B2B Email Marketing Statistics 2026: Open Rates, Click Rates, ROI and Buyer Behaviour
B2B marketing emails had a 35.7% unique open rate and a 2.4% click rate in the UK in 2022, according to the DMA, the latest public data that splits B2B from B2C. B2B clicks were 50% higher than B2C clicks, but B2B delivery was 2.6 points lower. Newer vendor data points the same way. In MailerLite's 2025 benchmarks, eight business-facing industries averaged a 2.49% click rate against 2.09% for all senders, by our calculation. Email is the second most used B2B channel: 39.3% of B2B marketers used it in 2026, according to HubSpot, and 23.6% named it a top ROI channel.
Key statistics
- B2B marketing emails had a 2.4% unique click rate in the UK in 2022, almost flat on the year before, according to the DMA.
- B2B emails drew a click rate 50% higher than B2C emails in the UK in 2022, 2.4% against 1.6%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from DMA data.
- Eight business-facing industries averaged a 2.49% email click rate in 2025, above the 2.09% all-industry figure, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
- 39.3% of B2B marketers used email marketing in 2026, the second most-used channel after websites and SEO, according to HubSpot.
- 73% of B2B buyers actively avoided suppliers who send irrelevant outreach in 2024, according to Gartner.
B2B email marketing benchmarks
There is no single free, current benchmark for B2B email. The UK DMA publishes an industry average from email service providers. Email platforms publish their own customer averages. We show both and say where each comes from.
The DMA's 2025 report gives the broadest view of UK sending. Across seven email service providers, marketing emails had a 35.9% open rate and a 2.3% unique click rate in 2024. Delivery rose to 98%. Click rates rose for the third year in a row. Against the 1.5% recorded for 2022, the click rate is up 53%, although the panel of providers changed from eight to seven.
Platform benchmarks are higher and differ a lot from each other. MailerLite puts the 2025 click rate at 2.09%. ActiveCampaign puts it at 6.21%, three times as high. The gap is mostly about method. ActiveCampaign includes transactional emails such as receipts, which get many clicks, and reports averages. MailerLite reports medians. Neither splits its data into B2B and B2C.
Open rates need care. Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads tracking pixels automatically, so many recorded opens are not people reading. The DMA calls 2022 a "year-zero" for open rates for this reason. Clicks are the more reliable signal. For click rates in search, social and SMS, see our click-through rate benchmarks.
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UK marketing emails had a 35.9% open rate in 2024, according to the DMA.
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UK marketing emails had a 2.3% unique click rate in 2024, the third yearly rise in a row, according to the DMA.
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98% of UK marketing emails were delivered in 2024, with B2C senders at 99.2%, according to the DMA.
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The UK unique email click rate rose 53% between 2022 and 2024, from 1.5% to 2.3%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from DMA data.
How we calculated it: DMA all-sender unique click rate: 1.5% in 2022 (Email Benchmarking Report 2023) and 2.3% in 2024 (Email Benchmarking Report 2025). (2.3 - 1.5) / 1.5 = 53%. The 2022 report used eight providers and the 2025 report seven, so the panels are not identical.
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The average email open rate was 43.46% across MailerLite campaigns from December 2024 to November 2025, according to MailerLite.
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The average email click rate was 2.09% across MailerLite campaigns from December 2024 to November 2025, according to MailerLite.
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ActiveCampaign customers had a 39.26% average email open rate in 2025, according to ActiveCampaign.
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ActiveCampaign customers had a 6.21% average email click rate in 2025, according to ActiveCampaign.
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ActiveCampaign's average email click rate for 2025 was 3 times MailerLite's, 6.21% against 2.09%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal.
How we calculated it: ActiveCampaign 2025 average click rate 6.21% / MailerLite December 2024 to November 2025 click rate 2.09% = 2.97. For software senders the gap is 6.67% / 1.15% = 5.8. ActiveCampaign includes transactional emails and reports averages; MailerLite reports medians.
| Source | Open rate | Click rate | Data period | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DMA (UK, all senders) | 35.9% | 2.3% | 2024 | Seven UK email service providers |
| MailerLite | 43.46% | 2.09% | Dec 2024 to Nov 2025 | 3.6M+ campaigns, 181,000 accounts |
| ActiveCampaign | 39.26% | 6.21% | 1 Jan to 10 Dec 2025 | ActiveCampaign customers, size not disclosed |
| Mailchimp (all users) | 35.63% | 2.62% | To December 2023 | Campaigns to 1,000+ subscribers |
B2B vs B2C email open and click rates
The DMA's 2023 report is the latest free data that splits B2B from B2C email. It covers more than 280 billion emails sent in 2022 through eight email service providers in the UK.
