Getting your email opened is half the battle!
There are a ton of elements you can vary to try to entice more of your subscribers to open up your emails. Here are just a few things you could try:Experiment with your subject lines: Try including details about the content of the email right in the subject line, instead of using your standard subject.
Send on a different day: Are your subscribers too busy on a Wednesday morning to read your email, leaving it languishing down the inbox? Maybe a Tuesday afternoon email would be welcomed.
Get the important content up the top: Remember that many people will see a preview of your email before deciding to open it or ignore it. Make sure your email is recognizable, and that your key points are in the top third.
Open rate is a measure of how many people on an email list open (or view) a particular email campaign. The open rate is normally expressed as a percentage. So a 20% open rate would mean that of every 10 emails delivered to the inbox, 2 were actually opened.
What is an open rate?
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It is important to understand that the open rate is not a 100% accurate measure. Recording an 'open' can only happen if the reader's email client is capable of displaying HTML with images, and that option is turned on. So if you are sending text-only emails, there is no way to record open rates. Similarly, people reading your HTML email without images showing will not be recorded as opens.
Email Open Rates by Industry: As of June 2015
How do you measure an open?
When each email is sent out, we automatically add a piece of code that requests a tiny, invisible image from our web servers. So when a reader opens the email, the image is downloaded, and we can record that download as an open for that specific email.It is important to understand that the open rate is not a 100% accurate measure. Recording an 'open' can only happen if the reader's email client is capable of displaying HTML with images, and that option is turned on. So if you are sending text-only emails, there is no way to record open rates. Similarly, people reading your HTML email without images showing will not be recorded as opens.
Email Open Rates by Industry: As of June 2015
| Business Type | Open Rate | Bounces Rate | Clicks (Click-Through Rate) | Opt-out Rate |
| Accommodations (ex. hotel, inn, B&B, campgrounds) | 21.96% | 8.94% | 7.50% | 0.28% |
| Accountant | 17.09% | 6.82% | 7.09% | 0.13% |
| Animal Services | 26.65% | 9.78% | 10.50% | 0.49% |
| Art, Culture, Entertainment (ex. galleries, museums, musicians, theatre, film, crafts) | 27.44% | 9.02% | 8.56% | 0.15% |
| Automotive Services | 26.96% | 7.97% | 13.32% | 0.43% |
| Child Care Services | 40.25% | 8.80% | 9.67% | 0.32% |
| Civic/Social Membership (ex. associations, chambers, clubs) | 10.85% | 2.71% | 6.05% | 0.03% |
| Consultant, Training (ex. marketing, management) | 17.96% | 11.11% | 6.73% | 0.13% |
| Education - Primary/Secondary (ex. elementary, middle, and high schools) | 32.87% | 9.00% | 8.57% | 0.19% |
| Education - Higher Education (ex. colleges, universities, trade schools) | 23.85% | 7.65% | 8.63% | 0.13% |
| Financial Advisor | 20.29% | 13.42% | 9.88% | 0.15% |
| Fitness Center, Sports, Recreation (ex. yoga studio, bowling alley, gym) | 24.92% | 9.38% | 7.57% | 0.20% |
| Fitness/Nutritional Services (ex. personal trainer, wellness coach) | 12.73% | 4.35% | 12.06% | 0.24% |
| Government Agency or Services | 32.96% | 9.00% | 8.23% | 0.12% |
| Health & Social Services (ex. hospital, elder care, adoption services) | 29.80% | 9.75% | 7.85% | 0.26% |
| Health Professional (ex. physician, dentist, chiropractor) | 24.51% | 9.65% | 7.33% | 0.25% |
| Home & Building Services (ex. construction, HVAC, landscaping, design) | 28.45% | 14.64% | 7.03% | 0.62% |
| Insurance | 6.95% | 3.54% | 9.25% | 0.14% |
| Legal Services | 28.24% | 11.47% | 7.35% | 0.19% |
| Manufacturing and Distribution | 22.82% | 11.80% | 8.49% | 0.20% |
| Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations | 15.15% | 9.11% | 6.92% | 0.10% |
| Other | 16.68% | 7.00% | 7.58% | 0.10% |
| Other - Non-profit | 30.88% | 10.19% | 7.97% | 0.14% |
| Personal Services (ex. dry cleaning, photography, housekeeping) | 15.63% | 5.20% | 6.85% | 0.19% |
| Professional Services | 20.32% | 9.14% | 8.22% | 0.21% |
| Publishing | 21.67% | 7.82% | 12.61% | 0.07% |
| Real Estate | 25.37% | 14.18% | 6.33% | 0.16% |
| Religious Organization | 38.70% | 8.36% | 6.92% | 0.09% |
| Restaurant, Bar, Cafe, Caterer | 20.53% | 9.56% | 4.08% | 0.18% |
| Retail (ex. brick and mortar and online) | 18.18% | 6.91% | 8.70% | 0.13% |
| Salon, Spa, Barber (ex. nails, tanning) | 22.01% | 14.43% | 4.04% | 0.27% |
| Technology (ex. web developer) | 15.61% | 12.60% | 6.34% | 0.15% |
| Transportation | 22.62% | 10.95% | 12.62% | 0.16% |
| Travel and Tourism (ex. limo driver, tour guide, reservations) | 20.79% | 9.51% | 7.75% | 0.14% |
| Unknown | 17.96% | 7.32% | 7.28% | 0.13% |
