email marketing benchmarks

Email Marketing Benchmarks: What You Need to Know Today

“Information is power.” We’ve heard this quote – attributed to Sir Francis Bacon – countless times, because it encapsulates the most comprehensive definition of knowledge. In marketing, it can make the difference between success and failure. That’s why we like to focus on bringing you precious information you can use in your strategy. Today, we are going to share with you the latest email marketing benchmarks, gathered from a study conducted by Get Response.

The team at Get Response analyzed over 2 billion emails sent by their customers last year, between October to December, in 126 countries, across 19 industries. Here is what they found!

Email marketing benchmarks

One of the most significant facts is that, in Europe, email marketing is hot! Europe has a more engaged audience than the one in the U.S. Average open, click and complaint rates are all higher than the ones in North America (average open rate in Europe is 29%, while the one in North America is 21.01%).

Another important aspect is that in countries like France and Germany, where double-opt in is a common practice, the engagement is higher than in the U.S. Here are the highest open rates by country:

The Netherlands – 43.37%

Germany – 40.35%

France – 39.52%

Vietnam – 34.69%

Russia – 32.46%

Spain – 30.44%

Italy – 30.13%

Belgium – 28.36%

Ukraine – 28.05%

Brazil – 26.97%


For those of you who practice email marketing, remember that welcome emails have a very high open rate: 82.20 across all industries. Don’t miss the chance to connect with your new subscribers as soon as they opt in. Also, use an email checker to make sure your contacts are valid. Email verification can increase your delivery rates by 98%.


When it comes to industries, the results are interesting. People read newsletters from their favorite publications, and their second favorite emails are the ones they receive from restaurants.

Top 3 highest open rates by industry

Publishing – 36.59%

Restaurants & food – 54.69%

Health care – 35.54%

The industry that has the lowest open rates is Internet Marketing – 18.05%. Curious what industry converts best? It’s Legal Services, with a conversion rate of 14.55%. The same industry is the one that uses double-opt in the most.

The best time to send your emails

We’ve covered this topic here, but let’s see what the stats say: apparently, the optimal time is 5 A.M. The second best time is 6 P.M. It all makes sense: people check their inbox early in the morning and during the evening, after they get home from work.

Marketers are also talking a lot about what the best day is to send their campaigns. All studies, so far, have shown that Tuesday is a winner. The latest email marketing analysis proves that Tuesday has, indeed, the highest click-through rates, but Friday has the best open rates. Very important to keep in mind, as well: sending one newsletter per week generates the highest engagement: an open rate of 34% and a click-through of 5.17%.

Read the full study here. We hope this helps you tailor your next campaign. Happy emailing!

LET’S CONNECT:

FacebookInstagramLinkedInTwitterTumblr | YouTube