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Understand your campaign reports
A plain-English guide to the open, click, unsubscribe and delivery rates in your MailMachine reports, with good/average/poor bands.
Once a campaign has been sent, MailMachine gives you a report full of statistics - and those numbers are how you learn what works. This guide explains the headline metrics you'll see, with rough bands for what counts as poor, average or good, so you can read a report at a glance and plan your next campaign with evidence rather than guesswork.
To find these reports in the first place, see Track campaign performance.
Open rate
The percentage of recipients who opened your email. It's the first signal of whether your subject line and sender name are landing.
- Poor - less than 10%
- Average - 10% to 20%
- Good - above 20%
Click rate
The percentage of recipients who clicked a link in your campaign. This tells you whether your content and calls to action are compelling.
- Poor - less than 1%
- Average - 1% to 10%
- Good - above 10%
Unsubscribe rate
The percentage of recipients who unsubscribed. Some unsubscribes are normal and healthy; a sudden spike is the thing to watch.
- Poor - more than 1%
- Average - 0.5% to 1%
- Good - less than 0.5%
Delivery rate
The percentage of contacts who received your campaign - essentially your list minus the bounces.
- Poor - less than 70%
- Average - 70% to 90%
- Good - 90% to 100%
What to do when the numbers disappoint
Everything reads "poor" - the usual culprit is list quality. Old or bought-in lists perform badly; so does sending too often or sending content that isn't relevant. A re-engagement campaign to clean your list often helps.
Your figures don't match industry benchmarks - benchmarks vary a lot by sector and by B2B versus B2C. Smaller lists also swing more from campaign to campaign, and the season matters.
Delivery is below 90% - check your sender authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), look at the bounce detail to spot problem domains, and keep your list clean.
Nothing improves over time - A/B test your subject lines, content and send times; segment for more relevant messaging; and ask your subscribers what they actually want.
If a report looks wrong rather than just disappointing, open a support ticket and we'll take a look with you.