Click to open rate benchmark for ecommerce: the real numbers, and why yours probably looks too low

Search for a click to open rate benchmark for ecommerce and you’ll find numbers from 2% to 15%. Most never say where they came from. Some are a decade old. And almost none mention that Apple Mail is quietly messing with the maths.

So I went to the original reports and only kept numbers I could check on the source page. Then I’ll show you how to read your own CTOR honestly, because the benchmark is only useful if your number is measured the same way.

Tricks first, maths after. Let’s go.

Click to open rate benchmark for ecommerce: the verified numbers

Two big, recent datasets publish CTOR for ecommerce and retail. They don’t agree, and that’s fine. They measure different senders.

The MailerLite figures come from its 2026 benchmark report: over 3.6 million campaigns from 181,000 accounts, reported as medians. The GDMA numbers come from its International Email Benchmark, which pools anonymised data from ESPs like SAP Emarsys, Marigold and Selzy.

Notice the pattern: ecommerce sits below the all-industry average in both. MailerLite has e-commerce at 4.01% against 6.81% overall. GDMA has retail at 6.3% against 7.6% overall, and says retail CTOR has fallen 2.8 points since 2022.

Why? Volume. GDMA found retail sent 81% of all emails in its 2024 data, averaging 810 campaigns per retailer, against 163 in other sectors. Lots of promos, lots of opens, fewer clicks per open.

My practical read: for a Shopify brand sending regular promotional campaigns, around 4–6% CTOR is typical. Under 3% on most campaigns means the content isn’t earning the click. Consistently above 7–8% on campaigns is strong. Flows like abandoned cart usually beat these numbers because the intent is higher, so never mix the two.

The formula (and the one trap)

That last line is the useful one. Click rate is just open rate times CTOR. So if your click rate drops, you can tell immediately whether people stopped opening or stopped clicking.

The trap: opens aren’t real opens anymore. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection “prevents senders from seeing if you’ve opened the email message”, and Klaviyo’s help docs explain it pre-fetches the tracking pixel, so an email can show as opened whether or not anyone looked at it. Klaviyo says it has no way to tell a human open from an automated one for those profiles.

Apple also notes MPP doesn’t extend to links. So clicks are real, opens are inflated, and CTOR, which divides one by the other, comes out lower than reality. MailerLite says the same thing in its report: real CTOR is higher than the dashboard number.

8 tricks to raise your click to open rate

1. Put the main button on the first screen

On a phone, most people decide in the first scroll. If your hero image is a full screen tall and the button sits under it, a lot of openers never see the ask. Headline, one line of copy, button. Then the rest.

2. Make the email deliver what the subject line promised

“40% off ends tonight” in the subject and a brand story at the top of the email is a CTOR killer. MailerLite’s advice is to align the subject line with the main CTA. The open is a promise. Keep it in the first line.

3. One main action, several ways to take it

One offer, one destination. But make the headline, the image and the button all link to it. More clickable surface for the same goal usually means more clicks without splitting attention.

4. Send smaller, sharper segments

This is the big one. GDMA found campaigns under 5,000 emails hit a 10.2% CTOR, while batches over 250,000 managed 2.9%. Bigger senders send to more people, so it’s not a pure apples-to-apples test, but the direction is clear. Split by what people bought or browsed, and send each group the products they care about.

5. Use product blocks from their own behaviour

A grid of “recently viewed” or “picked for you” products gives every opener something personal to click. Same idea that makes your browse abandonment flow work, applied to campaigns.

6. Write button text that says what happens

“Shop the restock” beats “Learn more”. “Get my 15% code” beats “Click here”. Tell people exactly what they get for the tap.

7. Add a P.S. link

People who scroll to the bottom are your most engaged readers. A one-line P.S. with a second link (bestseller, gift guide, the free-shipping line) catches clicks you’d otherwise lose.

8. Stop emailing people who never click

Profiles that “open” every email but haven’t clicked in months are often Apple auto-opens. They pad your denominator and drag CTOR down. A Klaviyo sunset flow cleans them out properly, and helps your Gmail and Yahoo inbox placement too.

Worked examples

How to read your CTOR in Klaviyo (without fooling yourself)

1. Benchmark campaigns and flows separately. A 12% CTOR on cart emails and a 3% on newsletters average out to nonsense.
2. Compare against your own last 10 campaigns, not just the industry. Your baseline is the benchmark that matters most.
3. Check your Apple share. In Klaviyo, go to Analytics > Custom reports, build a campaign performance report and add Unique Apple Privacy Opens. If that’s a big slice of opens, read CTOR as a floor, not the true figure.
4. Lead with click rate. MailerLite calls click rate the most accurate engagement signal because it doesn’t rely on opens. The ecommerce median there is 1.07%.
5. Then follow the money. Clicks are a means. Placed order rate and revenue per recipient tell you if the click was worth anything. Score the full set with the email benchmark calculator.

What to fix first, based on your numbers

If opens are the problem, run your next subject lines through the subject line tester and check your setup with the deliverability checker. If clicks turn into orders but baskets are small, my post on how to increase AOV with email picks up from there. And to see what better clicks are worth in revenue, read what share of revenue should come from email.

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