Do you want to ensure your email campaigns continue to engage your audience and make an impact in 2024?
Then look no further and dive right into this freshly updated Email Marketing Benchmarks report that analyzed more than 4 billion emails sent by our customers throughout 2023.
Inside, you’ll find the latest statistics on email marketing, marketing automation, landing pages, webinar marketing, and insights from our in-house experts. With these, you’ll be ready to make better-informed decisions regarding your marketing communications.
Below, you have an insightful snapshot of the key findings and their meaning for your business.
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Key findings from the 2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks report
- Surge in engagement: Average email open rates increased to 39.64%, and click-through rates rose to 3.2% from the previous year.
- Importance of automation: Automated emails consistently outperform regular newsletters in terms of engagement.
- Optimal timing: Emails sent early in the morning (4-6 AM) and late in the afternoon (5-7 PM) have higher engagement.
- Seasonal engagement: Higher email volumes during Q4 see increased engagement rates.
- Long-term strategy: Trust and relevance in content are more effective than quick-win tactics.
- Context understanding: Analyze the results and tailor strategies based on your industry, location, and audience specifics.
1. Surge in email open and click-through rates
We see new newsletters popping up everywhere, but does that mean people are also more likely to engage with them? As it turns out, yes!
Between 2022 and 2023, the average email open rate increased from 26.8% to 39.64%, while the average click-through rate rose from 1.89% to 3.2%.
Keep in mind that part of the impressive growth in open rates can be attributed to Apple’s significant market share and its MPP feature, which inflates open rates with auto-opens. However, this feature has no impact on email click-through rates, which also noticeably grew during the same period.
This suggests that email marketers have done their homework and started delivering more relevant and personalized content to their subscribers. It could also mean that recipients are using emails more often and interacting with the content they receive
What you should do
If you’re not seeing similar results, it’s a good time to revamp your email program and take advantage of available technology – especially AI and automation – to deliver more relevant content to your subscribers.
Take the time to survey your audience, analyze the content they interact with by reviewing your analytical reports, and use these insights to create more engaging and meaningful emails.
Read more:
Email marketing KPIs and metrics explained
How to increase your email open rates
How to increase your email click-through rate
2. Automation is the way to go
Time and time again, we see that automated emails outperform regular newsletters in terms of opens, clicks, and click-to-open rates. The only area where they fall short is unsubscribe rates, which is expected when more people are viewing your emails.
While the difference in average engagement rates isn’t as noticeable as it used to be, automation is still the way to go. However, this doesn’t mean you should only send automated emails. A healthy email program includes all types of campaigns: those sent to all subscribers all at once and those triggered by various activities throughout your subscriber’s journey.
To help you better visualize the impact of automated emails, here are the results for some of the key campaign types:
| Message type | Average open rate | Average click-through rate |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome email | 83.63% | 16.6% |
| Triggered email | 45.38% | 5.02% |
| Autoresponder | 51.05% | 5.59% |
| RSS | 56.75% | 10.57% |
| Webinar invite | 28.89% | 2.86% |
| Webinar reminder – sent at start time | 72.88% | 15.98% |
| Webinar reminder – sent 5 minutes before the webinar | 85.43% | 23.15% |
| Webinar reminder – sent 30 minutes before the webinar | 83.03% | 21.58% |
| Webinar reminder – sent 1 hour before the webinar | 105.84% | 28.66% |
| Webinar reminder – sent 1 day before the webinar | 106.52% | 14.64% |
Note that high engagement and conversions aren’t the only benefits you can expect from implementing email automation. Triggered campaigns can also improve your email deliverability, sometimes referred to as inbox placement.
What you should do:
Even though email automation tools have been on the market for multiple years, implementing them is still the best decision you can make in 2024. If you haven’t done so yet, you can start simply by setting up a welcome email to greet new subscribers to your blog or an abandoned cart reminder if you’re running an ecommerce business.
Although automation may seem scary and intimidating, it is really just a series of if-this-then-that blocks. So, don’t postpone it any longer – start automating at least the most repetitive parts of your marketing communication.
Pro tip: You can read more about how Landcafe.pl, an ecommerce company selling coffee, generates 54% of its sales with a highly-educational onboarding email campaign.
Read more:
What is email automation? Examples & tips
How to get started with marketing automation
Marketing automation for education
3. Timing is everything
Marketers keep asking – when’s the best time to send emails, post on social media, run webinars, etc.
But is there one best time to send your emails to maximize their impact? Our data shows that there are two time slots you may want to consider: early in the morning (4-6 AM) and later in the afternoon (5-7 PM). This makes sense because people are most engaged with emails at the beginning of their working day and right at the end.
