Quick Answer: The average email open rate across all industries in 2025 is 21.5%, with click-through rates at 2.62%. Healthcare leads with 28.3% open rates, while retail struggles at 17.2%. AI-personalized emails outperform generic ones by 47%.

Executive Summary

This comprehensive report analyzes 15,000 email templates and 2.5 million emails sent through Folderly EmailGen AI platform in 2024-2025. Our findings reveal significant shifts in email marketing performance, driven by AI adoption, privacy changes, and evolving consumer behaviors.

Key Findings at a Glance

✓Overall open rate: 21.5% (up from 20.8% in 2024)
✓Overall CTR: 2.62% (up from 2.23% in 2024)
✓AI-personalized emails: 47% higher engagement
✓Best send time: Tuesday 10 AM recipient's time
✓Mobile opens: 61% of all email opens

📊 Industry-Specific Benchmarks

Open Rates by Industry (2025)

Industry	Open Rate	CTR	Conversion	ROI
Healthcare	28.3%	3.8%	4.2%	$48 per $1
Financial Services	27.1%	3.2%	3.8%	$44 per $1
SaaS/Technology	24.8%	3.5%	3.1%	$42 per $1
Education	23.9%	2.9%	2.8%	$38 per $1
Real Estate	22.4%	2.7%	2.5%	$40 per $1
Manufacturing	21.8%	2.4%	2.2%	$35 per $1
Marketing/Advertising	20.6%	2.8%	2.6%	$36 per $1
E-commerce	19.2%	2.5%	2.9%	$45 per $1
Retail	17.2%	2.1%	2.3%	$38 per $1
Entertainment	16.8%	1.9%	1.8%	$32 per $1

Reply Rates for Cold Outreach

Industry	Reply Rate	Positive Reply	Meeting Booked
SaaS to Enterprise	8.7%	3.2%	1.8%
Consulting Services	7.9%	2.8%	1.5%
Marketing Agencies	7.2%	2.5%	1.3%
Recruiting	9.4%	4.1%	2.2%
Financial Services	6.8%	2.1%	1.1%

📈 The AI Revolution in Email Marketing

AI vs. Traditional Email Performance

AI-Personalized Emails:

✓Open Rate: 31.7% (vs. 21.5% traditional)
✓Click Rate: 3.86% (vs. 2.62% traditional)
✓Reply Rate: 12.3% (vs. 8.1% traditional)
✓Unsubscribe Rate: 0.8% (vs. 2.1% traditional)

What Makes AI Emails Perform Better?

Based on our analysis of top-performing templates:

✓
Dynamic Personalization (beyond just {FirstName})
- ✓Company-specific pain points
- ✓Industry-relevant examples
- ✓Recent trigger events
✓
Optimal Length
- ✓AI emails average 127 words
- ✓Traditional emails average 218 words
- ✓Sweet spot: 75-150 words
✓
Subject Line Intelligence
- ✓AI subject lines: 41% open rate
- ✓Traditional: 21% open rate
- ✓Key: Question-based, specific, no spam triggers

📅 Best Times to Send Emails (2025 Data)

By Day of Week

✓Tuesday: 24.8% open rate
✓Thursday: 23.2% open rate
✓Wednesday: 22.1% open rate
✓Monday: 19.3% open rate
✓Friday: 17.8% open rate
✓Sunday: 15.2% open rate
✓Saturday: 13.9% open rate

By Time of Day (Recipient's Local Time)

✓10:00 AM: 26.3% open rate
✓2:00 PM: 24.7% open rate
✓11:00 AM: 23.8% open rate
✓9:00 AM: 22.4% open rate
✓3:00 PM: 21.9% open rate

Industry-Specific Optimal Send Times

✓B2B SaaS: Tuesday 10 AM, Thursday 2 PM
✓Healthcare: Wednesday 11 AM, Friday 9 AM
✓Financial: Tuesday 9 AM, Thursday 10 AM
✓E-commerce: Thursday 8 PM, Sunday 2 PM
✓Real Estate: Saturday 10 AM, Tuesday 6 PM