B2B email does better on engagement. In 2022, B2B emails had a 35.7% open rate against 33.7% for B2C. The click rate gap was larger. B2B emails drew 2.4% against 1.6% for B2C, which is 50% higher. The DMA notes that the B2C click rate has been slowly falling for four years, while the B2B rate stayed almost flat.
B2B email does worse on delivery. Only 96.8% of B2B emails were delivered, against 99.4% for B2C. That gap of 2.6 points sounds small. In volume it means about 32,000 lost emails per million for B2B senders and 6,000 for B2C, so B2B lost 5.3 times as many. The DMA does not explain the gap. Stricter company mail filters and work addresses that lapse when people change jobs are likely factors.
The B2B open rate almost doubled in one year, from 18.1% in 2021 to 35.7% in 2022. The DMA links most of that jump to Apple Mail Privacy Protection, not to better emails. Treat any year-on-year comparison of open rates across 2021 and 2022 with caution.
Source: DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2023, 280B+ emails sent in 2022.
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B2B marketing emails had a 35.7% unique open rate in the UK in 2022, up from 18.1% in 2021, according to the DMA.
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B2C marketing emails had a 33.7% unique open rate in the UK in 2022, up from 19.8% in 2021, according to the DMA.
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B2B marketing emails had a 2.4% unique click rate in the UK in 2022, almost flat on the year before, according to the DMA.
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B2C marketing emails had a 1.6% unique click rate in the UK in 2022, according to the DMA.
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96.8% of B2B marketing emails were delivered in the UK in 2022, against 99.4% of B2C emails, according to the DMA.
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B2B emails drew a click rate 50% higher than B2C emails in the UK in 2022, 2.4% against 1.6%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from DMA data.
How we calculated it: DMA 2022 unique click rates: B2B 2.4% / B2C 1.6% = 1.5, so B2B was 50% higher. Same report, same providers, same year.
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B2B emails had a delivery rate 2.6 percentage points lower than B2C emails in the UK in 2022, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from DMA data.
How we calculated it: DMA 2022 delivery rates: B2C 99.4% - B2B 96.8% = 2.6 percentage points.
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About 32,000 of every million B2B emails went undelivered in the UK in 2022, 5.3 times the B2C figure of 6,000, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from DMA data.
How we calculated it: Undelivered share = 100% - delivery rate. B2B: 100 - 96.8 = 3.2%, or 32,000 per million. B2C: 100 - 99.4 = 0.6%, or 6,000 per million. 3.2 / 0.6 = 5.3.
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The B2B email open rate in the UK almost doubled in 2022, rising 17.6 percentage points from 18.1% to 35.7%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from DMA data.
How we calculated it: DMA B2B unique open rate: 35.7% (2022) - 18.1% (2021) = 17.6 points; 35.7 / 18.1 = 1.97 times. The DMA links most of the jump to Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which loads tracking pixels automatically.
| Metric | B2B | B2C | Gap (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unique open rate | 35.7% | 33.7% | B2B +2.0 points |
| Unique click rate | 2.4% | 1.6% | B2B 50% higher |
| Delivery rate | 96.8% | 99.4% | B2B 2.6 points lower |
| Undelivered emails per million | 32,000 | 6,000 | B2B 5.3x as many |
| Open rate in 2021 | 18.1% | 19.8% | B2C +1.7 points |
B2B email statistics by industry
MailerLite publishes medians for 46 industries. Many of them sell mostly to businesses. We picked eight of these and compared them with the all-industry figures. ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp publish fewer, broader categories.
In MailerLite's 2025 data, the eight business-facing industries averaged a 2.49% click rate, above the 2.09% for all senders. Their open rate was lower, at 41.45% against 43.46%. That matches the DMA pattern. Business emails get opened slightly less but clicked more. They also drew 2.3 times the click rate of e-commerce senders.
The spread inside B2B is wide. Legal senders had the highest click rate of any industry, at 4.9%, and the lowest unsubscribe rate, at 0.09%. Manufacturing had the highest click-to-open rate of any industry, at 14.82%. Software and web app senders sat near the bottom with a 1.15% click rate, a quarter of the legal figure.
ActiveCampaign ranks software differently. Its software customers had a 6.67% click rate in 2025, above its 6.21% average, and consulting and agency senders had 7.05%. The two vendors do not define industries or clicks the same way, so compare your results with one vendor's table, not a mix.
Source: MailerLite email marketing benchmarks, December 2024 to November 2025.
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Legal senders had a 4.9% email click rate in 2025, the highest of any industry, according to MailerLite.
