Email marketing benchmarks 2024 : open rates, click rates and conversion rates by industry
Wondering how you stack up against the competition in shopper’s inboxes? You’re not alone. The problem is, we’re rarely privy to anyone’s stats but our own which can make it difficult to know if we’re ahead of the curve or… well, not.
Are your open rates on par with other fashion brands? Do your emails get fewer or more clicks than your fellow beauty brands? And are your conversion rates looking as healthy as the food and beverage business next door?
All good questions—and all almost impossible to answer without a peek inside other brand’s dashboards. Luckily, we’ve got the inside scoop. We’ve analysed hundreds of email marketing metrics from brands in all retail industries, from fashion and beauty to home and hardware, to bring you the 2024 low-down on:
- Email marketing open rate benchmarks
- Email marketing click rate benchmarks
- Email marketing conversion rate benchmarks
Understanding how your emails measure up against your competitors will tell you whether your email marketing campaigns and flows are hitting the spot or whether there’s room for improvement. Think of average email benchmarks as a compass that can point you towards better open rates, click rates, and conversions.
Email marketing open rate benchmarks by industry
Why it’s important: getting people to open your emails is the first hurdle. If they don’t, then all following actions are null and void because shoppers won’t get to see your exclusive discount, abandoned cart reminder, or personable welcome email.
The more people that open your emails, the higher the knock-on stats like click rates and conversion rates will be.
Disclaimer: open rate isn’t 100% effective but it can be a good directional metric. For example, Apple “opens” each email for any user with an enabled Apple MPP whether or not they actually open the email. However, it can help you improve deliverability by culling subscribers who rarely open your emails and can indicate which subject lines are most effective.
What impacts email marketing open rates?
Inboxes are busy places to jostle for attention—you’ve got to give your email the best chance of standing out with an enticing subject line or something that makes the reader want to open your email more than any other.
Make sure your emails aren’t going to spam folders either, as this will plummet your open rates. If people can’t see your emails in their inboxes, they can’t click on them.
Email marketing open rate benchmarks
We’re going to split these benchmarks into two categories:
- Email campaigns: one-off emails that are sent to a specific marketing list.
- Automated flows: emails that are triggered by a shopper’s behaviour.
This is because the nature of each type of email is very different—campaigns are often used to announce new product launches and seasonal events, while automated flows tend to be personalised based on a shopper’s interests, actions, and past purchases.
Email open rate benchmarks: Campaigns
The average email campaign open rate across all industries is 39.74% with top performers hitting a 56.32% open rate.
Let’s break it down by industry:
| Industry | Average open rate |
| Clothing & Accessories | 40.48% |
| Automotive | 38.85% |
| Electronics | 38.07% |
| Food & Beverage | 40.58% |
| Hardware & Home Improvement | 38.88% |
| Health & Beauty | 37.82% |
| Home & Garden | 41.13% |
| Jewellery | 39.58% |
| Mass Merchant | 37.10% |
| Office Supplies | 37.79% |
| Specialty | 40% |
| Sporting Goods | 40.76% |
| Toys & Hobbies | 40.19% |
Email open rate benchmarks: Automated flows
The average email automated flow open rate across all industries is 52.04% with top performers hitting up to 68.08%.
Breakdown by industry:
| Industry | Average open rate |
| Clothing & Accessories | 52.75% |
| Automotive | 51.14% |
| Electronics | 51.08% |
| Food & Beverage | 53.24% |
| Hardware & Home Improvement | 51.76% |
| Health & Beauty | 50.03% |
| Home & Garden | 53.28% |
| Jewellery | 51.68% |
| Mass Merchant | 46.35% |
| Office Supplies | 50% |
| Specialty | 50.99% |
| Sporting Goods | 54.11% |
| Toys & Hobbies | 51.40% |
Key findings: As you can see, automated flows have a higher open rate than campaigns. This is because campaigns often go out to large audience segments while automated flows are triggered based on a specific behaviour, such as someone leaving an item in their cart or buying a product of a certain value.
How to improve your email marketing open rates
- Craft compelling subject lines that pique curiosity, convey value, and establish common ground with subscribers.
- Incorporate the recipient’s name, location, or a personalised attribute.
- Keep your subject lines short and sweet, and get straight to the point (ensure they’re fully visible on mobile devices).
- Use emojis sparingly to enhance your subject line.
Email marketing click rate benchmarks by industry
Why it’s important: Click rates determine how many recipients click on a link in your emails. This is a great indicator of whether your messaging resonates with your audience, but it also forms an integral step in the buying process—shoppers need to visit your website before they can make a purchase.
A low click rate could indicate your messaging isn’t quite hitting the spot or your offers aren’t as compelling as you need them to be.
What impacts email marketing click rates?
Click rates are impacted by many things—you might be burying the lead in your emails, links might get lost too much text, your offers might not be strong enough, or you might be including too many calls-to-action which can dissuade shoppers from clicking on any links.
Email marketing click rate benchmarks
Email click rate benchmarks: Campaigns
The average email campaign click rate across all industries is 1.47% with top performers hitting a 5.06% click rate.
