Email Open Rate

What Is Email Open Rate?

Email open rate is the ratio of how many customers who receive a specific email open it. Marketing teams use email open rates to gauge how well an email campaign is working and whether the subject line was able to capture the recipient’s attention. Email open rates can also indicate whether messages are making their way to the recipient’s inbox or being flagged as spam.

How Are Email Open Rates Tracked?

Email open rates are monitored through tracking pixels. Tracking pixels are minuscule images attached to an email, and when the email is opened, a code embedded in the image sends a signal to the sender.

The issue with using tracking pixels is that they’re only effective with HTML emails. If a user opens an email as a plain-text message, the tracking pixel isn’t triggered, and the email isn’t marked as opened. However, if the email text includes a link to the sender’s website and the customer clicks on it, the email will be recorded as opened.

Why is the Email Open Rate So Important?

Email open rates are important because they help marketing teams evaluate the success of an email campaign and strategize for future campaigns. If emails have a low open rate, then the marketing team knows that they need to improve the subject lines or adjust the sender’s name or address. A low email open rate can also indicate that the business is sending too many emails or their messages are being flagged as spam.

However, if the emails have a high open rate but a low conversion rate, the marketing team knows they have to improve the content of the emails. This can include making clearer calls to action, providing more links to the website, or drafting more engaging copy.

How to Calculate the Email Open Rate

Calculating an email campaign’s open rate is accomplished by dividing the number of emails opened by the total number of emails sent subtracted by the number of emails bounced. Or to put it more simply:

Emails opened

Open rate =          ---------------------------------------

(Emails sent – Emails bounced)