What is Open Rate?
Email Open Rate
Open Rate is the percentage of email subscribers who opened your email out of those it was delivered to.
Open Rate = (Unique Opens ÷ Delivered) × 100Ecommerce: 25-35% · SaaS: 30-42% · B2B: 28-40% · Non-profit: 35-45%
- Open Rate
- Open Rate is the percentage of email subscribers who opened your email out of those it was delivered to.
Why Open Ratematters
Open rate became less reliable after Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) inflates opens. Click rate is now more meaningful. Still useful for subject-line A/B tests.
Worked example
Plug a real number into the formula to see Open Ratein action:
Numbers are illustrative.Try our Email Drip Sequence Plannerfor your real numbers.
Common mistakes with Open Rate
- 1
Sending the same content to your whole list. RFM-segmented campaigns deliver 3-5× the revenue per send vs broadcast.
- 2
Measuring open rate as the success metric in 2026. Apple MPP made open rate noise; revenue per recipient is what counts.
- 3
Skipping welcome and abandoned cart flows. These two flows alone usually drive 25-35% of total email revenue.
How to improve Open Rate
Build core flows first: welcome (3-5 emails), abandoned cart (3 emails), browse abandonment, post-purchase, win-back.
Implement RFM segmentation (Recency × Frequency × Monetary) and tailor send cadence per segment.
A/B test send times by segment, not in aggregate. Engaged buyers and dormant buyers have different optimal times.
Common questions about Open Rate
What is Open Rate?▾
How is Open Rate calculated?▾
What is a good Open Rate benchmark?▾
Why does Open Rate matter for marketing teams?▾
Related terms
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