Email Marketing Statistics 2026: The Benchmarks That Matter

Is a 25% open rate a good result? It depends on the source you compare it with. In France, the reference study on email routing puts the national average at around 18%. Email platform benchmarks put it between 30% and 35%. Both figures are accurate, but they don’t measure the same thing.

This guide gathers the most recent email marketing statistics available in October 2026, from France and worldwide. For each figure, we give the source, the year of the data and what it allows you to conclude. You’ll find:

• French reference figures for send volume and engagement;
• international benchmarks from the main email platforms;
• the performance gap between campaigns and automations;
• the KPIs to track, and their limits;
• the deliverability rules that shape all of these results.

Key email marketing figures in France

More than 145 billion emails routed in one year

According to the 2024 E-routeurs study by Alliance Digitale (formerly DMA France), 145.57 billion emails were routed in France in 2023, up 2.33% year over year. The study relies on self-reported data from 12 major email service providers that are members of the association.

This volume is a reminder of the obvious: your email lands in an inbox where it competes with dozens of other messages. Relevance matters more than frequency.

An average 18.22% open rate and 5.30% click rate

The same study measures an average open rate of 18.22% (18.20% in 2022) and an average click rate of 5.30% (5.35% in 2022). Performance is stable from one year to the next.

These averages cover all emails sent by the participating providers, across every sector: retail, media, banking, B2B and more. They describe the French market as a whole, not an ecommerce store in particular.

A second reference: a 33.90% open rate among Brevo’s French customers

The Brevo 2025 Benchmark analyzes the 2024 sends of 19,332 French customers who send at least 10,000 emails a month, for a total of 11.9 billion marketing and transactional emails. The results:

• average open rate: 33.90%;
• click-to-open rate (clicks divided by opens): 11.37%;
• entertainment reaches a 46.35% open rate, while retail and ecommerce stay below 30%.

Why French figures can differ by a factor of two

The gap between 18% and 34% doesn’t mean one of the studies is wrong. They don’t cover the same senders or the same types of emails, and their calculation methods may differ too. Keep one simple rule: compare your results with one source at a time, and with sends of the same type as yours.

International benchmarks from email platforms

Klaviyo 2026: a 31% open rate and 1.69% click rate for campaigns

Klaviyo’s 2026 email marketing benchmarks cover more than 183,000 customer brands, mostly in ecommerce:

• Campaigns: 31% open rate (45.1% for the top 10%), 1.69% click rate (3.38% for the top 10%);
• Automations: 32.2% open rate (45.8% for the top 10%), 5.58% click rate (10.48% for the top 10%).

Mailchimp: a 35.63% open rate across industries, 29.81% in ecommerce

The Mailchimp benchmarks cover campaigns sent to at least 1,000 subscribers:

• All users: 35.63% open rate, 2.62% click rate, 0.22% unsubscribe rate;
• Ecommerce: 29.81% open rate, 1.74% click rate, 0.19% unsubscribe rate.

Mailchimp states that this data was last updated in December 2023. Treat it as a historical reference.

How to use these benchmarks

A benchmark gives you an order of magnitude, not a target. The most reliable reference is your own history: the same types of sends, the same tool and the same calculation method, tracked over several months.

Campaigns vs. automations: where the revenue comes from

Klaviyo’s 2026 data shows a clear imbalance:

• campaigns account for 94.7% of emails sent;
• automations represent only 5.3% of sends, but generate nearly 41% of email revenue;
• revenue per recipient for automations is nearly 18 times higher than for campaigns;
• their click rate is more than 3 times higher, and their placed order rate 13 times higher;
• nearly 48% of automation revenue comes from new buyers, compared with 16% for campaigns.

One caveat applies. An automation reaches someone who has just taken an action: they subscribed, viewed a product or filled a cart. Part of the gap therefore comes from that intent, not only from the format.

Campaigns remain useful for launches, seasonal moments and your newsletter. Automations capture demand at the moment it appears.

The four automations to set up first

If you’re starting from scratch, begin with the moments where intent is clearest.

The welcome email

Triggered at signup, it reaches someone who has just given you their address. Deliver what the signup form promised, introduce your brand, then suggest a useful first step. Our welcome email sequence guide walks through a five-email example.

The abandoned cart reminder

Triggered when a cart is filled or a checkout is started but not completed. Remind the shopper of the products and address common objections: shipping, returns, sizing. Two or three spaced-out messages are usually enough. The contact should leave the sequence as soon as they buy.

