industry benchmark reports.
Open rate data after September 2021 is affected by Apple MPP inflation; this is noted where directly relevant to interpretation.
Each statistic is listed separately with its original source and study context.
No estimates, forecasts, interpretations, or recommendations are included.

Key Email Open Rate Statistics for 2026

The average email campaign open rate across all industries is 37.93%, with top 10% performers reaching 54.78%, based on Klaviyo’s 2025 Benchmark Report analyzing hundreds of millions of email marketing metrics from retail brands published at Klaviyo Email Marketing Benchmarks 2025.
The average email automated flow open rate across all industries is 48.57%, with top 10% performers reaching 65.74%, compared to 37.93% for standard campaigns, based on Klaviyo’s 2025 Benchmark Report published at Klaviyo Email Marketing Benchmarks 2025.
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) artificially inflated open rates by approximately 18 percentage points across the industry after its September 2021 launch, because it automatically preloads email content and images for Apple Mail users even if they never open the message, based on a study of over 80,000 email marketing accounts cited in HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025.
The average email open rate across industries is 32.55% according to Constant Contact’s October 2024 benchmark covering 4.3 billion emails sent across 297,600 different campaigns by 1,061 different senders, published by Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Welcome emails achieve an average open rate of 54.3% in ecommerce globally, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of over 325 billion emails sent on its platform published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.
Abandoned cart emails achieve an average open rate of 50.50% to 51%, making them the second highest-performing automated email type by open rate, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of 325B+ emails published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.
The average B2B email open rate is approximately 39.5% to 40%, nearly double the B2C average of 20.94%, based on Klaviyo and Mailmondo benchmark data cited in HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025 and InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Transactional emails deliver 8x higher opens and clicks compared to regular marketing emails, based on Experian 2024 research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Personalized subject lines can increase open rates by 20% to 26%, based on Adobe Business and Campaign Monitor data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025 and Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Email is 40x more effective at acquiring new customers than social media, and 59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, based on McKinsey and Company 2024 and OptinMonster 2025 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Companies that dedicate more than 15% of their marketing budget to email marketing are 2x more likely to have open rates of 40% or more than average companies, based on Litmus 2025 research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
The average email click rate for campaigns is 1.29% across all industries, with top 10% performers achieving 4.74%, and automated flows achieve a 4.67% average click rate with top performers reaching 12.21%, based on Klaviyo’s 2025 Benchmark Report published at Klaviyo Email Marketing Benchmarks 2025.

Industry Open Rate Benchmarks

Education achieves an average open rate of 39.50%, one of the highest across all industry categories, based on Constant Contact’s October 2024 benchmark report covering 4.3 billion emails published by Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
Books and literature achieve 29.4%, sports 28.8%, food and drink 26.1%, and travel 28.2% all above the general ecommerce average demonstrating strong subject line appeal in passion and interest categories, based on Omnisend’s 2025 Ecommerce Marketing Statistics Report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Home and garden has the highest open rate of 41% in ecommerce, and toys and hobbies has the highest click rate of 1.8% in ecommerce, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of 325B+ emails published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.
Beauty and cosmetics saw the largest year-over-year improvement in open rates, growing from 20.5% to 23.8%, based on Omnisend’s 2025 Ecommerce Marketing Statistics Report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
The firearms and weapons industry achieved a 3.69% click rate, the highest of any tracked ecommerce category, followed by gifts at 1.83%, weddings at 1.62%, and toys and hobbies at 1.47%, based on Omnisend’s 2025 report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Emails that mention hobbies, government topics, or the arts have the highest average open rates of any content categories tracked, based on Mailchimp benchmark data cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
Healthcare achieves consistently high open rates of approximately 21% in ecommerce contexts, though the category shows significantly higher rates in professional B2B contexts, based on data published by Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
Pet and animal services achieves among the highest email open rates of any consumer category, reflecting the strong emotional connection and personalization potential in pet-owner communications, based on CodeCrew platform data published by CodeCrew Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Above 30% open rate is considered solid performance across most industries, with most well-managed email programs in B2C falling between 22% and 42% depending on list hygiene, segmentation depth, and MPP exposure, based on benchmark analysis published by HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025.

