Email Open Rate
Measure campaign engagement by calculating the percentage of delivered emails that generated an open. Enter delivered volume and tracked opens to benchmark against industry averages, refine segmentation, and optimise subject lines and preview text.
Metrics vary by platform; verify with your email service analytics before reporting or making strategic decisions.
Examples
- 1,450 opens out of 2,800 deliveries ⇒ 51.79% open rate (≈ 1 open per 1.9 sends).
- 320 opens from 1,000 newsletters ⇒ 32.00% open rate (≈ 1 per 3.1 sends).
- 9,500 opens from 25,000 transactional emails ⇒ 38.00% open rate.
- 70,000 opens across 210,000 sends ⇒ 33.33% open rate for a product announcement.
- 850 opens from 1,400 onboarding emails ⇒ 60.71% open rate (high-intent segment).
FAQ
Does this account for spam filters?
It uses the counts your email platform records after delivery. Emails caught in spam folders may not register opens even if delivered.
Can sent be zero?
No, at least one email must be sent to calculate a rate.
Is this unique opens?
Use unique opens if available for more accurate rates.
How can I improve a low open rate?
Test concise subject lines, personalize sender names, clean inactive contacts, and align send times with subscriber time zones to lift open rates.
Additional Information
- Formula: Open rate = (Opened emails ÷ Delivered emails) × 100.
- Apple Mail Privacy Protection, image blocking, and proxy caching can inflate or suppress opens—pair this metric with click-through rate and conversions.
- Segment campaigns by audience, send time, and subject line personalisation to lift engagement.
- Compare results with industry benchmarks from providers like Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Campaign Monitor, adjusting for list size and send frequency.
- Track both unique and total opens; unique opens better reflect engagement when subscribers revisit messages multiple times.