The 2026 engagement snapshot
Better context for every click.
A look at email engagement across industries, based on campaigns sent through NewZapp. See how audiences open, click and connect.
This data represents a small snapshot of our sending in 2026.Engagement takes different shapes.
From education to housing, each audience brings its own habits. These are the average open and click rates shown for each industry in the source report.
12.10%
22.71%
14.54%
10.95%
10.86%
13.20%
11.18%
8.09%
Internal and external, side by side.
Campaign purpose helps put performance into perspective. Here’s how the report groups communications by audience.
Internal communications
Average open rate across staff-facing campaigns.
Average click rate
Emails sent
External communications
Average open rate across external-facing campaigns.
Average click rate
Emails sent
One score, a broader view.
The report brings several engagement signals together in its sentiment score, giving another way to look beyond a single open or click rate.
The score combines open rate, total opens, click rate and total clicks across the campaigns in this snapshot. It measures engagement with emails; it does not analyse the emotional tone of responses. Use it alongside your audience and campaign goals for a fuller picture.
When audiences are most engaged.
The report’s open and click rate heat maps reveal a useful pattern across the working week. They offer a starting point for testing your own send times.
Monday opens
Monday recorded the strongest overall weekday open rate in the heat map.
Monday click rate
Late afternoon clicks
At 17:00, the average click rate was above the overall 11.70% benchmark. The 15:00–17:00 window also showed open rates above 52%.
Open rate at 17:00
These are averages for campaigns grouped by their send day and hour. Audience, message and campaign volume vary by time slot, so test the pattern against your own sends.
Your best benchmark starts with your audience.
Use the industry figures as a starting point, then compare campaigns with a similar purpose, audience and call to action. An open shows attention; a click shows a reader took the next step.