Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026: Open, Click, CTOR and Orders
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Email marketing ROI is 4,200% on average, but most B2B companies send generic newsletters instead of behavior-triggered sequences that actually convert.
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The average email campaign open rate is 31%, the average click rate is 1.69%, and the average placed order rate is 0.16%, based on Klaviyo’s analysis of over 183,000 brands. Automated flows outperform one-time campaigns on every citable metric: flow click rates average 5.58% versus 1.69% for campaigns, and flow placed order rates average 2.11% versus 0.16% for campaigns. Email flows generated nearly 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends in 2026.
Key takeaways before reading the full tables:
- Open rate: 31% all-industry average for campaigns; top 10% of senders reach 45.1%. Treat raw open rate as a directional signal rather than a hard KPI, given Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflation.
- Click rate: 2% to 5% is the commonly cited “good” range. Campaign average is 1.69%; flow average is 5.58%.
- CTOR: 10% to 25% for general marketing emails. Transactional messages often exceed 30%.
- Placed order rate: 0.16% for campaigns; 2.11% for automated flows.
- Revenue concentration: Flows punch far above their send volume, producing roughly 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends.
For a deeper look at how email fits into the broader email marketing strategy and which platforms drive these results, see the linked guides below.
Cite This Report
Use this section when you need a stable citation for 2026 email open rates, click rates, CTOR ranges, flow performance, or industry benchmarks.
Use this section if you are writing a tool comparison, lifecycle email guide, ecommerce report, or agency audit and need a stable reference.
Canonical URL: https://konabayev.com/blog/email-marketing-benchmarks-2026/
Machine-readable datasets:
HTML attribution snippet:
<a href="https://konabayev.com/blog/email-marketing-benchmarks-2026/">
Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026
</a> (sources: Klaviyo 183k-brand dataset, Salesforce Marketing Benchmarks)Plain-text citation:
Konabayev, T. (2026). Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026: Open, Click, CTOR and Conversion Rates. konabayev.com. Sources: Klaviyo (183,000+ brands), Salesforce Marketing Benchmarks.
Top Citable Claims
The most useful citation targets are campaign open rate, campaign click rate, flow click rate, placed order rate, CTOR range, and flow revenue share.
Each anchor below links to its section. Copy the claim, include the source, and link back here or to the primary source.
| Anchor | Claim | Primary Source |
|---|---|---|
| #open-rate-avg | Average campaign open rate: 31%; top 10%: 45.1% | klaviyo.com |
| #ctr-avg | Average campaign click rate: 1.69%; top 10%: 3.38% | klaviyo.com |
| #flow-ctr | Average flow click rate: 5.58%; top 10%: 10.48% | klaviyo.com |
| #order-rate-campaign | Average campaign placed order rate: 0.16%; top 10%: 0.36% | klaviyo.com |
| #order-rate-flow | Average flow placed order rate: 2.11%; top 10%: 4.3% | klaviyo.com |
| #flow-revenue-share | Flows generated ~41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends | klaviyo.com |
| #flow-rpr | Flow average revenue per recipient is nearly 18x higher than campaigns | klaviyo.com |
| #top-flow-rpr | Top 10% email flows reach RPR as high as $7.79 and click rates over 10% | klaviyo.com |
| #ctor-general | CTOR for general marketing emails: 10% to 25% | salesforce.com |
| #ctor-transactional | CTOR for transactional emails: often exceeds 30% | salesforce.com |
Email Benchmarks by Metric
Use this section to compare open rate, click rate, CTOR, placed order rate, and flow performance without mixing campaign types.
Open Rate {#open-rate-avg}
Open rate measures what share of delivered emails registered at least one open. Since Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-fetches email content to protect user privacy, raw open rates for senders with a significant Apple Mail audience are inflated. Use open rate for trend analysis within your own list, not for cross-list or cross-platform comparison.
| Metric | Average | Top 10% | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign open rate, all industries | 31% | 45.1% | klaviyo.com |
Data covers campaigns sent by 183,000+ brands on the Klaviyo platform.
What 31% means in practice: Use the 31% average and 45.1% top-performer threshold as comparison points, but treat them as directional because list quality, sender mix, and Apple Mail Privacy Protection exposure can differ by brand.
