One of the first questions people ask after sending an email campaign is:
“Is my open rate any good?”
It’s an understandable question. After all, if nobody is opening your emails, your carefully crafted content, offers and calls to action will never be seen.
However, judging the success of an email campaign purely by its open rate can be misleading. While open rates remain a useful indicator of engagement, they are only one part of the bigger picture.
In this guide, we’ll explain what email open rates are, what is generally considered a good open rate, the factors that influence them and, most importantly, how you can improve them over time.
What Is an Email Open Rate?
Your email open rate is the percentage of successfully delivered emails that are opened by recipients.
For example:
- You send 2,000 emails.
- 1,980 are successfully delivered.
- 594 recipients open the email.
Your open rate would be 30%.
While this sounds simple, it’s important to understand that open rates are estimates rather than exact figures.
Modern email providers have introduced privacy features that can affect how opens are recorded, meaning open rate data should be used as a guide rather than an absolute measurement.
So, What Is Considered a Good Open Rate?
Although every industry is different, the following provides a useful benchmark.
| Open Rate | Performance |
|---|---|
| Under 15% | Needs improvement |
| 15% – 20% | Fair |
| 20% – 30% | Good |
| 30% – 40% | Very good |
| Over 40% | Excellent (often highly targeted or engaged audiences) |
If your campaigns consistently achieve between 20% and 30%, you’re generally performing well.
If you’re regularly achieving 30% or higher, it’s usually a sign that you’re sending relevant content to an engaged audience.
However, don’t become obsessed with chasing the highest possible open rate. Context matters.
Why Open Rates Vary
No two email campaigns are the same.
Several factors influence how many people open your emails.
These include:
- The quality of your subscriber list
- Your sender reputation
- Your subject line
- The relevance of your content
- How frequently you send emails
- Your industry
- Brand recognition
- Inbox placement
A highly targeted customer newsletter will often outperform a broad promotional email sent to thousands of subscribers.
Your Deliverability Matters More Than Your Open Rate
Before anyone can open your email, it first needs to reach their inbox.
Poor deliverability can significantly reduce your open rate, regardless of how good your subject line or content might be.
Focus on maintaining:
- A high delivery rate
- Low bounce rates
- Low spam complaint rates
- A strong sender reputation
If your emails consistently land in spam folders, your open rate will naturally suffer.
Good email marketing starts with good deliverability.
Privacy Changes Have Made Open Rates Less Reliable
In recent years, several email providers have introduced privacy features that make open rates less precise.
Some email apps automatically download tracking images, which can record an “open” even if the recipient hasn’t actually read the email.
On the other hand, some recipients block tracking pixels entirely, meaning they may read your email without it being recorded as an open.
For this reason, it’s best to treat open rates as an indicator of engagement rather than a definitive measurement.
Why Comparing Your Own Campaigns Is More Useful
Rather than comparing your results with other businesses, compare your own campaigns over time.
Ask questions such as:
- Which subject lines generated the highest open rates?
- Which days performed best?
- Which audience segments engaged the most?
- Did personalisation improve results?
- Which campaigns produced the most clicks?
Tracking trends over time is far more valuable than comparing yourself with generic industry averages.
How to Improve Your Open Rate
If you’d like more people to open your emails, there are several proven techniques that can help.
Write Better Subject Lines
Your subject line is your first impression.
Aim for subject lines that are:
- Clear
- Relevant
- Honest
- Concise
- Interesting
Avoid misleading clickbait or excessive punctuation.
Subscribers should know exactly what they’ll find inside.
Send Relevant Content
People open emails because they expect value.
The more useful your previous campaigns have been, the more likely subscribers are to open future emails.
Focus on content that educates, informs or genuinely helps your audience rather than constantly promoting products.
Segment Your Audience
Not every subscriber is interested in the same topics.
Segmenting your mailing list allows you to send more relevant content to different groups of subscribers.
The more targeted your campaigns, the better your engagement is likely to be.
Send Consistently
Subscribers become familiar with brands that communicate regularly.
Whether you send weekly, fortnightly or monthly newsletters, consistency helps build recognition and trust.
Avoid long periods of inactivity followed by sudden bursts of emails.
Personalise Your Emails
Simple personalisation, such as including a subscriber’s first name or tailoring content based on their interests, can improve engagement.
Subscribers are more likely to open emails that feel relevant to them.
Maintain a Healthy Mailing List
Inactive subscribers naturally reduce your open rate over time.
Regularly remove:
- Hard bounces
- Invalid email addresses
- Duplicate contacts
- Long-term inactive subscribers
A smaller, engaged mailing list is almost always more valuable than a large inactive one.
Should You Worry About Low Open Rates?
Not necessarily.
One campaign with a lower-than-average open rate isn’t usually a cause for concern.
Instead, look for long-term trends.
If your open rate gradually declines over several months, it may indicate that:
- Your content is becoming less relevant.
- Your list needs cleaning.
- You’re emailing too frequently.
- Your sender reputation has declined.
- Your subject lines need improving.
Regularly reviewing your campaign performance helps identify these issues before they become serious.
Don’t Judge Success by Open Rates Alone
An email with a 25% open rate but a high conversion rate is often far more valuable than an email with a 40% open rate that generates no sales.
When evaluating campaign performance, also monitor:
- Delivery rate
- Bounce rate
- Click-through rate
- Conversion rate
- Unsubscribe rate
- Spam complaints
Together, these metrics provide a much more accurate picture of campaign success.
How Email Blaster Helps You Improve Engagement
Email Blaster includes a range of tools designed to help improve your email performance, including:
- Drag & Drop Email Builder
- Subscriber Segmentation
- Personalisation and Mail Merge
- A/B Testing
- Detailed Campaign Analytics
- Responsive Email Templates
- Automation
- Delivery Reporting
By combining these features with email marketing best practices, you can create campaigns that consistently engage your subscribers and deliver measurable results.
Final Thoughts
A good email open rate depends on your audience, your industry and the quality of your email marketing strategy.
As a general guide:
- 20–30% is considered a good open rate.
- 30–40% is very good.
- Above 40% is excellent for highly engaged audiences.
Rather than chasing industry averages, focus on improving your own results over time.
Build a healthy mailing list, send valuable content, write compelling subject lines and monitor all of your email marketing metrics—not just opens.
The most successful email campaigns aren’t necessarily the ones with the highest open rates. They’re the ones that build lasting relationships, generate clicks, drive conversions and deliver real value to both your subscribers and your business.
