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Marketing Benchmark Report: Email & SMS | Q2 2026

Published on August 12, 2026

About the Marketing Benchmark Report

The inbox is changing. And the metrics marketers rely on are changing with it.

In Q2, promotional email engagement remained resilient, while triggered campaigns continued to lose click momentum as marketers expanded automation into new use cases. At the same time, AI-powered inbox experiences are giving Gmail and Yahoo more control over how messages appear before the open—raising the stakes for relevance, creative, and clear brand signals.

Meanwhile, SMS performance remains steady, with delivery improving and unsubscribe rates declining.

And for the first time, this report expands its benchmark analysis to include European email performance, giving marketers a broader view of how engagement is evolving across markets.

The Q2 2026 Email & SMS Marketing Benchmark Report analyzes performance data from April 1–June 30, 2026, across retail, travel, financial services & insurance, and media.

What You’ll Learn Inside

  • Where email engagement is growing—and where it’s losing momentum
  • Why promotional emails are holding up better than triggered campaigns
  • How Gmail and Yahoo’s latest AI-powered inbox changes affect marketers
  • What rising unsubscribe rates really mean for email performance
  • How engagement differs across retail, travel, financial services & insurance, and media
  • Why clicks are becoming an increasingly important measure of meaningful engagement
  • How SMS delivery, clicks, and unsubscribe rates are evolving
  • New European email benchmarks and performance trends
  • How privacy and tracking changes are reshaping email marketing in Europe
  • Testing opportunities and strategic guidance for improving performance

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