What is a Good Email Open Rate? 5 Secrets for You to Upgrade it

What’s an Email Open Rate?

Email open rate is a critical metric that measures the percentage of recipients who open your email out of the total delivered. While it’s often seen as a vanity metric, it provides actionable insights into subject line effectiveness, audience engagement, and overall campaign health. For example, a 30% open rate means nearly one-third of your audience found your email compelling enough to open.

Why Does Email Open Rate Matter?

The email open rate serves as a key indicator of how engaging your email content is to your audience. It reflects the initial connection made with recipients through subject lines and content, paving the way for further interaction and conversions. By monitoring open rates, marketers can assess the effectiveness of their email campaigns and tailor strategies for improved engagement.

For businesses, optimizing open rates translates to higher ROI. A retail brand boosting opens from 15% to 25% could see a 40% increase in sales from email campaigns. This guide dives into industry benchmarks, actionable strategies, and tools to maximize your results.

How to Calculate Email Open Rate

The formula for calculating open rate is straightforward:

Open Rate (%) = (Unique Opens ÷ Emails Delivered) × 100

Example: If 1,000 emails are delivered and 250 are opened, the open rate is 25%.

Key considerations:

Unique opens: Tracked via embedded pixels, but iOS 15 privacy features falsely inflate this number.

Emails delivered: Exclude bounced addresses (hard bounces = invalid; soft bounces = temporary issues).

Tools: Platforms like mailgo automate calculations, providing real-time data.

Limitations:

Open rates don’t measure engagement depth. A subscriber might open an email but ignore the content. Pair open rates with click-through rates (CTR) and click-to-open rates (CTOR) for a complete picture.

What Is a Good Email Open Rate? 2024 Benchmarks

In 2024, the average email open rate across industries is 37.27%, according to Constant Contact data. However, performance varies widely by sector:

High-performing industries like childcare and nonprofits benefit from highly targeted, emotional messaging (e.g., “Help Us Support Local Families”). In contrast, technology and retail sectors face lower averages due to saturated markets and transactional content.

Regional differences also play a role. For instance, European audiences tend to open emails 5-7% more often during weekday mornings, while U.S. engagement peaks post-5 PM.

5 Proven Strategies to Improve Email Open Rates

1. Craft Irresistible Subject Lines

Subject lines are the “gatekeepers” of email engagement. Best practices include:

Brevity: Keep under 50 characters for mobile readability.

Curiosity: Use phrases like “The Secret to Doubling Sales” or “You’re Missing Out On…”

Urgency: “24 Hours Left: 50% Off Ends Tonight!”

Personalization: Include names or company details (e.g., “John, Custom Proposal for [Company]”).

A/B Testing: Test two variants per campaign. For instance, an e-commerce brand found emojis increased opens by 18% for millennials but reduced opens by 12% for B2B audiences.

2. Optimize Send Times

Timing impacts opens significantly:

B2C: Highest opens occur at 8-10 AM (weekdays) and 6-8 PM (weekends).

B2B: Midweek (Tue-Thu) at 10-11 AM or 2-3 PM.

Tools: Use AI-driven tools like mailgo to auto-schedule based on recipient's location and perferrence.

Example: A SaaS company boosted opens by 27% by shifting sends from Mondays to Wednesdays.

3. Segment Your Audience

Generic blasts yield low engagement. Segment lists by:

Demographics: Age, location, job role.

Behavior: Purchase history, website visits.

Engagement: Active vs. inactive subscribers.

Case Study: A fitness brand segmented users into “Yoga Enthusiasts” and “Weightlifters,” resulting in a 33% open rate lift for personalized content.

4. Clean Your Email List

Invalid emails hurt deliverability and skew metrics:

Remove inactives: Delete subscribers with 0 opens in 6+ months.

Re-engage: Send a win-back campaign (e.g., “We Miss You! Claim 20% Off”).

Verify: Use tools like mailgo to verify each email account so as to ensure its validity.

Impact: A travel agency reduced bounce rates from 12% to 2% after cleaning its list.

5. Leverage Preheader Text

The preheader (the preview text next to the subject line) acts as a “sub-subject line.” Use it to:

Clarify intent: “Inside: Exclusive Q4 Discounts”

Extend urgency: “Offer Expires in 3 Hours”

Add humor: “You’ve Got Mail (That’s Actually Useful)”

Best Practice: Limit preheaders to 40-80 characters for mobile optimization.

While these strategies are tried and tested, sometimes, they might not be enough. So you experiment, you try and try again until you can optimize your email open rates and land better in inboxes. 

Tracking & Analyzing Open Rates

Tools to Measure Performance

Mailgo tracks opens, CTR, and CTOR with visual dashboards and can score the reputation of your email account, sending you alerts before everything is too late.

Benchmarking Against Competitors

Compare your metrics against industry standards. For example, if you’re in retail and your open rate is 25% (vs. the 34.47% average), prioritize A/B testing subject lines or list segmentation.

Advanced Metrics

Click-Through Rate (CTR): Average = 1.36% (Constant Contact, 2024).

Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR): Measures content relevance (e.g., 15% CTOR = 15% of openers clicked a link).

Conclusion

A “good” email open rate depends on your industry, audience, and goals. While benchmarks provide direction, focus on incremental improvements:

Test Relentlessly: Experiment with subject lines, send times, and segments.

Leverage AI: Tools like mailgo automate optimization.

Audit Quarterly: Clean lists and refine strategies based on data.

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