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Manufacturing senders had a 4.22% email click rate and a 37.36% open rate in 2025, according to MailerLite.
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Consulting senders had a 45.96% email open rate and a 2.41% click rate in 2025, according to MailerLite.
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Business and finance senders had a 2.37% email click rate and a 43.34% open rate in 2025, according to MailerLite.
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Software and web app senders had a 1.15% email click rate and a 39.31% open rate in 2025, according to MailerLite.
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Eight business-facing industries averaged a 2.49% email click rate in 2025, above the 2.09% all-industry figure, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
How we calculated it: Simple mean of MailerLite median click rates for eight industries that mostly sell to businesses: Agency 1.85%, business and finance 2.37%, consulting 2.41%, legal 4.9%, manufacturing 4.22%, marketing and advertising 1.3%, recruitment and staffing 1.68%, software and web app 1.15%. Sum 19.88 / 8 = 2.49%. Unweighted; MailerLite does not publish a B2B segment.
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Eight business-facing industries averaged a 41.45% email open rate in 2025, 2 points below the 43.46% all-industry figure, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
How we calculated it: Simple mean of MailerLite open rates: agency 40.52, business and finance 43.34, consulting 45.96, legal 42.58, manufacturing 37.36, marketing and advertising 37.23, recruitment and staffing 45.26, software and web app 39.31. Sum 331.56 / 8 = 41.45%. 43.46 - 41.45 = 2.0 points.
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Legal emails drew 4.3 times the click rate of software and web app emails in 2025, 4.9% against 1.15%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
How we calculated it: MailerLite 2025 click rates: legal 4.9% / software and web app 1.15% = 4.26.
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Business-facing industries drew 2.3 times the email click rate of e-commerce senders in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
How we calculated it: Mean click rate of eight business-facing industries (2.49%, see b2be-ml-b2b-click-avg-2025) / MailerLite e-commerce click rate 1.07% = 2.32.
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Manufacturing had the highest email click-to-open rate of any industry in 2025, 14.82%, just ahead of legal at 14.72%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
How we calculated it: Ranking of every industry in MailerLite's 2025 click-to-open table. 1. Manufacturing 14.82%, 2. Legal 14.72%, 3. Media 12.92%. The all-industry figure is 6.81%.
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Legal senders had the lowest email unsubscribe rate of any industry in 2025, 0.09% against 0.22% overall, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from MailerLite data.
How we calculated it: Ranking of every industry in MailerLite's 2025 unsubscribe table. Lowest: legal 0.09%, then higher education and media at 0.1%. The all-industry figure is 0.22%.
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Software senders had a 6.67% average email click rate and a 36.20% open rate in 2025, according to ActiveCampaign.
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Consulting and agency senders had a 7.05% average email click rate and a 39.08% open rate in 2025, according to ActiveCampaign.
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Accounting and financial senders had a 4.40% average email click rate and a 37.74% open rate in 2025, according to ActiveCampaign.
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Business and finance senders had a 2.78% average email click rate and a 31.35% open rate on Mailchimp in 2023, according to Mailchimp.
| Industry | Open rate | Click rate | Click-to-open rate | Unsubscribe rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal | 42.58% | 4.9% | 14.72% | 0.09% |
| Manufacturing | 37.36% | 4.22% | 14.82% | 0.3% |
| Consulting | 45.96% | 2.41% | 7.67% | 0.23% |
| Business and finance | 43.34% | 2.37% | 7.96% | 0.16% |
| Agency | 40.52% | 1.85% | 6.74% | 0.21% |
| Recruitment and staffing | 45.26% | 1.68% | 5.29% | 0.24% |
| Marketing and advertising | 37.23% | 1.3% | 6.09% | 0.15% |
| Software and web app | 39.31% | 1.15% | 5.4% | 0.2% |
| Average of these eight (our calculation) | 41.45% | 2.49% | 8.59% | 0.20% |
| All industries | 43.46% | 2.09% | 6.81% | 0.22% |
| e-commerce (for comparison) | 32.67% | 1.07% | 4.01% | 0.18% |
B2B email marketing ROI
There is no free, current measurement of B2B email return on investment. What exists are surveys of marketers. They show email near the top for B2B, but self-reported returns should be read as opinions.
In HubSpot's 2026 survey, 39.3% of B2B marketers used email, second only to websites and SEO at 48.4%. Email was also second for ROI, named a top channel by 23.6%. It is only just ahead of paid social at 23.3%, and 6.6 points behind websites and SEO. B2C marketers in the same survey put social channels first for both use and return.
