What is open rate in email marketing? Simply put, it’s the percentage of subscribers who open your emails compared to the total number delivered. But here’s what most businesses get wrong about this important metric: they focus on the numbers without understanding what they actually mean for their email marketing strategy.

Understanding Email Marketing Metrics

Breaking it down into simple math: if you send 100 emails and 20 people open them, your open rate is 20%. But it’s not just about the numbers. Your open rate tells you something more important: whether your emails are actually reaching and resonating with your email recipients.

When tracking important metrics like open rates, remember they serve as a critical indicator of campaign performance. They reflect your subject line effectiveness, sender name recognition, and email list quality all at once.

How Open Rates Are Calculated?

Total number of unique opens ÷ total number of emails delivered (excluding bounces) × 100 = email open rate.

This calculation might seem straightforward, but there are nuances to understand:

• Unique opens: Most email service providers count only the first time a subscriber opens an email, not subsequent opens
• Delivered emails: This excludes emails that land in the spam folder or bounce
• Tracking image: Open rates are typically tracked using a tiny, invisible image that loads when an email is opened

With Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection now affecting tracking images, email marketers need better understanding of how these metrics are measured.

Industry Benchmarks: What’s Actually Good?

The industry average open rate across all industries is around 21.33%. A “good open rate” varies wildly depending on:

• Your industry
• Your target audience engagement level
• Your email list size and quality
• Your email content type and relevance
• Your segmentation strategy

For example, nonprofits often see higher open rates (around 25-30%) while marketing emails in retail typically average lower (15-17%). Rather than fixating on overall average open rate benchmarks, focus on establishing your baseline and improving your metrics over time.

5 Effective Ways to Boost Your Open Rates

Whether you’re just starting with email marketing or looking to improve your current strategy, these five proven tactics will help boost your open rates without resorting to clickbait (because nobody likes that sh*t):

1. Clean your email list regularly: Inactive subscribers kill your deliverability. Send two re-engagement emails to subscribers who haven’t opened in 90 days. No response? It’s time to let them go ✌🏼
2. Find the best time to send: Stop guessing when to send. Your data will tell you the optimal time when YOUR specific email subscribers are most engaged. Test different send times and analyze results.
3. Segment your list effectively: Targeted emails get 14% higher open rates than generic blasts. Different versions of content for different segments makes it relevant for each recipient.
4. Perfect your subject line: Create curiosity with an email subject line they can’t resist! The first thing subscribers see must make them wonder what valuable insights they might miss 🤔
5. Deliver on your promises: Every opened email is your chance to prove you’re worth reading. Don’t waste it with low-value content that trains readers to ignore future emails.

What is open rate in email marketing for your industry? Research industry benchmarks and compare your performance against them, not just general averages.

Success Beyond Open Rates

While understanding what is open rate in email marketing is essential, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Smart marketers also track:

• Click-through rates: The percentage of people who clicked a link 
• Click-to-open rate: How many people who opened actually clicked 
• Conversion rate: How many subscribers completed your desired action 
• Unsubscribe rate: Monitor this closely to spot potential content issues 
• Mobile vs desktop opens: Mobile devices account for over 41% of opens 

Think of these metrics as telling a complete story. Open rates get readers to chapter one, but you need the full narrative to understand the success of your email marketing campaigns.

Mobile-First Email Optimization

HubSpot’s email marketing benchmarks report shows that 41% of emails are opened on mobile devices. With that number growing steadily, optimization isn’t a just a good idea—it’s a non-negotiable. 

Looking at your email statistics across devices can reveal vital insights about your audience’s behavior such as:

• How your preview text appears on different screens (remember to send yourself a test email to see how this will look on your reader’s end)
• Image loading and scaling considerations
• Button size and placement for better click-through rates
• Font size and readability on smaller screens

Mobile Optimization Best Practices Include

• Using responsive email templates
• Keeping subject lines under 40 characters
• Creating single-column layouts
• Using a minimum 16px font size
• Making CTAs thumb-friendly 

A/B Testing Best Practices

A/B testing isn’t just about trying to nail the perfect subject line. The success of your email campaigns also depends on testing of:

• Send time variations
• Different versions of content
• Sender name options
• Email content structure
• Call-to-action placement (if your email is long, be sure to include the CTA link/button in multiple places throughout the email)

This type of content testing helps identify what drives not just opens, but valuable insights about your audience’s preferences. 

When Conducting A/B Tests, Remember these Guidelines:

• Test only one variable at a time
• Use a statistically significant sample size
• Run tests for at least two sending cycles
• Document and apply what you learn systematically

Measuring True Email Marketing Success

The effectiveness of your email campaigns goes beyond basic metrics. Consider:

• Total number of subscribers vs. active engagement
• Conversion rate tracking
• Click-through rates over time
• Unsubscribe rate patterns
• Digital marketing ROI from email efforts

How to Calculate Email Marketing ROI

1. Determine revenue generated from email campaigns
2. Subtract costs (software, design, copywriting, management time)
3. Divide by costs
4. Multiply by 100 to get your percentage return

For example, if your campaign generated $10,000 in revenue and cost $2,000 to create and send, your ROI would be 400% ([$10,000 – $2,000] ÷ $2,000 × 100).

Future of Email Analytics

As we adapt to privacy changes like Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, success metrics are evolving. Focus on:

• Zero-party data collection (information voluntarily shared)
• Behavioral analytics beyond opens
• Engagement scoring for your email list
• Alternative success indicators when tracking is limited
• Potential customer journey mapping across touchpoints

With tracking limitations becoming more common, marketers need to look beyond traditional open rates to measure engagement.

Integrating Email with Your Overall Marketing Strategy

Email doesn’t exist in isolation. For maximum impact, connect your email metrics with:

• Website analytics
• Social media engagement 
• Customer relationship management (CRM) data
• Customer lifetime value calculations
• Attribution modeling across channels

These are a few of the best ways to help you understand the true impact of your email marketing efforts within your overall digital marketing strategy.

The Path Forward

While knowledge surrounding open rates is fundamental to email marketing success, the most effective campaigns look past this single metric. By focusing on engagement, conversions, and the overall subscriber experience, you can build an email program that truly delivers results.

Understanding what is open rate in email marketing is just the beginning. It’s what happens after the open—the connection, engagement, and action your emails inspire—that ultimately determines your success.

Start by establishing your current baseline metrics, implementing one improvement strategy at a time, and consistently measuring your results. With patience and strategic optimization, you’ll build a good email program that consistently delivers value to both your subscribers and your business.

For more email marketing related content, check out our blog post that answers the question, “what is Flodesk” and everything you need to know about this email platform that’s designed to scale with your business.