Understand open rates

Open rate measures how many recipients opened your email. It's an important first check - it tells you whether your subject line and sender name are working - but it isn't the whole story. Plenty of opens with no clicks or conversions means the campaign still isn't doing its job, so read this metric alongside your click rate, not on its own.

How open rate is calculated

An "open" is counted when someone displays the images in your email, or clicks a link (an implicit open):

(People who displayed images + people who clicked a link)
--------------------------------------------------------
        Total number of people you sent to

Your true open rate may actually be higher than reported, because many email apps don't load images unless you're a trusted sender, and text-only readers never trigger the tracking pixel at all.

A typical open rate sits between 15% and 40%.

What influences your open rate

• Permission - sending content people actively chose to receive.
• List relationship - an old, unconfirmed list won't perform like an engaged, targeted one.
• Deliverability - inbox providers watch how their users treat your mail; send to engaged people and your reputation grows.
• Frequency - send regularly, and tell subscribers what to expect.
• Subject line - clear and explicit beats clever and vague.
• A "view in browser" link - keeping it in your header gives an alternative open path.
• Links and images - because a click counts as an open, multiple links and small images can nudge the figure up.

Troubleshooting

Open rate below ~15% - review your subject lines, make sure your sender name is recognisable, test different send times, and confirm you're not landing in spam.

Open tracking seems off - tracking relies on a pixel, so text-only emails and image-blocking clients won't register. Apple Mail's privacy protection also inflates and blurs open data across the board.

Lots of opens but few clicks - that pattern usually means images are blocked but links still work. It's normal; lean on click and conversion data too.

Opens at 100% or implausibly high - forwarding, security scanners and bots (especially in B2B) can all trigger false opens. Check the campaign went to the segment you intended.

If your open tracking looks broken rather than just low, open a support ticket.