Litmus asked nearly 500 marketers what each dollar spent on email brings back. 35% said $10 to $36, and 30% said $36 to $50. By our sum, 70% reported at least $10. These are self-reported figures across all sectors, not measured returns. Litmus says B2B senders see the best return from customer engagement emails, while B2C senders do best with promotions.
Measurement is improving. 21% of marketing leaders did not measure email ROI in 2025, down from 36% in 2023. In the Content Marketing Institute's 2025 survey, 54% of B2B marketers named email newsletters among their most effective thought leadership channels. That was second to LinkedIn at 76%, and just ahead of events and webinars at 52%.
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39.3% of B2B marketers used email marketing in 2026, the second most-used channel after websites and SEO, according to HubSpot.
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23.6% of B2B marketers named email a top channel for ROI in 2026, second only to websites and SEO, according to HubSpot.
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Email trailed websites and SEO by 6.6 percentage points as a top B2B ROI channel in 2026, 23.6% against 30.2%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from HubSpot data.
How we calculated it: HubSpot 2026, share of B2B marketers naming each a top ROI channel: website/blog/SEO 30.2% - email 23.6% = 6.6 points. Paid social was third at 23.3%, 0.3 points behind email.
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35% of marketing leaders got $10 to $36 back for every $1 spent on email in 2025, according to Litmus.
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30% of marketing leaders got $36 to $50 back for every $1 spent on email in 2025, according to Litmus.
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70% of marketing leaders reported at least $10 back for every $1 spent on email in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Litmus data.
How we calculated it: Litmus 2025 return bands: $10-$36 (35%) + $36-$50 (30%) + over $50 (5%) = 70%. A further 21% do not measure ROI, which leaves about 9% reporting under $10. Self-reported, all sectors.
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21% of marketing leaders did not measure email ROI in 2025, down from 36% in 2023, according to Litmus.
| Rank | Most used channel | Share of B2B marketers | Top ROI channel | Share of B2B marketers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Website, blog and SEO | 48.4% | Website, blog and SEO | 30.2% |
| 2 | Email marketing | 39.3% | Email marketing | 23.6% |
| 3 | Organic social media | 38.6% | Paid social media | 23.3% |
How B2B buyers prefer to be contacted
Buyer surveys do not ask about email directly. They do show that most B2B buyers want to research on their own, and that they shut out suppliers who send messages that are not relevant to them.
Gartner's buyer surveys set the context. 73% of B2B buyers said they actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. The share preferring a buying process without a sales rep rose from 61% in the 2024 survey to 67% in 2025. In the 2025 survey, 45% of buyers used AI during a recent purchase. For B2B email, this means relevance matters more than volume.
Marketers have responded mainly through email. Among B2B marketers whose organisations personalise content, 85% do so in email campaigns. That is 2.5 times the share who personalise on social media. In technology firms the email figure is 88%. But personalisation is mostly simple. In CMI's survey, 59% described their use of personalisation as basic. For more on this, see our personalization statistics and sales statistics.
AI is entering the email workflow more slowly than elsewhere. 36% of B2B marketers said their organisations used AI email tools in 2025. In the same CMI survey, content creation tools were the most common use of AI, at 89%.
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73% of B2B buyers actively avoided suppliers who send irrelevant outreach in 2024, according to Gartner.
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61% of B2B buyers preferred an overall rep-free buying experience in 2024, according to Gartner.
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67% of B2B buyers said they preferred a rep-free experience in 2025, according to Gartner.
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The share of B2B buyers preferring a rep-free experience rose 6 percentage points in a year, from 61% in 2024 to 67% in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Gartner data.
How we calculated it: Gartner buyer surveys fielded August to September 2024 (632 buyers, 61%) and August to September 2025 (646 buyers, 67%). 67 - 61 = 6 points. The question wording differs slightly between releases.
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45% of B2B buyers used AI during a recent purchase in 2025, according to Gartner.
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85% of B2B marketers whose organisations personalise content did so in email campaigns in 2025, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
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88% of technology marketers who personalise content did so in email in 2025, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
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36% of B2B marketers said their organisations used AI email marketing tools in 2025, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
| Channel | Share of B2B marketers who personalise |
|---|---|
| Email campaigns | 85% |
| Social media content | 34% |
| Websites and landing pages | 33% |
| Digital advertising | 31% |
| Content marketing (blogs, white papers) | 28% |
| Experiential and event marketing | 23% |
| Webinars | 22% |
| Video | 15% |
Gmail sender rules for B2B email
Since February 2024 Gmail has set hard rules for anyone sending close to 5,000 or more emails a day to personal Gmail accounts. Many B2B newsletters and nurture programmes cross this line.
