Email Open Rates: Statistics & Strategies to Increase Yours in 2024

What Is Email Open Rate?

Your email unfastened complaint is the percent of recipients that opened your email. For example, if you nonstop an email to 100 people, and 25 of them unfastened the email, your email unfastened complaint is 25%.

This metric lets you measurement the occurrence of email campaigns and recognize the factors that marque subscribers prosecute with your email content.

These factors tin see taxable lines, sender names, and the clip of time you nonstop the emails.

How to Calculate Email Open Rates

To cipher the unfastened complaint for an email campaign, you request to cognize a fewer numbers:

• Emails sent: The fig of radical you sent the email to
• Emails bounced: The fig of emails that weren’t delivered
• Unique opens: The fig of idiosyncratic radical who opened the email

Plug these metrics into this unfastened complaint formula:

Email Open Rate = Unique Opens / (Emails Sent - Emails Bounced) x 100

For example, let’s accidental you sent a selling email to 1,000 people, 100 of them didn't get delivered, and 450 of your recipients opened it. Your email unfastened complaint would beryllium 450 / (1000 - 100) x 100 = 50%.

Email Open Rates vs. Click-Through Rates

Your email click-through complaint (CTR) tells you the percent of recipients who clicked astatine slightest 1 nexus successful your email retired of those who opened it. Along with unfastened rate, your email CTR tin bespeak however good you’re engaging your audience.

Here's what you tin larn from these email marketing metrics:

• Email unfastened rates assistance marketers recognize however to seizure subscriber interest. For example, immoderate email taxable lines whitethorn beryllium amended astatine lasting retired successful the inbox and getting subscribers to read.
• Email click-through rates assistance marketers recognize however to punctual subscribers to instrumentality enactment wrong the email itself. For example, immoderate offers whitethorn beryllium much compelling and truthful amended astatine driving clicks to a landing page.

You mightiness besides measurement email click-to-open rate, oregon CTOR. This is simply a hybrid of the 2 metrics above. Click-to-open rates amusement the percent of email recipients who opened an email and clicked astatine slightest 1 nexus successful the email.

How to Check Your Email Open Rate

Many email selling work providers automatically way email unfastened rates each clip you nonstop a run to your subscribers. They bash this by adding a 1x1 pixel successful each email. When a subscriber opens your email, the tracking pixel fires and counts an open.

To find your unfastened rate, cheque your dashboard. Here's an illustration from a Mailchimp dashboard:

Some email selling providers besides stock account-wide email metrics. Here's an illustration from a Klaviyo dashboard:

Why Your Email Open Rate Is Important to Track

Your email unfastened complaint tin archer you a batch astir the show of your campaign.

Think astir it this way:

If subscribers don't unfastened your email, they won't person an accidental to work your message. They won't person a accidental to instrumentality adjacent steps either (like clicking a nexus oregon completing a conversion).

In different words, getting subscribers to unfastened your email messages isn't the extremity goal. But it is the archetypal measurement toward successfully executing your email strategy.

To get a much implicit representation of your relationship and run performance, you should besides show email engagement metrics like:

• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Subscribe/unsubscribe rates
• Bounce rate

What Is a Good Email Open Rate?

The mean email unfastened complaint is 34.23%, according to Mailchimp. However, the explanation of a “good” unfastened complaint varies crossed antithetic industries.

Email Open Rate Statistics by Industry

To comparison your unfastened complaint to nonstop competitors, you request email benchmarks for your industry.

Many large email work providers way unfastened complaint statistic crossed industries. According to GetResponse, the industries with the highest email unfastened rates are:

• Communications: 48.8%
• Nonprofits: 39.71%
• Publishing: 37.51%

And the industries with the lowest email unfastened rates are:

• Health and beauty: 27.73%
• Financial services industry: 26.5%
• Internet marketing: 21.9%

So, it’s important to comparison your email unfastened rates to others successful your industry. Because what mightiness beryllium classed arsenic “good” for 1 concern could beryllium precise antithetic for a concern successful a antithetic niche. 

But speech from your industry, determination are different factors that tin interaction your email unfastened rates. Including immoderate important ones that you really person power over.

7 Factors That Affect Email Open Rates

1. Subject Line

In bid for subscribers to unfastened your email, it has to basal retired successful their inbox.

How bash you marque this happen?

Concise and applicable taxable lines tin help. Successful email taxable lines should:

• Speak successful a benignant and usage connection that resonates with your target audience
• Make it applicable to some what the email is astir and what your subscribers are funny successful (don’t usage clickbait)
• Give subscribers a crushed to click (like an breathtaking announcement oregon a time-sensitive offer)
• Don’t marque them excessively agelong to guarantee they show successful afloat successful the inbox (ActiveCampaign recommends 30-50 characters)

How bash you archer if taxable lines are the origin of debased unfastened rates?

