An open rate, specifically in email marketing, is the percentage of recipients who open a particular email out of the total number of emails successfully delivered to their inboxes. It is calculated by dividing the number of emails opened by the number of emails delivered (which excludes bounced emails), then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. For example, if 200 emails are opened out of 1,000 delivered emails, the open rate is 20%
. Open rates are used by marketers to gauge how many people are engaging with their emails, often reflecting the effectiveness of subject lines and the interest level of the audience. However, open rates have limitations because they rely on tracking a tiny invisible image loaded when the email is opened, which may not always be triggered if images are blocked or if recipients view the email in text-only mode. Therefore, open rates are better used comparatively rather than as an absolute measure of email performance
. Typical average open rates vary by industry but generally range around 20-40%, with some sectors like finance and real estate seeing higher rates, and others like healthcare or IT somewhat lower. A good open rate benchmark for standard campaigns is often cited as around 20-25%
. In summary, an open rate measures how many recipients open an email, serving as a key metric for understanding email engagement in marketing campaigns.
