What is a good email open rate?

A good email open rate depends on your industry and email type. For general B2B marketing emails, an open rate of 20–30% is considered good. For cold outreach emails, 30–50% is achievable with strong targeting and subject lines, while above 50% is excellent. Industry averages typically range from 15–35% — education and nonprofit tend to perform highest (30%+), while retail and eCommerce tend to be lower (15–20%). Cold email open rates depend heavily on list quality, subject line, and sender reputation. Open rates have been affected by Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), which can inflate reported rates.

How do you calculate email open rate?

Email open rate is calculated using this formula: Open Rate = (Emails Opened ÷ Emails Delivered) × 100. Emails Delivered = Emails Sent − Bounced Emails. For example, if you sent 1,000 emails, 50 bounced, and 250 were opened, your open rate = (250 ÷ 950) × 100 = 26.3%. Some platforms calculate open rate as a percentage of total emails sent rather than delivered — this produces a slightly lower number. Always check which base your email platform uses when comparing metrics across tools.

What is click-to-open rate (CTOR)?

Click-to-open rate (CTOR) measures the percentage of people who clicked a link after opening your email. Formula: CTOR = (Unique Clicks ÷ Unique Opens) × 100. CTOR is a more accurate measure of email content quality than click rate because it isolates the content performance from the subject line performance. A good CTOR for B2B emails is 10–20%. If your open rate is strong but CTOR is low, the subject line is working but the email body or CTA needs improvement. If both are low, the problem starts with targeting or subject lines.

What causes low email open rates?

The most common causes of low email open rates are: (1) Poor subject lines — unclear, too long, or lacking relevance to the recipient. (2) Sender name not recognised — recipients don't open emails from names they don't recognise. (3) Landing in spam or promotions folder — affects deliverability and visibility. (4) Low-quality list — sending to unverified, outdated, or poorly-targeted addresses. (5) Sending at wrong times — timing affects who sees the email in their inbox. (6) Email fatigue — sending too frequently reduces engagement. (7) No personalisation — generic emails that feel like mass sends perform worse than personalised messages.

How can I improve my email open rate?

The most impactful ways to improve email open rates are: (1) Improve your subject line — test different lengths (30–50 characters), add personalisation with the recipient's name or company, use curiosity gaps, and avoid spam trigger words. (2) Clean your list — remove bounced and inactive addresses regularly to improve sender reputation. (3) Improve sender reputation — warm up new email addresses, authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and maintain consistent sending volumes. (4) Send at optimal times — Tuesday–Thursday, 9–11am or 1–3pm in the recipient's timezone typically performs best. (5) Segment your list — highly relevant emails to tight segments consistently outperform broad campaigns.

Free Email Open Rate Calculator — Analyze & Improve Campaign Performance

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Campaign Volume

Total emails sent and delivery results

Emails Sent

emails

Hard Bounces

emails

Invalid addresses, domain not found

Soft Bounces

emails

Inbox full, temp unavailable

Spam Complaints

emails

📬

Engagement Metrics

Opens, clicks, and unsubscribes

Unique Opens

opens

Total Opens (incl. repeats)

opens

Unique Clicks

clicks

Unsubscribes

emails

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Benchmark Context

Compare to your industry average

Your Industry

Email Type

🧪

A/B Test Configuration

Calculate the sample size for a statistically valid split test

Current Open Rate (%)

Your baseline (Control group)

Target Open Rate (%)

Minimum improvement to detect

Statistical Confidence (%)

Statistical Power (%)

Number of Variants

Daily Send Capacity

/day

How many emails you send daily

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What to Test

Most impactful split test elements

1. Subject Line

Highest impact on open rate. Test length, personalisation, questions vs statements, or with/without emoji.

2. Sender Name / From Address

Personal name vs company name, or first name only. Can move open rate by 5–10 percentage points.

3. Preview Text (Pre-header)

The text snippet shown after the subject in inbox. Extends the subject line's message and drives curiosity.