The browse abandonment email

Triggered after a product view without an add to cart. Intent is lower: focus on the product viewed, close alternatives and content that helps people choose, rather than an immediate discount.

The post-purchase email

The customer has just ordered: this is the moment to reassure them (tracking, usage tips), ask for a review, then suggest a complementary product. The goal is the second order, not necessarily an immediate sale.

The email KPIs to track, and how to read them

Open rate: a trend indicator, no longer proof of reading

Since 2021, Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads an email’s images, including the tracking pixel, whether or not the recipient actually opens it. According to Litmus, Apple Mail accounted for about 62% of tracked opens in July 2026. Apple and Gmail together represent nearly 90%.

Open rate is still useful for comparing two subject lines or spotting a sudden drop, which often signals a deliverability issue. It is no longer enough, however, to prove that an email was read.

Click rate and click-to-open rate

Click rate divides clicks by delivered emails. Click-to-open rate (CTOR) divides them by opens. Both require a real action from the recipient, so they are less distorted than opens. Benchmarks: a 1.69% click rate for campaigns and 5.58% for automations at Klaviyo, and an 11.37% click-to-open rate at Brevo.

Some corporate security filters test links before the recipient does: a spike of clicks within a minute of sending is worth checking.

Placed order rate and revenue per recipient

These are the metrics closest to revenue. Revenue per recipient depends heavily on your average order value: use it to track your progress from month to month rather than to compare yourself with other brands.

Unsubscribe rate and spam complaints

Mailchimp measures an average unsubscribe rate of 0.22%, and 0.19% in ecommerce. Watch your spam complaint rate above all: Gmail recommends keeping it below 0.10% and never reaching 0.30%.

Deliverability: the rules behind every one of these statistics

An email that doesn’t reach the inbox can’t be opened or clicked. Since February 2024, Gmail has required senders who send more than 5,000 emails a day to its addresses to follow specific rules. Yahoo did the same at the time, followed by Outlook.com on May 5, 2025:

• authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC (at least a p=none policy);
• include a visible unsubscribe link and, for Gmail, a one-click unsubscribe honored within 48 hours;
• keep your spam complaint rate below 0.30%;
• only send to contacts who agreed to receive your emails, and clean your list regularly.

These rules apply above a certain volume, but following them from your very first send saves you a bad surprise the day your list grows.

Turning these statistics into an action plan

1. Measure your starting point: three months of history, with campaigns and automations kept separate.
2. Pick a single external benchmark that matches your industry and type of send.
3. Turn on high-intent automations (welcome, abandoned cart) before increasing campaign frequency.
4. Segment your campaigns: new subscribers, recent customers, inactive customers.
5. Test one variable at a time (subject line, offer, send time) and judge the result on clicks and orders.

Building these automations with Agentyque

In Agentyque, welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment and post-purchase are among the templates offered when you create an automation. The trigger relies on the Agentyque Pixel, which works with Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop and custom sites. Each sequence can stop as soon as a contact buys. The assistant then writes the emails from your Brand Kit and product catalog.

You can describe the sequence you want in a single request:

Create a three-email abandoned cart reminder: the first one hour after abandonment, the second the next day, the third two days later. Stop the sequence as soon as the contact buys. Remind them of the products in their cart, answer questions about shipping and returns, and keep the tone of our Brand Kit.

Our guide to AI email marketing explains how to refine each message afterwards.

Frequently asked questions about email marketing statistics

What is a good open rate in 2026?

It depends on the source and the type of send. Three references: 18.22% for the French market as a whole (Alliance Digitale, 2023 data), 33.90% for Brevo’s French customers (2024 data) and 31% for ecommerce campaigns at Klaviyo (2026). Compare yourself with your own history first, keeping in mind that Apple opens are inflated.

What is a good click rate?

In ecommerce, Klaviyo measures 1.69% for campaigns and 5.58% for automations, and Mailchimp 1.74% for campaigns. A click rate that improves over time matters more than a single number.

Why do statistics vary so much from one study to another?

Studies don’t analyze the same senders or the same types of emails (marketing only, or marketing and transactional). They don’t always calculate rates the same way, and the share of Apple Mail users varies from one list to another.

Which emails generate the most revenue?

Automations triggered by behavior. At Klaviyo, they generate nearly 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends. Abandoned cart, welcome and post-purchase are the first ones to set up.

Every figure becomes meaningful once you compare it with your own sends. Discover Agentyque and build your first email automations from your brand.