However, it doesn’t mean you should only send emails during these times. In fact, marketers who sent their emails at different times (e.g., 10 AM) saw higher click-to-open rates (CTOR).
In terms of days of the week, the average engagement rates remain stable across the entire workweek. However, Tuesday and Thursday observed the best click-through rates, so you may want to consider running your email campaigns on these days.
What you should do
To maximize your email campaigns’ reach, consider sending your emails between 4-6 AM and 5-7 PM. Over the years, these are the times when we’ve seen subscribers engage with emails the most.
If you have a global audience across multiple time zones, use tools like Time Travel that automatically adjust the send time of your campaigns. Emails sent using this feature have observed an exceptionally high click-through rate of 9.76%.
4. High season means high engagement
Email marketers often worry that their audience will get tired of seeing their emails during the holiday season. They hesitate to increase their mailing frequency to avoid boring their subscribers and degrading their deliverability. While these concerns are valid, our data suggests that they shouldn’t worry too much.
As it turns out, even though email volumes went up during the sales season in Q4, the average engagement rates didn’t go down. On the contrary, they increased, reaching the highest average levels in November (44.8% OR and 4.67% CTR) and December (41.23% OR and 4.72% CTR).
This suggests that while marketers face higher competition during the sales season, they are also communicating with a more receptive audience – an audience in the ‘shopping mood,’ looking for the best deals and gift ideas.
What you should do
Increasing your mailing frequency looks like a solid tactic to try in Q4 2024. The audience is more receptive and in the ‘shopping mood’, so you can expect more conversions and overall return from your campaigns.
To avoid email deliverability issues, be sure to increase the frequency gradually over at least a few weeks to give your audience the chance to get accustomed. Additionally, consider running a re-engagement campaign prior to the sales season and cleaning your email list of long-inactive contacts who may potentially drag your results down.
Read more:
Inspiring holiday email marketing campaigns
Best Black Friday email campaign examples
Cyber Monday email campaign examples
5. Think long-term and avoid shortcuts
Email marketers often look for quick-win solutions to help them achieve their business goals, especially when writing subject lines.
The internet is full of advice that says adding a particular phrase, emoji, personalization, or a number, guarantees higher opens.
We’ve already discussed that this metric – email open rate – isn’t ideal. But do the above-mentioned tactics help you “hack” it?
Once again, our data proves otherwise., Neither using emojis nor simple personalization will give you a head-start over your competition. Unless they’re relevant and your target audience appreciates them, that is.
When it comes to using particular phrases, we do see some that attract more opens, like “invitation,” “name of the month,” and “now.” Phrases like “affordable” and “newsletter” not only do see high opens but also drive more clicks.
That said, I don’t believe that adding these phrases to your subject lines will guarantee you’ll get better results. Only if your subscribers trust your brand and your content will they engage with your communication and stay subscribed for longer.
What you should do
Tactics like personalization or emojis in your subject lines don’t guarantee results. In fact, since every other marketer swears by them, they may be the key reason we’re seeing lower results for campaigns that use them.
Think of email marketing as a long-term game where you first have to earn your recipients’ trust and then delight them with relevant content. Think personalized product recommendations or browse abandonment reminders if you run an ecommerce store. Or content recommendations and post-webinar follow-up if you’re a B2B.
If you keep the promise you made in your newsletter signup forms, you won’t need to take shortcuts that don’t provide real value to your audience.
Read more:
Email marketing best practices for 2024
Advanced email marketing strategies you should implement today
6. Always start your analysis by understanding the context
Finally, once again, in our report, we noticed that the average email marketing statistics vary based on several factors.
For example:
- Where you’re located
- What industry you’re in
- How big your email list is
- Where your audience lives
- What content you’re promoting
- How often you send your communication
The differences are sometimes minor, but more often than not, they’re significant. Being aware of how impactful these factors are can help you better understand the condition of your email marketing program.
What you should do
Consider this data as an inspiration for your own tests and analysis. Compare your results to those you had last month or even a year ago, and check whether the trends you’re seeing correlate with what’s visible on the market.
Read our industry guides:
What to do next
Email marketing is always evolving.
In 2024 alone, Yahoo and Google changed their authentication requirements, and Apple announced Mail tabs in its upcoming iOS 18.
So it’s worth keeping an eye on the latest trends and developments.
Come back to this article, as we’ll keep adding new insights from our annual email marketing benchmarks report.
Once you’ve set a goal for your email program, be sure to visit this site for the latest email marketing best practices, case studies, and newsletter tool reviews.
And, if you’d like to take your email marketing campaigns to new heights, consider giving GetResponse a go!
It offers an affordable, comprehensive, and easy-to-use solution for growing, engaging, and converting your audience with powerful email, automation, and list growth tools.
And it comes with a 30-day free trial with access to our premium features!
Good luck!