What is open rate tracking?

Open rate tracking is a way to measure how many people open your messages. We calculate open rate as a percentage in relation to delivered emails. You’ll see unique opens by default: one open per contact.

Why do I need to track open rates?

You can use open rates to analyze the performance of your messages. Open rates are the basic metric that helps you find out how successful your email campaigns are. Newsletter reports help you compare open rate results for different newsletters

How does open rate work?

To track open rate, we put an invisible pixel in the HTML emails you send to your subscribers. When someone opens your message and views the images included in it, we record an open. Please note it will only work if the images in the message are downloaded.

Where can I find report statistics?

Reports give you detailed information about your open rate. You can see Opened and Total opens metrics for each message.

  1. Go to Dashboard and select Reports.
  1. Select Newsletters, Autoresponders or Automation messages, depending on what type of message you want to check.
  1. On the Newsletters, Autoresponders or Automation messages page, select the linked list.
  1. Set the time range.
  1. Choose your message or messages. On the same page, you will see general message statistics.

To check the open rate statistics for a specific email:

  1. On the Newsletters, Autoresponders or Automation messages page, scroll to the Newsletters sent, Autoresponders sent or Automation messages sent section and click on the name of the message. Detailed statistics will open.
  1. Click on the Opens and clicks tab to see Opened and Total opens metrics.
  • Opened – this metrics shows one open per subscriber. If 1 subscriber opens the message even several times, the Opened metric will show 1 open.
  • Total Opens – this metrics shows how many times your subscribers have opened your message. If 1 subscriber opens the message 3 times, Total opens will show 3 opens. 

In the Opens and clicks section, you can Create and send a new message to contacts who: opened or didn’t open your message.

At this point, you will not be able to get a list of contacts who opened and/or didn’t open your email. To see who opened or didn’t open it, use search conditions.

Why is my open rate low and what can I do to improve it?

Open rates vary a lot by industry, list management, and even how often you send your messages. You can check a recent Email Marketing Benchmarks report.

Subscriber actions, email clients, or providers can influence open rate tracking accuracy. Some subscribers may not be downloading images when reading email. Some email clients and email providers may block or prevent open rate tracking due to their own security preferences.

There are two important things you can do to improve your open rate and receive more accurate open rate data:

  • Ask your subscribers to add you to their address book and choose to open your images.
  • Encourage your subscribers to open and read your newsletters. Work on your subject lines so that they show the benefits of your offer. Make them original, informative, and personalized to catch your readers’ attention. It should be like a movie trailer: show the important parts but don’t spoil the fun! 

For more information on how to improve your open rate, please see our blog post.