Canadian E-Commerce Email Benchmarks 2026: What Good Actually Looks Like

One of the most common questions we get from Canadian e-commerce brands is: “Are our email numbers good?”

It’s a deceptively difficult question to answer, because benchmarks vary significantly by industry, list size, sending frequency, and whether you’re measuring campaigns or flows. A 22% open rate might be excellent for a high-volume fashion brand and below average for a low-volume specialty retailer. A 2% click rate might be strong for a promotional campaign and weak for a targeted VIP send.

This post provides 2026 benchmarks for Canadian e-commerce email performance across key metrics and industries — and explains what’s driving the numbers at both ends of the range.

---

How to Read Email Benchmarks

Before diving into numbers, some context:

Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP): Since Apple Mail’s privacy update in 2021, open rates have been significantly inflated for brands with high iOS/Mac Mail audiences. MPP pre-fetches email pixels, registering an “open” even when the email isn’t read. If you see open rates above 50%, you’re likely seeing significant MPP inflation. Adjusted open rates (subtracting estimated MPP opens) are a better benchmark.

CASL consent quality: Canadian brands with strong CASL-compliant consent practices tend to have higher engagement benchmarks than the global average because their lists contain genuinely consented, interested subscribers.

Platform differences: Benchmarks vary between platforms. Klaviyo’s revenue attribution model tends to show higher email revenue percentages than some other platforms because of its 5-day click + 1-day open attribution window.

With those caveats noted, here are 2026 benchmarks for Canadian e-commerce brands:

---

Overall Canadian E-Commerce Email Benchmarks

Metric	Below Average	Average	Good	Excellent
Campaign open rate	Under 18%	18–24%	24–32%	32%+
Campaign click rate	Under 1.5%	1.5–2.5%	2.5–4%	4%+
Click-to-open rate	Under 8%	8–12%	12–18%	18%+
Unsubscribe rate per send	Over 0.5%	0.3–0.5%	0.1–0.3%	Under 0.1%
Spam complaint rate	Over 0.15%	0.08–0.15%	0.03–0.08%	Under 0.03%
Email revenue share	Under 15%	15–22%	22–32%	32%+
List growth rate (monthly)	Under 1%	1–3%	3–5%	5%+

---

Industry-Specific Benchmarks for Canadian E-Commerce

Fashion & Apparel

Canadian fashion brands have engaged audiences — consumers who care about aesthetics and tend to open emails with strong visual content.

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	22–28%	28–36%
Click rate	2–3.5%	3.5–5.5%
Revenue share	20–28%	28–40%
Cart abandonment recovery	8–14%	14–22%

Fashion campaigns perform best with strong hero imagery, seasonal storytelling, and segmentation by gender, category preference, and purchase history.

Health, Wellness & Supplements

Canadian health and wellness brands benefit from high subscriber interest — people who sign up for supplement or wellness brand emails are genuinely invested in the category.

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	26–34%	34–44%
Click rate	2.5–4%	4–6%
Revenue share	25–35%	35–45%
Replenishment flow conversion	15–22%	22–35%

Replenishment flows are the key differentiator — brands with well-built replenishment infrastructure significantly outperform those without.

Beauty & Skincare

Beauty is a high-engagement category with above-average email performance metrics.

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	28–36%	36–48%
Click rate	3–5%	5–8%
Revenue share	28–38%	38–50%
Post-purchase email purchase rate	8–15%	15–25%

Home & Lifestyle

Home and lifestyle brands have longer consideration cycles and somewhat lower conversion rates, but high average order values (AOV) mean email revenue per conversion is substantial.

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	20–28%	28–36%
Click rate	1.5–2.5%	2.5–4%
Revenue share	18–26%	26–35%
Cart abandonment recovery	7–12%	12–20%

Food & Beverage

Artisan, specialty, and functional food brands have passionate audiences and strong engagement, especially with storytelling and product education content.

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	24–32%	32–42%
Click rate	2–3.5%	3.5–5%
Revenue share	22–30%	30–42%

Sports & Outdoor

Outdoor and sporting brands have highly engaged communities but seasonal purchase cycles that can compress revenue attribution windows.

