COVID-19’s Affect on Email Benchmarks by Industry

Engagement with email campaigns was up for most industries during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic this spring, according to recent research from Campaign Monitor.

The report was based on analysis of campaigns sent in March and April 2020 by Campaign Monitor customers globally in 19 industries. The researchers compared the monthly average open rate, clickthrough rate, click-to-open rate, and unsubscribe rate for 2020 with the corresponding period and rate in 2019 (see the full methodology as well as an in-depth analysis by vertical here).

Compared with the year-earlier period, the average open rate across all industries examined increased 4.1% in March and 3.6% in April.

That rise in engagement was not because of fewer campaigns: Total send volume across industries stayed consistent with 2019 March and April levels.

However, the changes in engagement varied significantly by industry. For example, the average open rate for the Education vertical was up 13.2% in March, whereas the average open rate for the Automotive and Aerospace industry was down 4.6%.