Subject areaMetrics and measurement
Open rate is the share of emails opened out of those delivered.
It is the first measure of a direct email marketing send or a newsletter, and shows how well sender, subject line and timing work.
Since 2021 it has become less reliable: some mail apps open emails automatically to protect the recipient's privacy, inflating the figure. For this reason it is read together with click-to-open rate and conversions, which measure a real action.
An example
A business bank tests two subject lines for the same message on subsidised loans. The first, naming the scheme, gets a higher open rate than the second, generic one: from then on the subject line always names the concrete opportunity.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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