🎯 Subject Line Performance Analysis

Top Performing Subject Line Patterns

✓
Question-Based (28.4% open rate)
- ✓"Quick question about [specific thing]"
- ✓"Is [pain point] affecting [company]?"
- ✓"How does [company] handle [challenge]?"
✓
Number-Specific (26.7% open rate)
- ✓"3 ways [company] can [benefit]"
- ✓"15-minute call about [specific topic]"
- ✓"[X]% improvement for companies like [company]"
✓
Personalized Reference (25.9% open rate)
- ✓"Saw your post about [topic]"
- ✓"[Mutual connection] suggested I reach out"
- ✓"Re: [Company]'s [recent announcement]"

Subject Lines to Avoid (Under 10% Open Rate)

✓"Revolutionary solution for your business"
✓"Don't miss this opportunity"
✓"Free consultation available"
✓"We can help you grow"
✓Anything with "RE:" that's not a real reply

📱 Mobile vs. Desktop Performance

Device Breakdown (2025)

✓Mobile: 61% of opens (up from 54% in 2024)
✓Desktop: 35% of opens
✓Tablet: 4% of opens

Mobile-Specific Insights

✓Subject lines over 40 characters see 23% drop in mobile opens
✓Preheader text increases mobile opens by 18%
✓Single-column layouts perform 31% better on mobile
✓CTA buttons need 44px minimum height for mobile

🌍 Geographic Performance Variations

Open Rates by Region

✓Nordic Countries: 29.4%
✓Western Europe: 24.8%
✓North America: 22.1%
✓Australia/NZ: 21.7%
✓Eastern Europe: 20.3%
✓Asia-Pacific: 18.9%
✓Latin America: 17.2%
✓Middle East: 16.8%

Time Zone Considerations

✓Send in recipient's local time: +34% open rate
✓Account for holidays: -67% open rate on local holidays
✓Friday afternoons: -41% effectiveness globally

💰 ROI and Revenue Impact

Average ROI by Email Type

✓Welcome Series: $51 per $1 spent
✓Abandoned Cart: $48 per $1 spent
✓Re-engagement: $45 per $1 spent
✓Newsletter: $42 per $1 spent
✓Cold Outreach: $38 per $1 spent
✓Promotional: $36 per $1 spent

Revenue Attribution

✓Direct Revenue: 23% of email recipients make a purchase
✓Influenced Revenue: 41% research after email before buying
✓Lifetime Value: Email subscribers worth 3.2x social followers

🔮 2025 Trends and Predictions

What's Working Now

✓
Interactive Elements
- ✓Emails with polls/surveys: +28% engagement
- ✓Countdown timers: +21% conversions
- ✓Embedded videos: +19% click rates
✓
Hyper-Personalization
- ✓Behavioral triggers: +45% open rates
- ✓AI-generated content: +38% engagement
- ✓Dynamic content blocks: +32% clicks
✓
Privacy-First Approaches
- ✓Clear unsubscribe: -61% spam complaints
- ✓Preference centers: +23% engagement
- ✓Data transparency: +18% trust scores

Emerging Trends for Late 2025

✓AI-Powered Send Time Optimization
✓Voice-Activated Email Interactions
✓Augmented Reality in Email
✓Blockchain-Verified Sender Reputation
✓Zero-Party Data Collection

📊 Performance by Email Length

Optimal Word Counts

✓Cold Outreach: 75-125 words (12.3% reply rate)
✓Newsletters: 200-300 words (3.8% CTR)
✓Transactional: 50-100 words (71% open rate)
✓Nurture Sequences: 150-200 words (4.2% CTR)
✓Sales Follow-ups: 50-75 words (15.7% reply rate)

The "Goldilocks Zone"

Emails between 75-150 words consistently outperform both shorter and longer emails across all metrics.

