10% Email Open Rate Good or Bad?

by Eswar
21 replies
Is it good or bad of having email open rate of 10%? Can you share your experience?
#10% #bad #email #good #open #rate
  • Profile picture of the author Takuya Hikichi
    It all depends on what you're doing with your email. If you're giving something away and only 10% are clicking, I'd say it's very low. But if you just mailed something yesterday and it was a third party or external link, it may be expected.

    I have had 60% open rate one week (thinking it gets opened a lot) and 16% next week (and realize it doesn't). So "other people's experience" may not provide much data for you.

    Your way of acquiring these names is different from others, what you're doing with your email is different from others, too.

    Don't get discouraged and mail again with something irresistible - if people cannot live without your offer, then your open rate will go up in the next broadcast.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[446952].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author radhika
      Originally Posted by Takuya Hikichi View Post

      It all depends on what you're doing with your email. If you're giving something away and only 10% are clicking, I'd say it's very low. But if you just mailed something yesterday and it was a third party or external link, it may be expected.

      I have had 60% open rate one week (thinking it gets opened a lot) and 16% next week (and realize it doesn't). So "other people's experience" may not provide much data for you.

      Your way of acquiring these names is different from others, what you're doing with your email is different from others, too.

      Don't get discouraged and mail again with something irresistible - if people cannot live without your offer, then your open rate will go up in the next broadcast.
      It also dpends on :

      How many days you used to estimate the open rate. If you sent it this morning and can't estimate open rate today itself. Give atleast a week time to round off the open rate. Remember not all people check email every day or been busy couple of days etc.

      .
      Signature
      Follow up Autoresponder PRO :: 33% Discount!!
      FREE Upgrades! IMPROVED Email Deliverability!!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[447104].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Eswar
        It also dpends on :

        How many days you used to estimate the open rate. If you sent it this morning and can't estimate open rate today itself. Give atleast a week time to round off the open rate. Remember not all people check email every day or been busy couple of days etc.
        Its a good point. I sent the broadcast 24 hours back. Now it has rised to 11%.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[447151].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    Is 45 MPH a good speed limit?

    It all depends...

    Without any other information all anyone can do is guess... Although I will say I wouldn't be satisfied with 10% open rate on any of my own lists.

    Brian
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[447008].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MasonRamm
    With the huge amount of email people get as a result of having
    subscribed for so many free offers online or to many newsletters/ezines...

    I personally think 10% is an okay open rate, not great but okay...
    hey its better than no one opening up your emails and checking out
    your offers etc

    Opening rates will vary and will increase according to how good
    your email subjectline is. The better your email subjectline, the more
    chance its getting open and read.
    Signature
    Click Here For My Free Report (No Optin Required) Which Reveals A Cool Way to Make Money With Free Stuff!

    Discover Little Known Ways To Make Money - Click Here!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[447019].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Adrian Jock
    Don't rely too much on such metrics. You cannot measure accuratelly the open rate of an email.

    For example, if you have many subscribers that use Gmail and they didn't change the default settings, then you won't "see" them when they open your emails.

    In such case, your open rate may be in fact much higher than the one you know. So ... what you call as your "email open rate" may be very different than the reality.

    Maybe it's better to focus on something else, other than open rate.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[447781].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kswr123
    Is 45 MPH a good speed limit?
    Hell yeah!

    But seriously, I do agree. Individual numbers mean nothing out of context.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[447792].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GetStreetSmart
    depends on how oftern you send to your list, what you are asking or selling and how much and how good the content is. Quality content delivered consistently over time will get your e-mails opened more often
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457749].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Anna Johnson
    Where does your list come from? The source of your subscribers will have a big impact on the kind of open rate you can expect. But here's the thing - the more important metric to consider is the ROI of that list, e.g. average profit per subscriber.
    Signature
    Discover a REAL Internet marketing newsletter
    News, comment, research, tips and more.
    (And great freebies when you subscribe...)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457766].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author askloz
    pretty good I guess, mine floats around 38% - 72% all depends what time I posted out, what day and what subject line I use.

    Originally Posted by Eswar View Post

    Is it good or bad of having email open rate of 10%? Can you share your experience?
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457784].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Open rate means nothing, other than in the context of monitoring its trend. The actual figures tell you nothing.

    Because, as has been said, open rate cannot be measured with any accuracy.

