Little new UK-specific data landed this month; the core UK reference is the DMA's July report. Assumed definitions: open rate and click rate as each publisher defines them (Klaviyo and BS&Co measure against delivered emails); no UK ecommerce open-rate figure could be accessed, so open placement uses a broader global ecommerce cut.
01DMA / Validity · Jul 9DMA: UK retail email click rate 1.0%, travel 1.2%
Metric: click rate, UK retail sector, from the DMA Email Benchmarking Report 2026 (published 9 Jul 2026, sponsored by Validity). Sector averages reported: retail 1.0%, travel 1.2%, the two lowest sectors. The report draws on data from six email service providers, so it is vendor-fed data. Period covered, sample size and exact click definition are in the gated full report and were not accessible; the public page only says it shows 'record click-through rates' overall.
Change versus prior run: no prior figure from the DMA was obtained. Guy Hanson (Validity) wrote that retail and travel looked as if they had lost half their click performance year over year, but said that was unlikely to be real and pointed to AI inbox summaries instead. Treat that as commentary, not a published prior figure. The retail 1.0% is also a whole-sector figure, not ecommerce-only. Retail open rate was not found.
Your click rate: 2.1% is above the DMA UK retail average of 1.0%; the DMA click definition (per delivered or per send) was not confirmed, and no open comparison was available.
02Klaviyo · Feb 24Klaviyo 2026: ecommerce campaign opens 28.7–33.1%, clicks 1.24–2.03%
Standing annual reference, not news. Klaviyo's 2026 benchmarks (published 24 Feb 2026) cover email campaigns by ecommerce sub-sector; the article body cites over 205,000 brands (its AI summary says 183,000). Vendor data from Klaviyo customers, not UK-specific, and period covered is not stated on the page. Campaign average open rate across industries is 31% (top 10%: 45.1%); sub-sector averages run from 28.7% (mass merchant) to 33.1% (clothing & accessories).
Campaign average click rate is 1.69% (top 10%: 3.38%); sub-sectors run from 1.24% (health & beauty) to 2.03% (toys & hobbies). Automated flows are much higher: 32.2% open and 5.58% click on average. Klaviyo notes Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens. No prior-edition figure was retrieved. Do not blend with the DMA figures: different method, sample and geography.
Your open: 22% is below Klaviyo's global campaign sub-sector averages (28.7–33.1%). Your click: 2.1% is above every sub-sector average but below the 3.38% top-10% level; flows and campaigns are not separated in your figures.
03BS&Co · Oct 5Agency data: ecommerce campaign opens 44.16%, clicks 0.53% in September
BS&Co's September 2026 edition (published 5 Oct) aggregates 9 ecommerce brands and 6.3 million emails managed by one US agency, via Klaviyo's reporting API. Campaign open rate 44.16% (up from 43.22% in August on a restated basis); campaign click rate 0.53% (up from 0.49%); flows 34.82% open, 2.20% click. Rates are against delivered emails. It is a small, agency-specific, not UK-specific sample, weighted to one large brand (70% of recipients), and it notes Apple MPP inflates opens.
Method change: from this edition data comes from the API rather than Klaviyo Executive Business Review exports, and August figures were restated. Caveat: it quotes Klaviyo industry averages of 37.93% open and 1.29% click for campaigns, which differ from the 31% and 1.69% on Klaviyo's own page; the source of the difference is unexplained.
For your benchmarks: treat this as a directional, non-UK data point; it shows wide spread between publishers (open 22%–44%, click 0.5%–2.1% depending on source).
04Validity · Sep 4French and Italian regulators require consent for open-tracking pixels
Validity (vendor commentary) reports that France's CNIL and Italy's Garante have ruled email open-tracking pixels need explicit consent separate from marketing opt-in. France's compliance deadline was 14 Jul 2026 and Italy's is 28 Oct; Germany's DSK has signalled guidance. Validity expects short-term performance impact and a shift away from open-rate dependency.
This is not a UK rule and the post does not claim UK effect. It matters for comparability: benchmarks that include EU subscribers may see open measurement degrade. No published open-rate shift was quantified.
For your benchmarks: your 22% open may not be comparable to published opens if your list includes French or Italian subscribers; check consent and tracking settings.
05Validity · Sep 23Validity: opens and clicks may understate value after Apple's iOS 27
Validity's 23 Sep note says that after Apple's September 2026 release (iOS 27 with Siri AI, Apple Intelligence upgrades in Mail), marketers should expect opens and clicks to underrepresent the usefulness of promotional emails, and click rates may decline as Siri does more of the work. Siri AI is opt-in, in beta, English only, and unavailable in the EU. No quantified effect given.
Earlier (17 Jul), Validity cited Zeta Global data: 40% unique opens versus an 11% 'true open' rate once mailbox-provider inflation is stripped out. This is secondhand vendor data, and Validity reported Gmail open-rate drops in Q1 while clicks held steady.
For your benchmarks: your click rate is the steadier comparison; read open-rate placements as directional only.
Enable JavaScript to read this edition.