The average email click-through rate across all industries is 2.62% (Mailchimp), and most sectors land between 1% and 5%. Government emails click highest at 4.58%; vitamin-supplement emails lowest at 1.19%. Unlike open rate, CTR requires a deliberate human action — which is why it is the metric to trust.
Average email click-through rate by industry
Click-through rate is clicks divided by delivered emails. Mailchimp derives these figures from billions of campaigns sent to lists of 1,000 subscribers or more, last updated December 2023.
| Industry | Avg. click rate | Avg. open rate | Unsubscribe rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-profits | 3.27% | 40.04% | 0.18% |
| Education & Training | 3.02% | 35.64% | 0.18% |
| Business & Finance | 2.78% | 31.35% | 0.15% |
| Ecommerce | 1.74% | 29.81% | 0.19% |
| All users | 2.62% | 35.63% | 0.22% |
Source: Mailchimp, Email Marketing Benchmarks (December 2023 data). Mailchimp reports government as the highest-clicking sector at 4.58% and vitamin supplements as the lowest at 1.19%, and describes 2.66% as the optimal target.
Click-to-open rate: the sharper metric
Click-through rate mixes two things: how many people opened, and how many of those acted. Click-to-open rate (CTOR) isolates the second. GetResponse reports an average CTOR of 8.62% across 4.4 billion messages, with wide spread by sector.
| Industry | Click-through rate | Click-to-open rate |
|---|---|---|
| Legal services | 12.11% | 25.63% |
| Communications | 8.66% | 13.29% |
| Technology & High Tech | 7.40% | 16.54% |
| Sports and Activities | 6.87% | 18.43% |
| Non-profits | 6.70% | 12.29% |
| Automotive | 5.76% | 14.51% |
| Financial Services | 5.34% | 15.40% |
| Retail | 5.10% | 12.22% |
| Health & Beauty | 2.14% | 5.62% |
| All industries | 5.14% | 11.95% |
Source: GetResponse, Email Marketing Benchmarks (2024 edition). GetResponse notes legal services jumped from 3.2% to 12.1% CTR year over year — an outlier worth treating sceptically until it repeats.
What moves click-through rate
Email type
Triggered emails average 5.02% CTR versus 3.84% for newsletters (GetResponse). Relevance at the moment of intent outperforms broadcast every time.
Frequency
GetResponse found senders mailing once a week average 5.71% CTR; at four sends a week it falls to 2.99%. More email, less clicking per email.
One clear action
CTR counts clicks on any link. Competing calls-to-action split attention and depress conversion even when raw CTR looks fine.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good email click-through rate?
Around 2–3% for broadcast campaigns. Mailchimp puts the all-industry average at 2.62% and calls 2.66% the optimal target, with a normal range of 1–5% depending on sector. Triggered and transactional emails should clear 5%.
What is the difference between CTR and CTOR?
Click-through rate divides clicks by delivered emails. Click-to-open rate divides clicks by unique opens, so it measures how persuasive the email was to the people who actually saw it. GetResponse reports an 8.62% average CTOR against a 3.25% average CTR.
Which industry has the highest email click rate?
Government, at 4.58%, in Mailchimp’s dataset. In GetResponse’s dataset, legal services leads at 12.11% CTR and 25.63% CTOR, though that figure roughly quadrupled year over year and should be read as provisional.
Why is my click rate falling while opens rise?
Usually because inflated opens are masking flat engagement. Apple Mail counts as an open without a reader. Compare click-to-open rate month over month instead — if CTOR is stable, your audience has not changed; your open denominator has.
How do I improve click-through rate?
Segment before you send, use one dominant call-to-action, and cut frequency if you mail more than twice a week. Our A/B test significance calculator will tell you whether a lift is real or noise.
Related reading
- Email open rates by industry
- Best day and time to send email
- All email marketing benchmarks
- Click-through rate, defined
- Free CTA button generator
Test more, without paying for a bigger list
Bluey Email charges per send rather than per contact, so splitting a list to raise click-through rate does not raise your bill. Every plan is all-inclusive, and Bluey is GDPR and Google CASA compliant across all regions and currencies. See how send-based pricing works.