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	26–34%	34–44%
Click rate	2.5–4%	4–6%
Revenue share	20–30%	30–40%

---

Flow-Specific Benchmarks

Automated flows perform differently from campaigns. They’re triggered by specific behaviour, sent to smaller but more engaged audiences, and tend to have significantly higher engagement and conversion rates.

Welcome Series

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate (Email 1)	40–55%	55–70%
Open rate (Email 3–5)	25–38%	38–52%
Series-level conversion to first purchase	5–10%	10–20%
Revenue per subscriber entering series	$8–$20 CAD	$20–$45 CAD

Abandoned Cart Flow

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate (Email 1)	38–52%	52–65%
Recovery rate (% of abandoned carts purchased)	6–12%	12–20%
Revenue per abandoned cart	$12–$30 CAD	$30–$65 CAD

Browse Abandonment Flow

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate	32–45%	45–60%
Click rate	8–15%	15–25%
Conversion rate	1–3%	3–6%

Post-Purchase Series

Metric	Average	Good
Email 3 (product tips) open rate	35–48%	48–62%
Cross-sell email conversion	3–7%	7–14%
Review request response rate	4–8%	8–15%

Win-Back Flow

Metric	Average	Good
Open rate (Email 1)	18–28%	28–38%
Win-back conversion	4–8%	8–15%
Revenue per re-engaged customer	$40–$80 CAD	$80–$150 CAD

---

CASL Impact on Benchmarks

Canadian brands with strong CASL-compliant consent practices tend to outperform these benchmarks. Here’s why:

Higher consent quality = higher engagement: Subscribers who actively opted in (express consent) engage more than those who were added via implied consent or borderline practices. A list of express consent subscribers typically shows 20–30% higher open rates than a list with mixed consent quality.

Better list hygiene = better deliverability: CASL compliance encourages regular list hygiene practices (suppressing unengaged contacts, removing lapsed implied-consent contacts) that improve deliverability and engagement metrics.

Targeted sending = better performance: CASL-conscious brands tend to be more thoughtful about who they send to, which improves per-send metrics even if it reduces total send volume.

---

How to Use These Benchmarks

Diagnosing below-average performance:

Open rates below average:

• Check deliverability — are emails landing in inbox or spam/promotions?
• Review subject line testing — are you A/B testing subject lines?
• Check send time — are you sending at optimal EST/CST/MST/PST for your audience?
• Review list quality — are you sending to large unengaged segments?

Click rates below average:

• Review email content relevance — is it segmented and relevant?
• Check call-to-action clarity — is one clear action being asked of the reader?
• Review mobile optimisation — 60%+ of Canadian emails are opened on mobile

Email revenue share below average:

• Likely a flow coverage issue — check which flows are active
• May also be an attribution issue — check your ESP’s attribution window settings
• Could be a segmentation issue — campaigns to full unengaged list suppress overall performance

---

Setting Your 2026 Email Goals

Based on these benchmarks, a reasonable 12-month goal for a Canadian e-commerce brand starting from an average position:

• Open rate: Move from 22% to 28–32%
• Click rate: Move from 2% to 3–4%
• Email revenue share: Move from 18% to 28–35%
• Abandoned cart recovery: Move from 8% to 14–18%

These aren’t aggressive targets — they’re achievable with proper flow build-out, segmentation, and consistent campaign management.

---

How Excelohunt Helps Canadian Brands Reach Benchmark

Excelohunt builds and manages email programmes for Canadian e-commerce brands — handling everything from flow build-out and campaign management to list hygiene, CASL compliance, and ongoing optimisation.

We work across Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, and Mailchimp, and our clients consistently reach the “good” benchmark range within 90 days.

---

Want to Know How Your Brand Benchmarks?

Our free audit analyses your current email metrics against Canadian industry benchmarks — and gives you a prioritised roadmap to close the gap.

Book your free email marketing audit and find out how your Canadian e-commerce email performance stacks up.