We manage email programs for clients across 12 industries, and every year we compile data from our collective sends. This analysis covers 2.4 million emails sent between January and December 2025. Here is what good looks like — segmented by industry.
A Note on Measurement
Apple's Mail Privacy Protection has made open rate unreliable for a significant portion of email clients. We have moved our primary success metrics to click rate, click-to-open rate, conversion rate, and revenue per email sent. Open rate is still reported but treated as directional rather than precise.
Benchmarks by Industry
Legal Services: Click rate 2.8%, Revenue/email $0.42. Legal email performs well when content is genuinely useful — case updates, legal news summaries, deadline reminders.
E-commerce: Click rate 3.4%, Revenue/email $1.18. Segmented abandoned cart flows continue to be the highest-ROI automation. Average recovery rate: 8.2% of abandoned carts.
B2B SaaS: Click rate 4.1%, Revenue/email $2.40. Longer decision cycles mean email plays a nurturing role. We measure pipeline influence rather than direct revenue attribution.
Professional Services: Click rate 2.2%, Revenue/email $3.80. Low volume, high value. One converted recipient often represents significant contract revenue.
Hospitality: Click rate 5.2%, Revenue/email $0.89. Highest click rates of any industry we manage, driven by strong visual content and time-sensitive offers.
What Separates Top Quartile
In every industry, the gap between top and bottom performers comes down to three factors: list hygiene, segmentation depth, and send timing. Top performers clean their lists quarterly, send fewer emails to more relevant segments, and test send time systematically rather than defaulting to Tuesday at 10am.
