Email Open Rate
The percentage of email recipients who open a specific email, calculated by dividing opens by the number of emails delivered.
Email open rate measures what percentage of people who receive your email actually open it. If you send an email to 500 subscribers and 125 of them open it, your open rate is 25%. This metric is your first indicator of whether your email marketing is working — if people aren’t opening your emails, nothing else matters.
Average open rates vary by industry, but most small businesses should target somewhere between 20-30%. Anything below 15% suggests a problem with your subject lines, send timing, or list quality. Keep in mind that Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (introduced in 2021) can inflate open rates by pre-loading emails, so the numbers aren’t as precise as they once were. Still, open rate trends remain useful for comparison.
The biggest factor influencing open rates is your subject line. It’s the first (and sometimes only) thing recipients see, so it needs to earn the click. Effective subject lines are specific, create curiosity, or communicate clear value. “Our Monthly Newsletter” is forgettable. “3 Ways to Cut Your Marketing Costs This Week” gives a reason to open. Personalization — like including the recipient’s name or referencing their location — can also boost open rates.
Other factors that affect open rates include your sender name (use a recognizable person or brand name), send timing (test different days and times), and list hygiene (regularly remove inactive subscribers who drag down your metrics and can hurt deliverability).