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The Role of Email Metric Benchmarks: A Balanced Approach

October 29, 2024 Brandi Starr

When it comes to evaluating your email marketing performance, there’s value in both industry benchmarks and your own internal metrics. Industry benchmarks help you get a sense of what’s happening across the landscape—essentially, they set the bar. But comparing year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter performance within your own organization? That’s how you measure actual progress. 

The catch is that relying too much on one without the other can lead you astray. Let’s talk about the challenges of both and how to get it right. 

The Real Deal with Industry Benchmark Reports 

Industry benchmarks exist to give you a baseline. They show whether your performance aligns with other businesses, but here's the rub: not all benchmarks are created equal. You’ll come across dozens of reports every year, and their numbers won’t always match. 

Why? Because these studies are based on data from the tool provider’s customers. That means you’re often comparing apples to oranges—what works for their audience might not apply to yours. You’ll also see a mix of B2B and B2C data, plus businesses of all sizes. So, if you focus exclusively on industry benchmarks, you might get a skewed view of your performance. 

Here’s my approach: I never rely on just one study. I don’t trust any single report by itself. Instead, I look at three to five studies to get a broader perspective and average out the findings to create benchmarks that actually mean something. 

Why Benchmarking Against Yourself Isn’t Enough 

Measuring your own performance over time is crucial. It shows whether your efforts are moving the needle. However, if you focus solely on internal metrics, you risk missing larger trends. 

For example, what if your click-through rates are consistently lower than the industry benchmarks? You might be dealing with underlying issues like deliverability or audience fatigue. Ignoring industry data could create blind spots that cost you revenue. 

My Hybrid Approach 

Here’s what I recommend: use both internal and external benchmarks to set realistic, meaningful targets. Industry benchmarks give you the "what," but you need to evaluate them alongside your internal data and, more importantly, your buyer’s journey. Let’s dive into the metrics I’m currently using. 

2024 Email Marketing Benchmarks I’m Using 

As of mid-2024, these are the benchmarks guiding my email marketing strategy. I pull these numbers from a variety of trusted sources, including WebFX, Mailchimp, Mailmodo, and Constant Contact. Since Tegrita works closely with industries like Manufacturing, Financial Services, Healthcare, Technology, Software, and Food & Beverage, I’ve focused on these sectors. 

Industry 

Open Rate (%) 

Click-Through Rate (%) 

Unsubscribe Rate (%) 

Bounce Rate (%) 

Manufacturing 

21.2 

2.6 

0.25 

0.35 

Financial Services 

24.8 

3.1 

0.20 

0.28 

Healthcare 

23.3 

2.9 

0.18 

0.30 

Technology 

19.6 

2.4 

0.22 

0.40 

Software 

18.7 

2.3 

0.23 

0.36 

Food & Beverage 

22.1 

2.7 

0.24 

0.31 

These averages give me a realistic benchmark to aim for, but I also layer them with our own internal performance data. I’ll continue to evaluate these metrics as new reports are released in 2025. 

Digging Deeper: What to Do if You’re Underperforming 

If your email metrics are lagging behind these benchmarks—or even behind your own past performance—it’s tempting to default to the usual fixes: A/B testing, changing up your subject lines, or tweaking your CTA. And while these strategies have their place (and I recommend trying them), they often just treat the symptom, not the root cause. 

Here’s where I see most businesses miss the mark: instead of taking a step back to understand why their emails are underperforming, they jump straight into testing tactics. A better approach is to dig deeper into your data and look at email in the context of your entire funnel. Here are the kinds of questions you should be asking: 

  • Is there a sub-segment that’s underperforming? For example, maybe your emails are doing great with one audience but not with another. Looking at performance by segment can provide important clues. 

  • Are you losing people from a specific top-of-funnel source? If certain lead sources are consistently underperforming in email engagement, it could mean they’re not as aligned with your content or offer. Identifying which sources yield quality leads helps focus your efforts. 

  • Does a specific message or pain point fail to resonate? Not every topic or message strikes a chord with your audience. Reviewing your emails’ performance by content theme might reveal why certain pain points or offers aren’t landing. 

By zooming out and evaluating how email is fitting into the bigger picture, you’ll gain insights that point to where you actually need to focus. Testing subject lines and CTAs can boost results in the short term, but understanding the root cause of underperformance will allow for more significant and sustainable improvements. 

Measuring Email in the Funnel 

Now, let’s talk about how these benchmarks fit into your buyer’s journey. Because here’s the thing: open rates and click-through rates don’t tell the whole story. Email is a tool that helps move your audience from one stage to the next. 

Here’s a real-world example: 

  • You run paid social ads, getting X number of views. 

  • Your conversion rate from views to form submissions is 2%. 

  • Those leads are added to an email nurture sequence designed to engage them and align their interest with your solution. 

  • 20% of those nurtured contacts engage (this is where open and click metrics come into play). 

  • Of those who engage, 10% show buying behaviors—like multiple content downloads, time spent on pricing pages, or replies to email offers—and are passed on to sales. 

What does this mean? Email performance can’t be evaluated in a vacuum. It’s all about how email helps move leads through your funnel. 

Conclusion: Benchmarks Are Just a Starting Point 

Whether you’re using industry benchmarks or measuring internal performance, both should be viewed critically. They are tools, not the end-all, be-all. The key is using them in tandem to guide your strategy. And always remember: the real value of email is in how it drives your prospects from curiosity to action. 

Source

About the Author

Brandi Starr

Brandi Starr is a marketing powerhouse with over 20 years of experience shaking up B2B and B2B2C companies. As COO at Tegrita, a consultancy that unlocks the power of email, she's all about transforming processes, enhancing go-to-market strategies, and ensuring smooth customer experiences. Named one of the Top 50 Women in MarTech, Brandi blends strategic vision with operational savvy. She's also the co-author of "CMO to CRO" and the host of the Revenue Rehab podcast, known for turning ideas into action and inspiring others in the marketing world.

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