Click Rate (CTR) {#ctr-avg}
Click rate measures unique clicks divided by delivered emails. It is less affected by privacy policy changes than open rate and gives a more reliable read on message relevance and offer strength.
| Email type | Average CTR | Top 10% | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign, all industries | 1.69% | 3.38% | klaviyo.com |
| Automated flow, all industries | 5.58% | 10.48% | klaviyo.com |
| General marketing email (good range) | 2% to 5% | n/a | salesforce.com |
| Promotional email | 1% to 3% | n/a | salesforce.com |
| Transactional email | Typically above 5% | n/a | salesforce.com |
Klaviyo summarizes the flow advantage as 3x higher click rates, with flows averaging 5.58% versus 1.69% for campaigns. The practical reason is targeting: automated flows reach subscribers at high-intent moments, while broadcast campaigns go to broader segments.
For platform-specific click rate data and how sending infrastructure affects deliverability, see the Klaviyo vs Mailchimp comparison and best email marketing tools guide.
Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) {#ctor-general}
CTOR divides clicks by opens, isolating message quality from deliverability. Because it cancels out the open-rate numerator, it is a cleaner metric for body copy and CTA effectiveness, even in a privacy-inflated environment. Note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates the opens denominator, which mechanically suppresses CTOR for affected senders.
| Email type | CTOR range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| General marketing emails | 10% to 25% | salesforce.com |
| Promotional emails | 5% to 15% | salesforce.com |
| Content-rich or educational emails | 20% to 30% | salesforce.com |
| Transactional emails | Often exceeds 30% | salesforce.com |
Reading the table: Promotional emails sit at the low end (5% to 15%) because recipients open out of habit or curiosity but click only when the offer is directly relevant. Educational emails perform better on CTOR (20% to 30%) because readers who open are already engaged with the topic. Transactional messages beat all categories because they arrive when recipients are actively expecting action from your brand.
Placed Order Rate (Conversion) {#order-rate-campaign}
Placed order rate measures the share of delivered emails that resulted in a purchase. It is the most direct revenue signal available in e-commerce email programs and the cleanest substitute for click rate when evaluating revenue impact.
| Type | Average placed order rate | Top 10% | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email campaign | 0.16% | 0.36% | klaviyo.com |
| Automated flow | 2.11% | 4.3% | klaviyo.com |
A 13x gap in placed order rates between flows and campaigns is the single strongest argument for investing in automation setup before scaling broadcast volume. See the marketing automation statistics for 2026 for broader automation ROI context.
Revenue per Recipient {#revenue-per-recipient}
Klaviyo’s product benchmark page adds revenue-per-recipient context for automated flows. Because the charted RPR values vary by vertical, this page uses the published all-vertical summary claims for RPR comparisons.
| RPR / revenue claim | Benchmark | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Flow RPR compared with campaign RPR | Nearly 18x higher | klaviyo.com |
| Top 10% email flow RPR | As high as $7.79 | klaviyo.com |
| Top 10% email flow click rate | Over 10% | klaviyo.com |
| Send-volume and revenue split | Campaigns drive 94.7% of send volume; flows generate nearly 41% of revenue from 5.3% of sends | klaviyo.com |
Campaign vs Automated Flow Benchmarks
Automated email flows outperform one-time campaigns on click rate, placed order rate, and revenue concentration in the audited Klaviyo data.
Campaigns are one-time or scheduled sends to a segment. Flows (also called automations or sequences) are triggered by subscriber behavior or lifecycle events. The performance gap between the two is consistent and large. {#flow-revenue-share}
| Metric | Campaign average | Flow average | Source-locked comparison | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Click rate | 1.69% | 5.58% | Flows deliver 3x higher click rates | klaviyo.com |
| Placed order rate | 0.16% | 2.11% | Flows deliver 13x higher placed order rates | klaviyo.com |
| Email revenue concentration | n/a | Nearly 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends | Flow revenue share claim only, not a campaign revenue split | klaviyo.com |
| Revenue per recipient | n/a | Nearly 18x higher than campaigns | Prose-backed RPR comparison only | klaviyo.com |
| New-buyer revenue | 16% from campaigns | Nearly 48% from flows | Flow-driven revenue has a larger new-buyer share | klaviyo.com |
| Top 10% click rate | 3.38% | 10.48% | Top-performer comparison only | klaviyo.com |
| Top 10% placed order rate | 0.36% | 4.3% | Top-performer comparison only | klaviyo.com |
The revenue concentration finding is the most important number on this page: Email flows generated nearly 41% of email revenue from just 5.3% of sends in 2026. That ratio means a single well-built abandoned cart or post-purchase flow can outperform months of broadcast campaigns on revenue per send.
