Understanding newsletter statistics: Which key figures really matter

At a glance:
The most important points in 60 seconds

1. Which newsletter key figure is the most important?
That depends on the campaign objective. For an editorial newsletter, the read rate may be particularly important. For a product campaign, clicks and conversions matter more. For an event invitation, registrations and actual attendance are the key indicators.

2. What is a good open rate?
The eworx Email Marketing Benchmark Report 2026 reports an average open rate of 33 percent for 2025. However, the right benchmark depends heavily on the industry, target audience, and campaign type.

3. Is the open rate enough to measure success?
No. Technical systems such as spam filters and proxy servers can affect open rates. You should therefore also evaluate read rates, clicks, conversions, bounces, and unsubscribes. Some automated clicks are filtered out in the eworx Marketing Suite.

4. How can I tell which content works?
Analyze clicks on individual articles and calls to action. Heatmaps, top and flop links, and the click-to-open rate show which content actually triggers a reaction among subscribers who opened the newsletter.

5. How can I optimize my newsletters using statistics?
Compare similar campaigns over a longer period. Test subject lines, content, and calls to action. Also analyze individual target groups and the long-term activity of your subscribers..

Define the goal first,
then open the statistics

A click rate of five percent can be very good or disappointing. A newsletter with a clear offer should generate more clicks than a detailed member update. The latter may already achieve its goal if the content is read directly in the email. Before analyzing the results, ask yourself these questions:

• What should the target audience do after reading?
• Who did you address?
• Was there a clear next step?
• Was the newsletter intended to inform or drive traffic to the website?
• Which previous campaign is suitable for comparison?
• How do you measure the desired action?

The most important key figure is determined by the campaign objective.

What are
newsletter statistics?

Once you have defined your campaign objective, newsletter statistics help you measure the success of your campaign. They show how subscribers respond to an email campaign and provide information about deliveries, opens, reading behavior, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes.

Good campaign monitoring goes one step further. It compares newsletters, target groups, and time periods. This allows you to identify trends and make decisions based on your own data.

For this purpose, the eworx Marketing Suite provides current campaign figures, comparative figures, heatmaps, a 24-hour analysis, and A/B tests, among other features.

These nine newsletter key figures you should know

Benchmarks help,
but your own figures help more

The eworx Email Marketing Benchmark Report 2026 is based on 164 million emails sent and 42,595 campaigns analyzed across 15 industries. It shows the following cross-industry averages for 2025:

The average figures provide a useful point of reference. However, what matters most is how they compare with your own campaigns. An open rate of 30 percent can already be a success if previous newsletters only achieved 25 percent. Conversely, an open rate of 40 percent may still indicate room for improvement if similar campaigns consistently performed significantly better in the past. That is why the most important benchmark is usually not the industry average, but the performance of your own newsletters over time.

Example:
How to evaluate the entire performance chain

The open rate is roughly in line with the cross-industry benchmark. However, the click-to-open rate shows room for improvement. You should therefore review the content and call to action first. The conversion rate on the registration page, on the other hand, appears solid. A new landing page would not be the first measure to take.

Opens show attention,
Clicks show interest

The open rate shows whether the subject line and sender are effective. The click rate shows whether the content is compelling. A high number of opens but few clicks therefore indicates room for improvement in the content or call to action. A low number of opens but many clicks, on the other hand, may indicate a small but active target audience.

What matters is how the key figures work together – not any single figure.

Campaign statistics and subscriber statistics
belong together

Campaign statistics show what a campaign has achieved. Subscriber statistics show which subscribers remain active over the long term. This helps you answer questions such as:

• Are new subscribers more active?
• Which target groups click regularly?
• Are there differences by region, language, or interest?
• Which subscribers are becoming less active?
• Who is suitable for a reactivation campaign?
• Which responses should be transferred to the CRM?

These insights help you create better segments and more relevant follow-up campaigns.

From key figures
to concrete actions

Key figures alone will not improve a newsletter. What matters is the actions you derive from them. The following overview shows common patterns in newsletter statistics and the optimizations they may suggest.

In the eworx Marketing Suite, you can identify these developments directly in the campaign and subscriber statistics. This allows you to see not only what happened, but also to determine which optimization makes the most sense next.

Good newsletters
continue to evolve after they are sent

Sending the newsletter does not mark the end of the campaign. It provides the basis for your next decision. The most important key figure is not the one with the highest value. What matters is which key figure reflects your campaign objective and leads to a clear action. Define your objective. Choose the right key figure. Compare similar campaigns. Continue testing specific changes. This turns your newsletter statistics into a tool for better decision-making.