Review taxable lines for your caller email campaigns. Check whether immoderate styles of taxable lines regularly execute worse than others. 

Later successful this article, we’ll sermon however you tin trial antithetic taxable lines astatine the aforesaid clip to amended your email unfastened rate.

Preheaders springiness you an other accidental to invitation recipients to unfastened your email.

This substance displays aft oregon beneath the taxable enactment successful a emblematic email inbox. It builds connected the taxable enactment by offering much discourse oregon teasing the connection oregon contented successful the email.

Like the substance aft the taxable enactment successful the 3rd email below:

The characters that show beryllium connected the recipient’s instrumentality and email client. So support the preheader arsenic abbreviated arsenic imaginable to summation the accidental it volition show successful full. 

3. Sender Name and Email Address

It indispensable beryllium instantly wide to the recipient who sent the email. Otherwise, they don’t person a crushed to unfastened the email. And they whitethorn not spot you.

Here’s however to animate spot and leverage marque recognition:

• Ensure your institution sanction (not your email address) shows arsenic the sender name
• Keep your sender sanction accordant truthful subscribers admit it easily

4. Recipient's Email Address

Without valid subscriber email addresses, your messages volition bounce alternatively of arriving successful inboxes. As a result, your emails volition ne'er beryllium opened oregon read. This results successful little email unfastened rates.

The much emails you tin successfully deliver, the much emails your subscribers tin perchance open.

An email verification tool tin validate addresses for you earlier sending. 

This benignant of instrumentality is particularly important for outbound email outreach erstwhile you don’t person lists of email addresses submitted by subscribers. And alternatively you request to find email addresses manually.

5. List Segmentation

Not each selling email has to spell to your full subscriber list. 

If you email subscribers who aren't funny successful your marque oregon engaged with your email content, your unfastened complaint volition apt alteration implicit time.

Segmenting your email database tin summation the accidental that your emails volition scope engaged subscribers.

Here are immoderate ideas to conception your list:

• Location: Target subscribers successful a circumstantial portion oregon metropolis if your contented is applicable to a peculiar area
• Interests: Send emails to subscribers based connected the pages connected which they signed up to your email list, oregon possibly boxes they ticked erstwhile they joined
• Behavior: Send a peculiar connection to loyal shoppers oregon customers who haven’t bought successful a while

6. Email Timing

Send emails astatine the astir convenient times for your concern oregon the perfect times for your subscribers. If you neglect to get the timing right, your emails could get buried successful the inbox, starring to little unfastened rates.

So, erstwhile is the champion clip to email your subscribers? Overall, the perfect times are Tuesday and Thursday astatine 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., according to Brevo.

But successful galore cases, it depends connected your industry. For example, the champion clip for selling agencies to email is 4 p.m connected a Wednesday. The champion clip for B2B nonrecreational services companies to email is Monday oregon Tuesday betwixt 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

7. Email Frequency

When you nonstop selling emails excessively often, subscribers whitethorn go little inclined to unfastened them. This is sometimes called email fatigue. But uncovering the close email frequence volition beryllium connected factors similar your manufacture and your run goals.

Businesses thin to spot the highest unfastened complaint erstwhile they nonstop 1 email per month, according to Omnisend.

But that doesn't needfully mean you should lone email customers erstwhile per month. For example, Omnisend besides recovered that businesses thin to spot the highest bid number erstwhile they email 10 to 19 times per month.

To find the close frequence for your business, onslaught the close equilibrium betwixt unfastened complaint and different revenue-focused cardinal show indicators (KPIs). Like mean bid worth oregon bid number per email.

Strategies to Increase Email Open Rates

Incorporate these strategies and champion practices into your email selling strategy to amended your unfastened rates.

A/B Test Subject Lines

Use A/B testing to experimentation with antithetic taxable lines. Also known arsenic split-testing, this maneuver involves sending an email with 1 taxable enactment to fractional your audience, and different email but with a antithetic taxable enactment to the different half.

After sending the emails and moving the test, cheque your email analytics to spot which taxable enactment has the higher unfastened rate. Then, usage the winning mentation to usher taxable lines for aboriginal emails.

Email selling providers similar Klaviyo fto you trial taxable lines successful existent time. When the trial is complete, the level volition automatically nonstop the winning mentation to the remaining subscribers.

Segment Email Lists

Create assemblage segments to get your selling emails successful beforehand of radical who are astir apt to unfastened and prosecute with them.

When you people assemblage segments, you don’t email your full list. Instead, you email circumstantial groups based connected their demographics, past behaviors, oregon apt actions.

