The short answer
The open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were opened. Since 2021 it’s far less reliable: Apple Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from knowing when an email is opened, and many emails count as “opened” even though nobody read them. Treat it as a trend, not a score. To know whether your emails work, watch clicks, replies, sales, unsubscribes, bounces and spam complaints.
How an open is counted, and why it’s hard
An open is counted with an invisible image inside the email: when the email app downloads it, the platform records “opened”. That works as long as the app downloads images when the person actually opens the email.
In 2021 Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection: it stops senders from knowing when an email is opened and hides the reader’s IP address. To do that, Apple Mail fetches the content in advance, even if nobody reads it. Result: many emails show as opened without being opened, and others, with images blocked, get read without showing as opened.
So what should you watch?
- Clicks: someone who clicks has read, and done something. It’s the number closest to real interest.
- Replies: if people write back, your email is speaking to someone. And replies help delivery.
- Sales and bookings: the reason you write. Connect your shop or booking system and see what happens after each send.
- Unsubscribes: a few are normal; a spike after a send tells you something was off.
- Bounces: addresses that can’t receive. If they rise, the list needs cleaning.
- Spam complaints: the most important number for delivery. Google asks senders to stay under 0.3% and recommends under 0.1%.
So are opens useless now?
They’re still useful, with judgement:
- to compare two subject lines in the same send, because the distortion weighs the same on both;
- to see a trend over time on the same list;
- to find people who never open, knowing the number is approximate.
They’re no use for comparing yourself with an “industry average” you found online: different lists, different email apps, numbers that can’t be compared.
Healthy numbers for a small list
These are rules of thumb, not laws, but they tell you straight away when something’s wrong:
- Spam complaints: under 0.1%, one per thousand emails; never above 0.3%.
- Bounces: very few. If a send goes above 2%, check the list before the next one.
- Unsubscribes: under 1% per send is normal; well above that, rethink frequency or content.
- Clicks: compare them with your previous sends. Your trend is what counts, not other people’s average.
If bounces are rising, the fix is in the list: read how to clean your email list.
How to read them in Spedito
In each email’s report you’ll find deliveries, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and bounces, and on each contact’s page you see what they opened and clicked. Spedito doesn’t count clicks made by corporate antivirus systems, which check links before people do, so your clicks stay real.
On the Deliverability page you get a score from 1 to 100 calculated from your sends over the last 30 days, with what to improve. And to check your domain before you even sign up, there’s our free deliverability test.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good email open rate?
It depends on the list and, since 2021, on how many readers use Apple Mail: open rates are inflated and can’t be compared between lists. Compare your own sends with each other and focus on clicks.
Why do I get lots of opens but few clicks?
Probably because many opens are automatic: Apple Mail fetches emails in advance. Count clicks and sales: they tell you how interesting your emails really are.
What is the click rate?
The percentage of people who clicked at least one link, out of those the email was delivered to. It’s the most reliable number for telling whether an email worked.
How is the open rate calculated?
Opened emails divided by delivered emails, times a hundred. Delivered emails are those sent minus bounces.