Automated Email and Flow Performance Statistics

Automated email flows generate up to 30x more revenue per recipient than one-off campaigns because they are timely, triggered by specific behaviors, and targeted to individual journey stages, based on Klaviyo’s analysis of its platform data cited in Klaviyo Email Marketing Benchmarks 2025.
Automated emails drive 37% of all email-generated sales while accounting for just 2% of total email volume, demonstrating extraordinary efficiency relative to broadcast campaigns, based on Omnisend’s 2025 Ecommerce Marketing Statistics Report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Automated emails generate 320% more revenue than non-automated emails, based on Campaign Monitor 2024 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Welcome email flows drive an average revenue per recipient of USD 2.65 within ecommerce, and the global average welcome email open rate in ecommerce is 54.3%, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of 325B+ emails published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.
Abandoned cart email flows drive the highest revenue per recipient of any automated flow at USD 3.65, compared to USD 0.11 for one-off email campaigns, a 33x difference, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of 325B+ emails published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.
Abandoned cart emails have a global conversion rate of 2.6%, and abandoned cart email flows achieve a 51% average open rate and a 23.33% click-through rate, based on Omnisend Q1 2024 and Analyzify data cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
Behavior-based emails drive 3x higher engagement than scheduled broadcast campaigns, based on Moosend research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Ecommerce brands sending automated campaigns including welcome, cart recovery, and post-purchase sequences see up to 320% more revenue per email compared to one-off newsletters, based on Omnisend’s 2025 data published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Email campaign click-to-conversion rates grew by 27.6% in 2024, indicating that consumers who do engage with emails are increasingly converting at higher rates even as passive open rates inflate due to Apple MPP, based on Omnisend’s 2025 report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Post-purchase automated flows achieve higher open rates than standard campaigns due to their relevance and timing, and Klaviyo’s data shows these flows are among the top three revenue-generating automated sequences alongside welcome and abandoned cart, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.

Subject Line and Personalization Statistics

Personalized subject lines increase email open rates by 20% to 26%, based on Adobe Business and Campaign Monitor data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025 and Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates compared to non-personalized emails, and using customers’ names in email copy is the most common personalization strategy deployed by marketers, based on HubSpot and Campaign Monitor 2024 data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
A/B testing subject lines can improve conversion rates by 37%, based on Campaign Monitor 2025 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Emails with strong calls to action see 371% more clicks, based on Campaign Monitor 2025 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Segmented email campaigns generate 760% more revenue than non-segmented campaigns, making audience segmentation the single largest open rate and revenue lever available to email marketers, based on Campaign Monitor data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025 and Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Marketers using advanced segmentation see 760% more revenue, and marketers who use advanced segmentation see open rates 14.37% higher than non-segmented campaigns, based on Mailchimp segmentation analysis cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
Words like “Free” with multiple exclamation marks or ALL CAPS subject lines lower sender reputation over time and can trigger spam filters, while conversational and helpful subject lines consistently outperform aggressive sales language, based on deliverability practice data published at HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025.
In B2B email marketing, longer subject lines that include specific data points, such as “What 2,400 CMOs are doing differently in 2025,” consistently outperform short generic lines, based on B2B email performance analysis published at HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025.
71% of decision-makers cited lack of relevancy as the primary reason they ignore cold emails, and 48% say they appreciate follow-ups when they are relevant and timely, based on Hunter.io research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.

Mobile Open Rate Statistics

65% of all email opens now happen on mobile devices, based on HubSpot 2025 data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
50% of email users worldwide delete emails that are not mobile-optimized, based on Campaign Monitor 2024 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
The click-through rate on mobile is 3x higher than on desktop emails, making mobile optimization directly tied to engagement performance, based on CodeCrew platform analysis published at CodeCrew Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
People check email in bed at 57%, on vacation at 79%, and while watching TV at 69%, reflecting how mobile has embedded email into nearly every non-working moment of consumers’ daily lives, based on behavior data cited in CodeCrew Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking as many as 20 times per day, based on ZeroBounce survey data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
88% of email users check their inbox multiple times a day, based on ZeroBounce 2024 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Apple Mail accounts for approximately 46% of all email clients globally, making Apple’s MPP the dominant privacy event affecting email open tracking data across the industry, based on email client market share data cited in HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025.
People generally open emails in the morning, with peak opens occurring around 10 AM and 11 AM local time, and 11 AM has been cited by multiple studies as the best send time for higher engagement across industries, based on Litmus and OptinMonster 2025 data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025 and Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.

Send Frequency and Timing Statistics

Sending emails 2 to 4 times per month yields the highest engagement rates, balancing subscriber attention with list fatigue avoidance, based on Campaign Monitor 2024 research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
86% of companies send marketing emails at least monthly, with 58% emailing their subscribers weekly or more often, based on frequency behavior data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Receiving too many emails is the most common reason consumers unsubscribe, cited consistently as the number one reason for list attrition across Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Litmus surveys, based on unsubscribe driver data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Nearly 21% to 22% of all email campaigns are opened within the first hour of sending, confirming that the first 60 minutes after deployment is the most critical engagement window for broadcast email campaigns, based on GetResponse 2023 and 2024 data cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
Tuesday is the best day to send emails for optimal open rates across most industry categories, and 8 AM was identified as the best send time in Mailchimp’s analysis, while Litmus confirms peak opens at 10 AM to 11 AM local time, based on send-time optimization data from multiple platforms cited in CodeCrew Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Email marketing automation software is used by 49% to 65% of businesses to manage drip campaigns, segment audiences, and trigger behavioral flows, based on business adoption data cited in CodeCrew Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
During Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024, both events experienced 33% increases in email volumes as order confirmations and shipping notifications surged, and 61.3% of consumers prefer receiving promotional messages via email while 75.1% prefer email for transactional communications during the holiday period, based on Sinch’s 2024 Black Friday analysis and Omnisend data cited in Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.

