Newsletter open rate statistics for 18 industries – what is a good open rate for your industry and how to improve it?

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters): If you’re using email marketing for your business, you are probably looking for ways to measure your results. The main KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for email marketing are open rates and click-through rates. Of course – you want your subscribers to open and read your newsletters first and foremost, and then to click on your links (or other CTA you included in your email). You can see the stats in your email marketing tool – but while you’re looking at them you may be thinking – what is a good open rate for my newsletter?

Well, that depends on your industry, the day and time when you send your newsletters, and even your country (e.g. Germany has the highest open rates at 40.67%, while Singapore – the lowest, at 11.89% on average (source)).

We’ve compiled a few different stats for open rates in 18 industries – from agriculture to travel – and also – where the data was available – the day of the week with the highest open rate. We also discussed a few ways how you can improve your newsletter open rates.

See our statistics below for different industries to see how you measure up.

Source: HubSpot

Newsletter open rates by industry – jump to the relevant section!

1. Agriculture
2. Arts & Entertainment
3. Automobile
4. Beauty & Finance
5. Biotechnology
6. Business
7. Computer Software
8. Computers & electronics
9. Construction
10. Finance
11. Healthcare
12. Hospitality
13. Human Resources
14. Insurance
15. Legal & Government
16. Marketing & Advertising
17. Real Estate
18. Travel

Agriculture – up to 48 %

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters): Saturday

Arts & Entertainment – 47%

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters): Thursday

Automobile – 35%

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters): Thursday

Beauty & Fitness –  40%

Biotechnology –  37%

Business – 41%

Computer Software – 28%

Computers & Electronics – 35%

Construction –  45%

Finance – 40%

Healthcare – 33%

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters):  Monday

Hospitality – 40%

Human Resources – 44%

Insurance –  38%

Legal & Government – 44%

Marketing & Advertising – 25%

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters):  Monday

Real Estate – 42%

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters):  Thursday

Travel – 28%

Day with the highest open rate (best day to send newsletters):  Thursday

How to boost your open rates?

In order to boost your open rates, you need to first and foremost work on your subject lines. Here are some tips for optimizing your newsletter subject lines for open rates:

• Don’t use words like “free”, “help”, “percent off”, and “reminder” in your newsletter subject lines – they decrease the open rates (source: Unbounce/Backlinko)
•  Leave the subject line blank or – if you can’t – make a typo in it. (Source: Technology of Marketing Conference/ Postfity)
• Use emojis in your subject lines – they can improve open rates over 2x (Source: Technology of Marketing Conference/ Postfity)
• Use the recipient’s name in your subject line – it boosts the open rates by over 18% (Source: Super Office)