Description
To put it simply, open rate measures how many recipients opened the email. As a starting point, it's very important to check. However, it shouldn't be your ultimate goal. Having many people open your email is great, but if none of them convert or open your external links, your email campaign won't accomplish its final objective.
Why This Matters
Initially, you can evaluate the effectiveness of your subject lines with this metric. These statistics will tell you which emails are opened by which recipients. Review this metric in conjunction with click rates and other metrics to decide how to continue improving your strategy.
How Open Rates Are Calculated
This rate can be calculated based on the number of people who displayed images (opened) or clicked on links in the email (implicit open).
It's possible that your actual open rate is higher than what is reported because:
- In the majority of email clients, images won't display unless the sender is a "trusted sender" or the user clicks the link to display them
- You might have a large portion of your list that receives text-only emails (rather than HTML)
Open rate formula:
Code
The expected result is 15% - 40%.
The following variables can influence your email open rate:
- Permission: Sending campaigns about content your subscribers actively chose to receive
- Relationship with the list: For example, an older, unconfirmed list won't perform as well as a targeted campaign
- Being delivered: Internet Service Providers know exactly how many of their users open/click/delete/ignore your emails. If you send to an active list of people who are engaged with the content you send them, you'll build your good reputation
- Frequency: Sending regularly, which you should communicate to your subscribers
- Subject: Clear and explicit subjects will give higher open rates
- Alternative views: Keep the [SHOWEMAIL] link ("View in browser") in your email header
- Multiplicity: Multiple links (since, as mentioned earlier, clicked links automatically generate an open) and numerous small images
Troubleshooting
Open rate below expected minimum of 15%
- Review your subject lines for clarity and relevance
- Check if your sender name is recognizable to recipients
- Analyze sending times - test different days and hours
- Verify your emails aren't landing in spam folders
Open tracking not working properly
- Ensure tracking pixels are enabled in your account settings
- Understand that text-only emails won't track opens via pixel
- Check if corporate firewalls are blocking tracking pixels
- Remember that Apple Mail privacy protection affects open tracking accuracy
Gap between opens and clicks
- Clicks without opens indicate image blocking but link clicking
- Review if your email client tests cover major providers
- Check if preview pane views are counted as opens
- Verify your ESP correctly records implicit opens from clicks
Opens showing 100% or abnormally high
- Check email forwarding that might inflate numbers
- Review if security scanners trigger false opens
- Look for bot activity, particularly in B2B campaigns
- Verify the campaign was sent to the intended segment
Related Articles
- Understanding email click rates - Next engagement metric
- Creating subject lines with AI - Improve open rates
- Understanding opens and implicit opens - Open tracking details
- Creating and sending A/B tests - Test for better opens
- Understanding campaign reports - Complete metrics overview