Email and SMS marketing benchmarks 2026: APAC edition

Dotdigital’s 2026 Global benchmark report shares benchmarks for key metrics like open rate, click rate, and unsubscribe rate across email and mobile marketing channels. This data is taken from over a billion campaigns, anonymized and averaged to give marketers a clear indicator of what success looks like.

In this blog, we’re focusing on APAC, offering comparisons to the global average, highlighting where APAC is leading globally, and spotting the year-on-year trends that marketers need to pay attention to.

Email marketing benchmarks in APAC

Email sends are up year on year, with the APAC region leading the charge. There has been a 44.1% increase in email sends among Dotdigital customers in the APAC region. Lots of things have changed in marketing over the last year, and marketers are investing more in the channel they trust.

Email also continues to be an audience favorite, with 60% of customers citing it as their preferred communication channel. With an increase in sends, let’s see how that has impacted engagement.

Use these benchmarks as a guide to see what’s possible and aim to hit or exceed them. Most importantly, always compare against your own results, aiming for a steady improvement over time as you optimize your email marketing strategy.

The average email open rates in APAC

What is a good open rate in APAC?

APAC trails the global average for open rates but is narrowing the gap with above-average growth.

Email open rate benchmarks for APAC:

• Open rate: 47.6%, up 11.8% year-on-year
• Unique open rate: 34.5%, up 12.9% year-on-year

Global open rate benchmarks:

• Open rate: 55.4%, up 6.5% year-on-year
• Unique open rate: 37.3%, up 7.2% year-on-year

How are open rates calculated?

• Open rate = (Total number of opened emails ÷ total number of emails delivered) × 100
• Unique open rate = (Number of unique recipients who opened the email ÷ total number of delivered emails) × 100

The average email click rates in APAC

What is a good email click rate in APAC?

The APAC region saw declines year-on-year in all click metrics and was the only region to experience this. There’s no need to panic, but check out these tips on boosting clicks from Dotdigital’s Email Marketing strategist, Brianna Martinez.

APAC click metric benchmarks:

• Click-through rate (CTR): 1.8%, a decrease of 5.6% year-on-year
• Unique click-through rate: 1%, a decrease of 7.92% year-on-year
• Click-to-open rate (CTOR): 2.8%, a decrease of 18.5% year-on-year

How are click rates calculated?

• Click-through rate = (total number of clicks ÷ total number of delivered emails) × 100
• Unique click-through rate = (number of unique recipients who clicked at least one link ÷ total number of delivered emails) × 100
• Click-to-open rate = (total number of clicks ÷ total number of opened emails) × 100

Email delivery metrics for APAC

Why is email deliverability important?

Even the best campaigns won’t perform if they don’t reach the inbox. Dotdigital’s Deliverability Consulting Lead, Lisa Dixon, shares the best ways to boost delivery and explains the crucial, and often misunderstood, difference between delivery and deliverability in this blog.

What is a good email delivery rate for APAC?

A good delivery rate is generally considered to be 97% or higher. Dotdigital customers in the APAC region are seeing an especially strong delivery rate of over 99%.

What is a good email bounce rate for APAC?

The APAC region sees lower bounce rates than the global average and the biggest year-on-year decline too, proving the region is continuing in the right direction.

Email bounce rates for APAC:

• Soft bounce rate: 0.71%, versus the global average of 0.74%
• Hard bounce rate: 0.04%, versus the global average of 0.05%
• Bounce rate: 0.75%, versus the global average of 0.79%

How are bounce rates calculated?

• Soft bounce rate = (Number of soft bounces ÷ number of emails sent) x 100
• Hard bounce rate = (Number of hard bounces ÷ number of emails sent) x 100
• Bounce rate = (Number of overall bounces ÷ number of emails sent) x 100
• Delivery rate = (Number of emails sent ÷ number of delivered emails) x 100

The average email unsubscribe rate for APAC

What is a good email unsubscribe rate in APAC?

APAC has the joint lowest email unsubscribe rate with the Americas at 0.12%, that’s 2% lower than the global average of 0.14%.

Unsubscribes are a natural part of email marketing, and low unsubscribe rates indicate that your audience values your content. Making it easy to unsubscribe is both a legal requirement and a best practice, as a clear, accessible unsubscribe link supports deliverability and inbox placement. It allows recipients to opt out easily rather than marking emails as spam, which can harm future reach.

As well as keeping unsubscribes low, quality list acquisition is an important part of any good email marketing strategy. Get tips for boosting email list growth in the full 2026 Global benchmark report.

Mobile marketing benchmarks in APAC

Mobile marketing channels are built for speed and immediacy, encouraging quick engagement. Delivered straight to a customer’s device, these messages naturally command attention, making them ideal for time-sensitive updates, limited-time offers, and reminders that drive fast action.

SMS click rates in APAC

What is a good SMS click rate in APAC?

The APAC region sees the highest SMS click rates globally at 32.4% compared to the global average click-through rate of 25.7%. This means that in APAC, SMS gets a click-through rate 18 times higher than email.

The average smartphone screen time is 4.8 hours per day, so it’s no surprise that mobile-first marketing channels are seeing such high engagement.

Average SMS click rates for APAC:

• Click-through rate: 32.4%
• Unique click-through rate: 21.6%

SMS unsubscribe in APAC

APAC has the highest unsubscribe rate of all regions at 0.71%, but a healthy unsubscribe rate is anything below 1%, so this isn’t a cause for concern.

Get tips for SMS marketing in the full Global benchmark report.

What is a healthy SMS unsubscribe rate in APAC?

SMS is highly effective at prompting action, but it’s more intrusive than email. To use it responsibly, marketers should comply with quiet hours regulations and carefully manage both the frequency and quality of SMS campaigns.

Quiet hours vary by region and define when you’re legally prohibited from sending marketing SMS messages; this is often overnight. Always check local regulations for your customers’ locations, schedule campaigns for compliant, optimal times, and apply these exclusions to automated SMS programs as well.

SMS average unsubscribe rate for APAC is:

• Unsubscribe rate: 0.71%

Email and mobile marketing benchmarks for APAC in 2026

Email remains a vital channel for marketers looking to engage customers and drive action. Strong engagement rates among Dotdigital customers show that targeted, personalised, and relevant campaigns deliver tangible results.

In mobile marketing, SMS continues to generate high click volumes, with APAC marketers seeing the highest SMS click rates globally. This suggests that marketers in the region are using the channel effectively to drive engagement and action.

Discover more insights, practical guidance, and industry-specific benchmarks in the 2026 Global benchmark report.