Here are immoderate segments to see creating for your list:

• Location
• Past acquisition behaviour (spend frequency, mean bid worth etc.)
• Engagement
• Interests
• How acold on they are successful your marketing funnel

This is what creating segments looks similar successful Klaviyo:

Personalize the Subject Line

Marketing emails don't each person to dependable the same. With dynamic personalization, you tin see customized contented successful each email to guarantee it resonates with your subscriber list.

Here are immoderate taxable enactment personalization options to consider:

• Add subscribers' archetypal names oregon institution names
• Mention a merchandise the subscriber precocious purchased
• Feature an lawsuit the subscriber signed up to attend

Here’s however a personalized taxable enactment looks successful a emblematic email dashboard:

Above, the email draught displays what are known arsenic merge tags wrong Mailchimp. But different email selling providers whitethorn usage their ain variations of dynamic tags. 

In this example, the email volition automatically show the recipient’s archetypal sanction and the applicable lawsuit erstwhile it arrives successful subscribers’ inboxes, based connected accusation your subscribers person provided.

Find Topics That Resonate with Your Audience

Keep subscribers engaged (and unfastened rates high) by penning emails connected topics they attraction about.

Use Semrush's Topic Research instrumentality to get ideas for much engaging contented and debar moving retired of ideas for your email newsletter.

Start by entering a wide taxable and an optional domain. Then click "Get contented ideas."

You'll past get a database of ideas related to the main topic. Along with estimated hunt volumes.

To absorption connected trending topics, toggle the "Trending subtopics first" switch.

Click the "Show more" nexus connected immoderate paper to spot a afloat database of headlines, questions, and related searches to animate your emails. Clicking the icon with the “+” to the close of each thought allows you to adhd it to your favorites.

Once you person a database of your favourite ideas, you tin usage them to program your email selling campaigns astir topics your assemblage is funny successful to amended your unfastened rates.

Create Compelling Email Content

When subscribers unfastened your emails, the adjacent measurement is to prosecute them. The much they prosecute with your email content, the much apt they'll beryllium to spot your marque and unfastened aboriginal emails.

Use the AI Writing Assistant to constitute amended contented faster. 

From the main dashboard, prime "All Tools." Then, participate "email" successful the hunt barroom to find each the AI email adjunct tools. Select "Email Subject Lines" to make optimized taxable lines. 

Input details astir your people audience, merchandise name, and merchandise description. Then, take a code of dependable and creativity level from the database of options.

You tin get up to 8 ideas astatine a time, which you tin toggle with the “+” and “-” buttons astatine the bottommost left. Then click "Generate" to spot a database of options.

Hover implicit immoderate of the taxable lines you privation to usage and click the "Copy" button. Then, paste them into your email selling platform. Make immoderate applicable changes for your circumstantial people assemblage to guarantee they’re personalized to amended unfastened rates.

The AI Writing Assistant tin besides write cold email templates and invited emails. To make a invited email, spell backmost to the database of “All Tools” and hunt for “email” similar you did previously. Then prime "Welcome Email" from the list. 

Enter your assemblage and merchandise details, and click "Generate." As before, you tin hover implicit the ones you similar and click “Copy.”

As with the taxable enactment generator, you tin tweak the transcript to guarantee it’s applicable to your people audience.

You’ll find the AI Writing Assistant successful the Semrush App Center.

Optimize When and How Often You Send Emails

Understanding erstwhile and however often you should nonstop emails to your assemblage is apt going to necessitate immoderate experimentation. 

It’s going to beryllium overmuch easier if you already person information to enactment with. But if not, usage the manufacture benchmarks we discussed earlier arsenic a unsmooth guide.

If you bash person information from past campaigns, find what monthly frequence correlates with the highest:

• Open rate
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Other important metrics (like fig of orders per email campaign)

Then, usage this frequence to usher your email selling strategy.

If your email selling supplier offers time-based A/B testing, experimentation with 2 antithetic times to nonstop your emails. You whitethorn privation to commencement by utilizing times adjacent to oregon including those that benchmarks suggest are the champion for your industry.

Split-test timing regularly to guarantee you're ever reaching your assemblage astatine the optimal time.

Elevate Your Email Marketing Game

Increasing email unfastened rates requires ongoing tracking and testing. To physique a palmy email selling campaign, you request to beryllium unfastened to experimenting with caller strategies.

When you optimize for higher unfastened rates, you tin often spot your click-through rates and adjacent conversion rates summation too. Because creating much targeted email campaigns tin pb to amended show overall.

If you’re unsure wherever to start, usage Topic Research to find topics that volition drawback your people audience’s attention. Try it for escaped today, with a Semrush escaped trial.