Definition
Benchmarking involves: selecting relevant metrics to compare (open rate, CTR, conversion rate, bounce rate), identifying your peer group (same industry, similar list size, comparable geography), collecting your own performance data over a consistent period, comparing against published industry benchmarks (from Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, or industry reports), and identifying gaps. The goal is not to match averages but to understand where you have room to improve. Use benchmarks as directional guidance, not absolute targets — your specific audience and business model matter more than industry averages.
Why It Matters
This matters because the choices you make here show up directly in your results. Use benchmarks as directional guidance, not absolute targets — your specific audience and business model matter more than industry averages. When this is handled well it supports engagement, delivery, and the trust subscribers place in your brand; when it is neglected, the effects tend to show up in declining performance and harder-to-fix problems further down the line.
Best Practices
- Start with the fundamentals of Email Benchmarking Process and build from a clear baseline, so later improvements are measurable rather than assumed.
- Keep Email Benchmarking Process consistent with how the rest of your email programme works, so no single initiative works against another.
- Review how Email Benchmarking Process is handled in your own data and adjust from what you see, rather than copying what another brand does.
- Test one change at a time and measure the effect before rolling it out more widely.
- Revisit your approach to Email Benchmarking Process regularly, because audience behaviour and inbox technology keep moving.
- Make sure the basics — relevance, timing, and honesty — are solid before chasing more advanced tactics.
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Related Glossary Terms
A/B Testing
A/B testing in email marketing is the practice of sending two variations of an email to a small sample of your list to determine which version performs better before sending the winner to the remaining subscribers.
Above the Fold in Email
Above the fold in email refers to the content visible to a recipient before they scroll, a critical area for first impressions and primary calls to action.
Account-Based Marketing Email
An account-based marketing email is a highly targeted message sent to a specific organisation or decision-maker group as part of a focused B2B strategy.
Announcement Email
An announcement email is a dedicated campaign that communicates a specific update, milestone, or change to subscribers, from product launches and feature releases to company news and events.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is a metric that measures the average revenue generated per email subscriber over a specific period, used to evaluate list value and campaign effectiveness.
Attention Rate
Attention rate is the percentage of email opens that last longer than 5 seconds, distinguishing genuine reads from passive opens, preview-pane views, or Apple MPP auto-loads.
Frequently Asked Questions
Good practice here means handling Email Benchmarking Process in a way that is relevant, timely, and honest for your audience. The email benchmarking process is a systematic approach to comparing your campaign performance against industry standards, historical data, and competitor performance to identify improvement opportunities. Done well, it improves engagement and builds trust; done poorly, it creates friction that costs you results.
Because it touches the parts of email that drive outcomes: relevance, trust, and delivery. Small improvements compound, while repeated mistakes quietly erode the health of your programme.
The most common problems are treating Email Benchmarking Process as a one-off task, ignoring what the data says, and copying competitors without testing. All three lead to effort that does not translate into better results.
Compare the metrics it should influence — engagement, conversions, and deliverability — before and after you make changes. Trends over time matter far more than any single send.
It supports the same goal as the rest of your email programme: the right message to the right person at the right time. Aligned with segmentation and automation, it reinforces everything else rather than competing with it.