What is email open rate?
The open rate of an email is the total number of subscribers who opened the email divided by the number of emails successfully delivered. In simple words, it is the percentage of your subscribers who opened your mail.
How to calculate email open rate?
To calculate the email open rate, divide the ‘number of emails successfully delivered’ by the ‘number of emails opened’ and multiply by 100. Most of the email service providers and email marketing platforms will calculate this for you.
Formula for calculating email open rate
Real-life example of email open rate
Let’s understand open rate with an example:
Say, a SaaS startup launched a new feature for their software and sent an email describing its uses and benefits. The email was sent to 10 people and 2 of them bounced. This means, 8 emails got successfully delivered. Out of 8, 4 people opened the email.
Then your open rate is: 4/8 x 100 = 50%.
What’s considered a good email open rate?
A good email open rate is between 17-25%, depending on the industry you’re in. Anything higher than this is phenomenal. If your open rate is below this mark, it’s still average, but you need to brush it up. In a survey, 32.9% of marketers considered low open rates among the biggest challenges they face in email marketing.
The average open rate largely depends on the product category, industry, location, audience, type of mail, and so much more. According to MailChimp, in 2022, the average email open rate for all industries is 21.33%.
Here are some industry averages for email open rates:
Ways to increase your email open rate
- Achieve high inbox delivery rates: Follow best practices to not land in your subscribers' spam box. Most people don’t check their spam emails and you’ll lose the first battle itself. Read Neil Patel’s tips to improve email deliverability: 12 Ways to Improve Email Deliverability
- Write click-worthy subject lines: It is the first thing your subscribers see and decide if they want to open the email or not. Be intelligent with your subject lines – see which ones work best for your industry and type of mail. Read from the expert: Chase Diamond on Writing the Perfect Subject Lines
- Keep your email lists fresh and accurately segmented: Segment your subscribers based on different categories for your product or services – ensuring that you send relevant and targeted emails to your audience, increasing the chances of opening. Here is a bomb read: 30 Ways to Segment Your Email List