🎨 Design and Formatting Impact

Visual Elements Performance

✓Plain Text Style: 3.3% CTR (highest)
✓Single Image: 2.8% CTR
✓Multiple Images: 2.1% CTR
✓Heavy Graphics: 1.6% CTR

CTA Button Performance

✓Button vs. Text Link: +28% clicks
✓Contrasting Colors: +21% clicks
✓Above the Fold: +37% clicks
✓Multiple CTAs: -21% effectiveness

🚫 Spam Factors and Deliverability

Words That Hurt Deliverability (2025)

✓"Guarantee" - 67% more likely to hit spam
✓"Act now" - 61% spam probability
✓"Limited time" - 58% spam probability
✓"Risk-free" - 54% spam probability
✓"Congratulations" - 52% spam probability

Deliverability Best Practices

✓SPF/DKIM/DMARC: 94% inbox rate (vs. 67% without)
✓List Hygiene: Clean quarterly for 23% better delivery
✓Engagement: Remove non-openers after 6 months
✓Warm-up: New domains need 4-6 week ramp

🤖 AI-Generated vs Human-Written Performance

Content Quality Metrics

Metric	AI-Generated	Human-Written	Hybrid
Open Rate	24.3%	19.8%	28.7%
Click Rate	3.2%	2.4%	3.9%
Reply Rate	9.8%	7.2%	11.4%
Spam Rate	1.2%	2.8%	0.9%

Key Insight

Hybrid approach (AI-generated + human-edited) consistently outperforms both pure AI and pure human approaches.

📈 Segmentation Impact

Performance by Segmentation Level

✓No Segmentation: 16.7% open rate
✓Basic Segmentation (industry): 21.5% open rate
✓Advanced Segmentation (behavior): 28.3% open rate
✓Hyper-Segmentation (AI-driven): 34.6% open rate

Most Effective Segmentation Criteria

✓Past email engagement
✓Company size
✓Industry vertical
✓Job title/seniority
✓Geographic location
✓Technology stack
✓Buying stage

💡 Key Takeaways for 2025

Do This:

✓Implement AI personalization - 47% performance boost
✓Send Tuesday/Thursday - 23% higher engagement
✓Keep emails under 150 words - 31% better reply rates
✓Use question-based subjects - 28% open rates
✓Optimize for mobile first - 61% of opens

Don't Do This:

✓Send on weekends (unless e-commerce)
✓Use spam trigger words
✓Send without segmentation
✓Ignore time zones
✓Use generic templates

📚 Methodology

Data Sources

✓15,222 email templates analyzed
✓2.5 million emails tracked
✓127 industries represented
✓84 countries included
✓12-month period (Jan 2024 - Jan 2025)

Statistical Confidence

✓95% confidence level
✓±2.3% margin of error
✓Outliers removed (top/bottom 5%)
✓Seasonal adjustments applied

🔗 Additional Resources

Industry Reports Referenced

Research Papers

✓"The Impact of AI on Email Marketing Performance" - MIT Sloan Review
✓"Privacy-First Email Marketing" - Harvard Business Review
✓"Mobile-First Design in B2B Communications" - Stanford Research

Tools for Implementation

✓Folderly EmailGen AI - AI email generation
✓Google Postmaster Tools - Deliverability monitoring
✓Mail-Tester - Spam score checking
✓Litmus - Email testing across clients
✓Really Good Emails - Design inspiration

📞 Get Your Custom Benchmark Report

Want to see how your email performance compares to your specific industry?

Generate Your Custom Report →

🎯 About This Report

This report is based on anonymous, aggregated data from Folderly EmailGen AI's platform. No individual customer data was used. All statistics represent industry averages and should be used as benchmarks rather than guarantees.

Report Authors

✓Vladislav Podolyako, Founder & CEO, Folderly
✓Anastasiia Ivannikov, Head of Data Analytics, Folderly

Last Updated

June 2025

Next Report

Q3 2025 (September)

Want to achieve above-average email performance? Try Folderly EmailGen AI - where these benchmarks come from.