Email and SMS marketing benchmarks 2026: EMEA edition

Dotdigital’s 2026 Global benchmark report analyzes engagement, delivery, and unsubscribe rates from over a billion anonymized campaigns. This blog showcases results across the EMEA region, including where the region leads globally and key trends for marketers to watch.

Email marketing benchmarks in EMEA

Email sends were up year-on-year, and the channel continues to be an audience favorite with 60% of customers citing email as their preferred communication channel. With an increase in sends, let’s see how that impacted engagement.

The average email open rates in EMEA

What is a good open rate in EMEA?

The EMEA region saw strong open rates this year, coming in just above the global average at 56.3%, compared to 55.4%. For unique opens, EMEA is ever-so-slightly behind the global average at 37% compared to the global benchmark of 37.3%.

These numbers prove that email is still an incredibly powerful channel for getting your message in front of your customers.

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.

Email open rate benchmarks for EMEA:

• Open rate: 56.3%
• Unique open rate: 37%

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 EMEA

What is a good email click rate in EMEA?

Good news for EMEA marketers, the EMEA region beats the global average in all three core click metrics. This proves customers in this region are engaged with email marketing, and the channel is a valuable action driver.

EMEA click metric benchmarks:

• Click-through rate (CTR): EMEA benchmark is 4.4%, versus the global average of 3.7%
• Unique click-through rate: EMEA benchmark is 1.5% versus the global average of 1.4%
• Click-to-open rate (CTOR): EMEA benchmark is 4.1% versus the global average of 3.7%

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 EMEA

Why is email deliverability important?

Email delivery is one of the most important metrics there is, because 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 EMEA?

A good delivery rate is generally considered to be 97% or higher. Dotdigital customers in the EMEA region are seeing an especially strong delivery rate of over 99%. Dotdigital’s focus on compliance and customer trust helps keep all of our senders in good standing, maximizing deliverability and customer reach.

What is a good email bounce rate for EMEA?

Email delivery and bounce rates for EMEA are:

• Soft bounce rate: 0.79%
• Hard bounce rate: 0.06%
• Bounce rate: 0.84%
• Delivery rate: 99.16%

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 EMEA

What is a good email unsubscribe rate in EMEA?

The average email unsubscribe rate for EMEA is 0.15%. The EMEA region sees the highest unsubscribe rate globally. The global average is 0.14%, and both the APAC and Americas regions see an unsubscribe rate of 0.12%.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unsubscribes are to be expected, and a low level shows that your email list is happy with the content you’re sending.

Making unsubscribing easy is both the law and best practice, because a clear and easy-to-action unsubscribe link will help with overall deliverability and inbox placement. This is because customers can easily unsubscribe, rather than flagging your emails as spam, which would impact future reach.

Get tips for boosting email list growth in the full 2026 Global benchmark report.

Mobile marketing benchmarks in EMEA

Mobile marketing channels are short, sharp, and designed to drive clicks. With messages landing directly in the palm of a customer’s hand, they’re almost impossible to ignore. They’re perfect for timely updates, flash promotions, and reminders that prompt instant action.

SMS click rates in EMEA

What is a good SMS click rate in EMEA?

SMS is seeing real success for driving clicks, offering marketers a much higher click-through rate than email. Smartphone screen time is high, with the average screen time sitting at 4.8 hours per day; it’s no surprise that mobile-first marketing channels are seeing high engagement.

Average SMS click rates for EMEA:

• Click-through rate: 23.4%
• Unique click-through rate: 19.4%

SMS unsubscribes in EMEA

What is a healthy SMS unsubscribe rate in EMEA?

SMS is a great channel for driving action, but it’s also more intrusive than email. It’s important to always obey quiet hours laws for SMS, and to monitor frequency and quality of your 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.

A healthy SMS unsubscribe rate is anything below 1%.

SMS average unsubscribe rate for EMEA is:

• Unsubscribe rate: 0.2%

The EMEA region sees the lowest SMS unsubscribe rate globally. The global unsubscribe rate is 0.43%, the APAC region average is 0.71%, and the Americas region sees an average of 0.53%.

This is a good sign that marketers in the EMEA region are following SMS marketing best practices and keeping subscribers happy.

Get tips on SMS marketing, including what to be aware of in the full 2026 Global benchmark report.

Email and mobile marketing benchmarks for EMEA in 2026

Email is still a key channel for marketers to communicate with their customers and drive action. The healthy engagement rates shown by Dotdigital customers prove that targeted, personalized, and relevant marketing campaigns see real results.

When we look at mobile marketing, SMS is driving a huge number of clicks, and unsubscribe rates in the EMEA region are the lowest all around the globe. So EMEA marketers are doing a great job at leveraging the channel to drive clicks while also keeping their audience happy.

Get more insights, advice, and industry-specific benchmarks in the 2026 Global benchmark report.