Breakdown by industry:
| Industry | Average click rate |
| Clothing & Accessories | 1.64% |
| Automotive | 1.73% |
| Electronics | 1.48% |
| Food & Beverage | 1.49% |
| Hardware & Home Improvement | 1.67% |
| Health & Beauty | 1.05% |
| Home & Garden | 1.61% |
| Jewellery | 1.46% |
| Mass Merchant | 1.19% |
| Office Supplies | 1.56% |
| Specialty | 1.38% |
| Sporting Goods | 1.74% |
| Toys & Hobbies | 1.81% |
Email click rate benchmarks: Automated flows
The average email automated flow open rate across all industries is 5.31% with top performers hitting up to 12.98%.
Breakdown by industry:
| Industry | Average click rate |
| Clothing & Accessories | 5.22% |
| Automotive | 5.90% |
| Electronics | 5.78% |
| Food & Beverage | 5.61% |
| Hardware & Home Improvement | 5.72% |
| Health & Beauty | 4.62% |
| Home & Garden | 5.69% |
| Jewellery | 5.36% |
| Mass Merchant | 4.64% |
| Office Supplies | 4.98% |
| Specialty | 5.20% |
| Sporting Goods | 6.22% |
| Toys & Hobbies | 5.73% |
Key findings: Similarly to our open rate findings, click rates are much higher in automated flows than in campaigns. This is because automated flows tend to be geared towards a subscriber’s unique interests and include personal product recommendations or suggestions based on their previous browsing history.
How to improve your email marketing click rates
- Use clear CTAs and A/B test different variations to see which ones recipients are most likely to click on.
- Focus on sharing relevant, personalised links in each email.
- Avoid adding too many links and causing decision paralysis.
- Segment your subscribers based on previous browsing behaviour or past purchases.
Email marketing conversion rate benchmarks by industry
Why it’s important: Conversions equal sales. Higher conversion rates mean more customers and more revenue—which means your email marketing strategy is working.
What impacts email marketing conversion rates?
Conversion rates are mostly impacted by a disconnect between what you’re offering and what shoppers want or need. Either the offer is too vague or your messaging isn’t conveying what you want it to.
Email marketing conversion rate benchmarks
Email conversion rate benchmarks: Campaigns
The average email campaign conversion rate across all industries is 0.09% with top performers hitting a 0.47% conversion rate.
Breakdown by industry:
| Industry | Average conversion rate |
| Clothing & Accessories | 0.08% |
| Automotive | 0.06% |
| Electronics | 0.05% |
| Food & Beverage | 0.18% |
| Hardware & Home Improvement | 0.06% |
| Health & Beauty | 0.12% |
| Home & Garden | 0.06% |
| Jewellery | 0.05% |
| Mass Merchant | 0.05% |
| Office Supplies | 0.09% |
| Specialty | 0.10% |
| Sporting Goods | 0.06% |
| Toys & Hobbies | 0.10% |
Email conversion rate benchmarks: Automated flows
The average email automated flow open rate across all industries is 1.71% with top performers hitting up to 5.71%.
Breakdown by industry:
| Industry | Average conversion rate |
| Clothing & Accessories | 1.77% |
| Automotive | 1.74% |
| Electronics | 1.49% |
| Food & Beverage | 1.99% |
| Hardware & Home Improvement | 1.67% |
| Health & Beauty | 1.62% |
| Home & Garden | 1.65% |
| Jewellery | 1.48% |
| Mass Merchant | 1.31% |
| Office Supplies | 1.74% |
| Specialty | 1.69% |
| Sporting Goods | 1.77% |
| Toys & Hobbies | 1.81% |
Key findings: Conversion rates are a lot lower than open rates and click rates as they’re the last point before a sale. Shoppers drop off as they move through the funnel, which is why it’s important to set up triggered flows to target people who have shown interest but haven’t yet purchased.
As you can see, conversion rates in automated flows are much higher than campaign conversion rates. Again, this is because automated flows tend to go out to highly segmented audiences based on previous behaviour.
How to improve your email marketing conversion rates
- Collect zero-party data through your sign-up forms to personalise your email offers and messaging.
- Segment your audience from day one to ensure you send only the most relevant emails, deals, and discounts.
- Include contextual customer reviews to add social proof and get customers over the line.
- Segment based on loyalty and cart value to ensure you’re delivering your best deals to your most valuable customers.
Key takeaways from these email marketing benchmarks
Email marketing benchmarks vary from industry to industry—and bear in mind that these are just the averages.
Some brands enjoy far higher open rates, click rates, and conversion rates than these, while others struggle to meet the minimum. It all depends on what strategies you use, how granular you get with your segmentation, and what automated flows you use.
Here’s a breakdown of the key findings from these benchmark figures:
- Automated flows tend to see better open rates, click rates, and conversion rates across the board.
- Top performers can enjoy double the amount of opens, clicks, and conversions than the average industry standards.
- Open rates, click rates, and conversion rates can vary by up to 2% depending on the industry, but most fall into a similar bracket.
- The more opens you get, the more clicks you can earn, and the more clicks you earn, the more conversions you can win.
Core strategies to optimise your email marketing in 2024
Klaviyo’s 2024 Benchmark Report reveals average open rates, click rates, and conversion rates across different types of email marketing flows and campaigns, including abandoned cart flows, post-purchase sequences, and welcome emails.
Want to know what your open rates should look like on your new welcome series? Or whether your abandoned cart conversion rates could be slightly better? We’ve compiled cold, hard data from retailers’ email marketing dashboards to show you what you should be aiming for this year. Think of it as something to aspire to—or, if you’re already smashing your goals, a celebratory read.
You’ll also get insider advice from top-performing retailers about how you can improve your stats across the board using tried-and-tested strategies.
