Email Open Rate Calculator
Your Email Open Rate
How to Calculate Your Email Open Rate
To calculate the open rate of an email campaign, you must first determine the number of delivered emails. This is done by subtracting the number of bounced emails (emails that could not be delivered) from the total number of emails sent. Once you have the delivered count, you divide the number of unique opens by the delivered count and multiply by 100 to get the percentage.
Open Rate = (Unique Opens / (Total Sent – Bounced)) × 100
Why Delivered Emails Matter
Using "Total Sent" instead of "Delivered" is a common mistake that leads to an artificially low open rate. If 500 of your 10,000 emails bounced, you only actually reached 9,500 people. Calculating your engagement based on those 9,500 recipients provides a more accurate reflection of how your subject lines and sender reputation are performing.
Practical Calculation Example
Imagine you run a weekly newsletter with the following metrics:
- Total Sent: 5,000
- Bounced: 150
- Unique Opens: 1,200
Step 1: Calculate Delivered (5,000 – 150 = 4,850).
Step 2: Divide Opens by Delivered (1,200 / 4,850 = 0.2474).
Step 3: Multiply by 100 for the percentage (24.74%).
What is a Good Email Open Rate?
While open rates vary by industry, the average benchmark typically hovers between 17% and 25%. Factors that influence this metric include your subject line's relevance, the "from" name used, and the timing of your send. High bounce rates can negatively impact your sender reputation, which eventually lowers your open rate because more emails end up in the spam folder.