For practical setup guidance on flows in platforms like ActiveCampaign, see ActiveCampaign pricing and plans and the email marketing strategy guide.
If you want to model expected revenue from your current list size and send volume, the email ROI calculator applies these benchmark rates to your inputs.
Industry and Campaign Type Benchmarks
Industry benchmarks vary by platform, so use ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp rows as source-specific comparisons rather than universal market averages.
By Campaign Type
The audited sources separate benchmarks by campaign type rather than industry for CTR and CTOR. The clearest pattern is that behavioral targeting and message relevance drive performance more than industry vertical.
| Campaign type | CTR range | CTOR range | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotional | 1% to 3% | 5% to 15% | salesforce.com |
| General marketing | 2% to 5% | 10% to 25% | salesforce.com |
| Educational or content-rich | (see CTOR) | 20% to 30% | salesforce.com |
| Transactional | Often above 5% | Often above 30% | salesforce.com |
By Industry
ActiveCampaign’s 2026 benchmark article gives industry-level open and click rates from customer campaigns sent between 1/1/2025 and 12/10/2025. Use these as platform-specific benchmarks, not as a universal market average.
| Industry | Open rate | Click rate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall ActiveCampaign customers | 39.26% | 6.21% | activecampaign.com |
| Media / Publishing | 43.16% | 7.32% | activecampaign.com |
| Non-profit | 42.68% | 5.51% | activecampaign.com |
| Blogger / Author | 41.99% | 7.73% | activecampaign.com |
| Healthcare | 41.48% | 5.64% | activecampaign.com |
| Consulting / Agency | 39.08% | 7.05% | activecampaign.com |
| Software | 36.20% | 6.67% | activecampaign.com |
| E-Commerce / Retail | 35.66% | 5.07% | activecampaign.com |
Mailchimp also publishes industry benchmarks based on campaigns in its system, with the page noting the data was last updated in December 2023. Treat these as a wider historical comparison layer, not a 2026-only dataset.
| Industry | Open rate | Click rate | Unsubscribe rate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All users | 35.63% | 2.62% | 0.22% | mailchimp.com |
| Business + Finance | 31.35% | 2.78% | 0.15% | mailchimp.com |
| Non-Profits | 40.04% | 3.27% | 0.18% | mailchimp.com |
| Education + Training | 35.64% | 3.02% | 0.18% | mailchimp.com |
| Ecommerce | 29.81% | 1.74% | 0.19% | mailchimp.com |
For broader B2B performance comparisons, the B2B marketing benchmarks 2026 page covers engagement rates across channels including email, without duplicating the tables on this page.
How to Use These Benchmarks Without Over-trusting Open Rates
The safest read is to anchor decisions on clicks, CTOR, and conversion, while treating open rate as a directional trend.
Step 1: Anchor to click rate and order rate, not open rate
Open rate is the most widely reported email metric and the least reliable one in this set. Salesforce flags Apple Mail Privacy Protection as a measurement issue because it can inflate opens for senders with large Apple Mail audiences.
Use open rate to track trends within your own list over time. Do not use it to compare your program to industry benchmarks or competitors, since their Apple Mail exposure may differ significantly from yours.
Step 2: Compare yourself to the right peer group
The Klaviyo dataset covers 183,000+ brands, most of which are in ecommerce. If you run a B2B program with a different sales motion, your placed order rate benchmark is not 0.16%. Your relevant conversion event might be a demo request, a trial signup, or a content download. Replace the placed order rate column with whatever conversion event matches your business model before drawing conclusions.
Step 3: Use CTOR to diagnose body copy
CTOR isolates message quality from list size and deliverability. If your CTOR is below 5% on a promotional send, the problem is likely in the body copy or offer, not in your subject line. If your open rate is high but CTOR is low, your subject line is generating curiosity that the content does not reward.
Step 4: Calculate your flow revenue opportunity before scaling campaigns
The 41%-of-revenue from 5.3%-of-sends finding is a high-impact signal. Before spending time on broadcast frequency, audit whether you have the core flows in place: welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase, browse abandonment, and win-back. Each missing flow is a larger revenue gap than most broadcast campaign improvements.
Step 5: Set realistic targets by type
Do not hold a promotional send to the same click rate standard as a transactional confirmation. Use the campaign-type table in the CTOR section to set appropriate targets per send type. A promotional campaign hitting 2% CTR can be healthy for that category, while transactional messages often sit above the usual promotional range.