Bulk senders must authenticate their mail with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and offer one-click unsubscribe in promotional email. Google counts all mail from the same primary domain towards the 5,000 limit, so sales, marketing and product emails add up. Google stepped up enforcement against non-compliant mail from November 2025.
The spam threshold is strict. Google asks senders to keep user-reported spam below 0.1% and never to reach 0.3%. Above 0.3%, Google withholds delivery support. Unsubscribe requests must be honoured within 48 hours. These rules apply to personal Gmail accounts, but they shape how mailbox providers judge a sending domain overall. They help explain why delivery matters so much in the DMA's B2B data.
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Gmail has required senders of 5,000 or more messages a day to authenticate email and offer one-click unsubscribe since February 2024, according to Google.
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Gmail senders must keep their user-reported spam rate below 0.3%, and ideally below 0.1%, under rules in force since 2024, according to Google.
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Gmail bulk senders must honour unsubscribe requests within 48 hours under rules in force since 2024, according to Google.
How these sources measure B2B email
Each source counts something different. Before using a number, check what it measures, who it covers and when.
The DMA figures come from email service providers that send for UK brands. Each provider gives its averages for sent, delivered, opened and clicked emails, and the DMA averages them. Only the 2023 report, covering 2022, has a free B2B and B2C split. The 2025 report is mostly for members, and its free summary gives no B2B figures.
MailerLite, ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp report on their own customers, who skew towards small businesses. They label industries in their own ways and none labels B2B. Our eight-industry average is a simple mean of MailerLite medians, not a weighted figure. Mailchimp's data runs only to December 2023. Open rates in all of these sources are inflated by Apple Mail Privacy Protection.
HubSpot, the Content Marketing Institute and Litmus are surveys of marketers, so they show what marketers use and believe, not measured results. Gartner surveys buyers, about 630 to 650 each year. Google's figures are rules, not measurements. We report each figure with its own scope and year and do not mix them into one average.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good open rate for B2B email?
B2B emails had a 35.7% unique open rate in the UK in 2022, according to the DMA. In MailerLite's 2025 data, eight business-facing industries averaged 41.45%. Open rates are inflated by Apple Mail Privacy Protection, so click rate is the better measure.
What is the average B2B email click rate?
The DMA measured 2.4% for B2B emails in the UK in 2022. In MailerLite's 2025 benchmarks, business-facing industries averaged 2.49%, from 1.15% for software to 4.9% for legal senders. ActiveCampaign reports higher figures, such as 6.67% for software.
Is B2B email performance better than B2C?
On clicks, yes. B2B emails drew a click rate 50% higher than B2C in the DMA's 2022 UK data, 2.4% against 1.6%. On delivery, no. 96.8% of B2B emails were delivered against 99.4% for B2C.
How did B2B email benchmarks change from last year?
The DMA's all-sender unique click rate rose to 2.3% in 2024, its third rise in a row and 53% above 2022. MailerLite's all-industry click rate rose from 2% in 2024 to 2.09% in 2025. No newer free B2B-only split has been published.
What is the ROI of B2B email marketing?
No source measures it directly. In HubSpot's 2026 survey, 23.6% of B2B marketers named email a top ROI channel, second to websites and SEO. In Litmus's 2025 survey of all sectors, 70% of marketing leaders reported at least $10 back per $1 spent.
How many emails can a B2B company send before Gmail's bulk sender rules apply?
Gmail's rules apply to senders of close to 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts, counted across the whole primary domain. Those senders must authenticate, offer one-click unsubscribe and keep spam complaints below 0.3%.
Sources
- DMA, Email Benchmarking Report 2023, July 2023, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- MailerLite, Email marketing benchmarks by industry and region for 2026, 3 December 2025, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- HubSpot, The top marketing channels of 2026, according to marketers [data], updated 19 January 2026, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Gartner, Gartner Sales Survey Finds 61% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Buying Experience, 25 June 2025, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- DMA, Email Benchmarking Report 2025, 4 June 2025, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- ActiveCampaign, 2026 ActiveCampaign Email Marketing Benchmarks: Open & Click Rates by Industry, 21 January 2026, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Mailchimp (Intuit), Email Marketing Benchmarks and Statistics by Industry, data last updated December 2023, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Litmus, The ROI of Email Marketing [Infographic], 16 July 2025 (first published January 2022), accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content and Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026, 8 October 2025, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Gartner, Gartner Sales Survey Finds 67% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Experience, 9 March 2026, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Content Marketing Institute, Technology Content and Marketing Trends: 2026 Insights, 12 November 2025, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Google, Email sender guidelines FAQ, FAQ updated periodically, accessed 28 October 2026. Link · Saved data copy
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