4. Send Day & Time

Test Tue/Wed/Thu vs Mon/Fri. Test AM (9–11) vs PM (1–3). Results vary by audience and industry.

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Revenue Baseline

What each email open is worth to your business

Emails Sent

emails

Current Open Rate (%)

Click-to-Open Rate (%)

Click-to-Purchase Rate (%)

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Deal & Improvement Scenarios

Avg Deal / Order Value ($)

Campaigns Per Month

/mo

Target Open Rate (%)

What you're aiming for

Campaign Cost ($)

$/campaign

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Open Rate

Enter your campaign data

Fill in your email metrics on the left to see your open rate and full campaign analysis.

📧 Emails Delivered

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Sent minus bounced

🖱 Click-to-Open Rate

—

% of openers who clicked

📉 Bounce Rate

—

Hard + soft bounces

🚫 Unsubscribe Rate

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% of delivered who unsub

⚠️ Spam Complaint Rate

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Should stay below 0.08%

🖱 Click Rate

—

% of delivered who clicked

vs Industry Benchmark Cold Email / Outreach

Open Rate

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CTOR

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Bounce Rate

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Unsub Rate

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📍 Yellow marker = your industry benchmark. Bars show your actual performance.

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Industry / Use Case	Open Rate	CTOR	Bounce Rate	Unsub Rate	Assessment
Cold Email / Outreach (B2B)	30–50%	10–20%	<3%	<0.5%	50%+ is excellent
B2B Marketing Email	20–30%	8–15%	<2%	<0.5%	25%+ is strong
SaaS / Technology	22–32%	10–18%	<2%	<0.3%	High engagement sector
Agency / Consulting	25–38%	10–20%	<2%	<0.4%	Relationship-driven
Finance / Banking	20–28%	8–14%	<1.5%	<0.3%	Regulatory constraints
Healthcare	22–30%	9–16%	<2%	<0.4%	High trust required
Education / Nonprofit	28–40%	12–22%	<2%	<0.5%	Highest open rates
eCommerce / Retail	15–25%	6–12%	<3%	<0.8%	Volume-driven
Newsletter / Media	28–45%	12–25%	<1%	<0.3%	Opted-in audiences
Transactional Emails	45–70%	10–20%	<1%	Near 0%	Expected / triggered

Industry / Use Case

Open Rate

CTOR

Bounce Rate

Unsub Rate

Assessment

Cold Email / Outreach (B2B)

30–50%

10–20%

<3%

<0.5%

50%+ is excellent

B2B Marketing Email

20–30%

8–15%

<2%

<0.5%

25%+ is strong

SaaS / Technology

22–32%

10–18%

<2%

<0.3%

High engagement sector

Agency / Consulting

25–38%

10–20%

<2%

<0.4%

Relationship-driven

Finance / Banking

20–28%

8–14%

<1.5%

<0.3%

Regulatory constraints

Healthcare

22–30%

9–16%

<2%

<0.4%

High trust required

Education / Nonprofit

28–40%

12–22%

<2%

<0.5%

Highest open rates

eCommerce / Retail

15–25%

6–12%

<3%

<0.8%

Volume-driven

Newsletter / Media

28–45%

12–25%

<1%

<0.3%

Opted-in audiences

Transactional Emails

45–70%

10–20%

<1%

Near 0%

Expected / triggered

Free Email Open Rate
Calculator

Low open rates often start with the wrong people on your list.

Email Open Rate Benchmarks by Industry (2026)

Subject Lines That Actually Get Opened

Email Open Rates — What They Mean and How to Improve Them

Understanding Email Open Rate

The Difference Between Open Rate and CTOR

The 6 Most Impactful Open Rate Improvements

Who the Email Open Rate Calculator Is Built For

Better open rates start before you press send — with better leads.

Email Open Rate — Common Questions

Better Open Rates Start with Better Leads