Deliverability and List Health Statistics

1 in 6 marketing emails never reaches the inbox, being filtered to spam or blocked outright, based on Litmus research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
81% of marketers say improving deliverability is a top priority, making inbox placement the foundational prerequisite for any open rate strategy, based on Litmus survey data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
Brevo’s 2025 Benchmark, based on analysis of 11.9 billion emails sent in 2024 by over 19,000 Brevo corporate customers, identifies email alone as showing diminishing returns in isolation, with successful companies adopting multichannel approaches where email works in concert with SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications, and mobile wallets, based on Brevo 2025 Benchmark data cited in Badsender Email Benchmark 2025.
List hygiene, defined as regular removal of inactive, bounced, and unengaged subscribers, directly improves deliverability and engagement metrics, and companies using email marketing believe email marketing increases customer retention by 15%, based on Gartner 2025 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Open rates and click rates can vary by up to 2% depending on the industry, but most well-maintained email programs fall into similar brackets within their category, making industry-specific comparison more valuable than cross-industry averages for operational benchmarking, based on Klaviyo platform analysis published at Klaviyo Email Marketing Benchmarks 2025.
Click-to-open rate has replaced raw open rate as the most trusted measure of email content quality among sophisticated marketers, because it reveals what percentage of people who opened an email actually engaged with the content, filtering out Apple MPP inflation, based on deliverability methodology data published at HubSpot Average Email Open Rate Benchmark 2025.
Education has a bounce rate of 9.32% in Constant Contact’s October 2024 benchmark, one of the highest bounce rates of any tracked industry, reflecting the challenge of maintaining clean email lists in high-turnover educational environments, based on Constant Contact October 2024 benchmark data cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.

ROI and Revenue Per Email Statistics

Email marketing generates USD 36 to USD 42 for every USD 1 spent, representing a 3,600% to 4,200% ROI, based on DMA and Litmus 2024 research cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025 and Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Omnisend’s U.S. merchants see an average ROI of USD 68 for every dollar spent on email marketing, approximately double the global industry average, based on Omnisend’s 2025 report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Email marketing accounts for 20% of ecommerce sales on average, based on Competitors.app data cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
33% of all ecommerce revenue is driven by email marketing, based on Omnisend 2025 data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
The average revenue per recipient for email campaigns across all industries is USD 0.11, while abandoned cart flows generate USD 3.65 per recipient a 33x difference demonstrating the ROI premium of behavioral targeting over broadcast, based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of 325B+ emails published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.
Consumers spend 128% more when shopping from emails than when using other discovery and purchase methods, based on Shopify research cited in Tabular Email Marketing Stats 2025.
52% of people have made a purchase directly from an email, and 59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, based on Marigold 2024 and OptinMonster 2025 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
Email marketing ranks as the most effective channel for 41% of marketing professionals, far outpacing social media and paid search, which tied for second place at just 16% each, based on Omnisend’s 2025 report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
The average email conversion rate across all industries for campaigns is 0.08%, with top 10% performers reaching 0.44% 5x the average based on Klaviyo’s 2024 analysis of 325B+ emails published at Klaviyo 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.

Consumer Behavior and Preferences Statistics

60% of people prefer email over social media for brand communication, based on HubSpot 2024 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
68% of consumers prefer email as their primary communication channel with brands, based on eMarketer data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
80% of marketers say email is their top channel for customer retention, based on Statista 2024 data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
More than 50% of consumers purchase from an email at least once per month, and 59% say marketing emails influence their buying decisions, based on Mailmondo and OptinMonster data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
36% of consumers cite lack of trust as a reason for ignoring brand outreach, and 43% cite impersonality as a reason for ignoring cold emails, based on Hunter.io data cited in InboxAlly Email Marketing Statistics 2025.
There are 4.5 billion email users worldwide as of 2025, with that number projected to reach 4.8 billion by 2027, and over 376 billion emails are sent and received every day, based on Statista 2025 data cited in Entrepreneurshq Email Marketing Statistics 2026.
The highest converting ecommerce industry by email in 2024 was games at 0.30%, followed by auto and vehicles at 0.23% and arts and entertainment at 0.18%, while firearms and weapons and sports both tied at 11% conversion rates, based on Omnisend’s 2025 Ecommerce Marketing Statistics Report published by Omnisend Email Marketing Statistics 2026.

References

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