Methodology and Source Notes
This article uses six audited pages, but only ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and Salesforce claims are source-locked for numeric email benchmarks.
This article draws from six audited pages. Four sources are source-locked for numeric benchmark claims: Klaviyo, Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and Mailchimp. Litmus is context only, and the Klaviyo product benchmark page is used only for prose-backed revenue-per-recipient claims.
Klaviyo (primary, 4/5 quality rating)
- URL: klaviyo.com/uk/blog/email-marketing-benchmarks-open-click-and-conversion-rates
- Methodology: Klaviyo analyzed data from over 183,000 brands sending on the Klaviyo platform.
- Scope: All-industry averages and top 10% thresholds for campaign open rate, click rate, placed order rate, and automated flow click rate and placed order rate.
- Limitation: Dataset skews toward ecommerce brands. B2B or enterprise email programs may see different results on order-based metrics.
Klaviyo product benchmark page (primary, 4/5 quality rating)
- URL: klaviyo.com/products/email-marketing/benchmarks
- Methodology: Klaviyo says the benchmark page is based on over 183,000 customers.
- Scope: Revenue per recipient, send-volume share, flow revenue share, new-buyer revenue share, and AI product recommendation click-rate benchmarks.
- Limitation: Charted RPR values vary by vertical, so this article uses the page’s all-vertical summary claims for RPR comparisons.
Salesforce (secondary, 3/5 quality rating)
- URL: salesforce.com/marketing/email/benchmarks
- Methodology: Salesforce notes that Apple Mail Privacy Protection affects open rate measurement; specific panel or dataset size is not published in the reviewed page.
- Scope: CTR ranges and CTOR ranges by email type (promotional, transactional, educational).
- Limitation: Range-based rather than point estimates; methodology not fully disclosed.
What is not in this article
- Industry-specific open, click, or conversion rates (no qualifying audited source available)
- Revenue per email sent or per recipient (no qualifying audited source available)
- Deliverability or inbox placement rates (outside scope of audited sources)
- Unsubscribe rates or spam complaint rates (outside scope of audited sources)
For data on broader marketing automation performance, see marketing automation statistics 2026.
FAQ
These answers summarize the benchmark ranges most readers need before comparing their own email program.
What is the average email open rate in 2026?
The average email campaign open rate across all industries is 31%, based on Klaviyo’s analysis of over 183,000 brands. The top 10% of senders reach a 45.1% open rate. Note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection can inflate open counts, so open rate should be interpreted as a directional trend rather than an exact engagement count.
What is a good click rate for an email campaign?
A CTR of 2% to 5% is generally considered good for email marketing. Campaign averages sit at 1.69% across all industries; top 10% performers reach 3.38%. Automated flows average 5.58% because they reach subscribers at high-intent moments.
What is CTOR and what should mine be?
CTOR (click-to-open rate) measures clicks divided by opens. It is a cleaner indicator of message relevance than CTR alone. For general marketing emails, 10% to 25% is the typical range. Promotional emails run 5% to 15%. Transactional emails often exceed 30%.
What email conversion rate should I expect?
For ecommerce, the average campaign placed order rate is 0.16%, and the average automated flow placed order rate is 2.11%. Top 10% flows reach 4.3%. For B2B programs, replace “placed order rate” with your primary conversion event (demo request, trial signup, etc.) before benchmarking.
Why do flows outperform campaigns so much?
Automated flows are triggered by subscriber behavior (cart abandonment, post-purchase, browse activity) and reach recipients at moments of high intent. Broadcast campaigns go to broader segments regardless of current buying intent. The behavioral targeting is why flows generate 3x higher click rates and 13x higher placed order rates compared to campaigns.
Do email flows really drive most of the revenue?
According to Klaviyo’s 2026 dataset, email flows generated nearly 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends. This is the strongest source-backed reason to audit automated flows before scaling broadcast volume.
Should I still track open rates?
Yes, but only as an internal trend metric on your own list. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates raw open counts, making cross-list or cross-platform comparison unreliable. Use click rate, CTOR, and placed order rate as your primary performance indicators.
Sources: Klaviyo (183,000+ brands analyzed, 2026 data), Salesforce Marketing Benchmarks. All numeric claims link to their primary source. No numbers in this article are estimated or interpolated.
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