    Response rate (whatever that may be for you) is what's important and that can be measured accurately.

    Cheers,

    Neil
    Signature

    Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457788].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author askloz
      Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

      Open rate means nothing, other than in the context of monitoring its trend. The actual figures tell you nothing.
      it's a good start and it does tell you something, your readers are actually reading your emails... I find that over 60% of my email open rate actually click through to my sites.

      During the 9yrs online doing internet marketing, I've always used the numbers as a guidance.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[458280].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Alex Sol
    I think that a good open rate should be of 50%+, unfortunately I do not walk the walk... The highest I had was 22% (for a list of 2,000)... lowest I had was 9% for the same list.

    As I understand, I must be building a relationship with my prospects, that's why I am building that list - so these folks should be very responsive, otherwise I have not built the list successfully...

    I guess playing with the subject line could make a big difference... My 22% open rate came from a friendly subject line, my 9% open rate came from this subject line: "Sale! Get All My Products 50% OFF" lol... I will never do that one again

    Alex Sol
    Signature
    Alex Sol, Full time online marketer since 2007
    The Extra Paycheck Blog | Extra Paycheck Podcast
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457829].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    However you put it, an OPEN RATE of only 10% is on the LOW end.
    This is the percentage of people opening your email, not even reading
    it through ... opening it.

    Your subject line need improvement.

    -Ray Edwards
    Signature
    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457840].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mompessons
    I've not read all the replys to your post, so I apologise if I am repeating what others have said.

    It depends on when you sent out the email Was it just a few hours ago, or a few days ago? You will find the longer you leave it, the higher the open rate will be.

    Anyway, the success of your open rate will depend on how striking your email title is. My open rate is between 26% and somehow amazingly 119%. I don't know how you can get an open rate of more than 100%, but there you are. I use Aweber, so I'm sure it must be accurate.

    Also compare the open rate to other emails you have sent out. How does it compare.

    Marc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[457843].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Adrian Jock
      Originally Posted by mompessons View Post

      My open rate is between 26% and somehow amazingly 119%. I don't know how you can get an open rate of more than 100%, but there you are. I use Aweber, so I'm sure it must be accurate.
      This was funny. You proved that Aweber shows a percentage that is not accurate and then you say that you're sure that it must be accurate

      An increase of the REAL open rate (that no one can measure it) is due to subscribers who open the same email for more than one time. One person who opens the email 10 times is measured as 10 subscribers reading the email one time.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[458722].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Samuel Lee
    Some great posts, I think it would depend on what you're doing with your emails on a day-to-day basis. If you promoting a free product and about only 10 in a thousand are clicking, that would be particularly low odds. If you emailed yesterday to an external link or provider, it probably might be expected. You and your competitors mailing techniques would be different, I wouldn't get discouraged about it - mail again with something irresistible - if people cannot live without your offer, then your open rate will undoubtedly increase in your next emailing. Hope this helps!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[458635].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Anna Johnson
    Okay, here's some more info to add another perspective to this discussion.

    We have segmented our newsletter list based on where subscribers come from. Consequently we send out the very same newsletter to a number of different lists. Both the open rate, CTR and response rate vary considerably between each sub-list. One might be as low as 5 percent, another may be as high as 40 percent or even higher. So why would we persist with a list that has a 5 percent open rate? Because the ROI makes it worthwhile!

    Having said that, I will say that if your list is from a JV partner or from a specific promotion where everyone specifically opts in to your list, a 10 percent open rate is on the low side, and it may well be due to a poor choice of subject lines.

    Hope this helps.

    Anna
    Signature
    Discover a REAL Internet marketing newsletter
    News, comment, research, tips and more.
    (And great freebies when you subscribe...)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[458677].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
    You need to also remember that some people (like me) open it more than once which distorts the stats.

    And along with Google, Yahoo, hotmail, aol & outlook don't load images by default. Most don't. So that % could be MUCH higher.

    What I look it is number of mails, "open rate" and clicks. To kinda weigh how it's going.

    My normal rate is about 10% (Poor subject lines)
    Signature
    Screw You, NameCheap!
    $1 Off NameSilo Domain Coupons:

    SAVEABUCKDOMAINS & DOLLARDOMAINSAVINGS
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[458686].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SamLewi
    is the 10% from an opt-in list? if so, that is on the low side.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[461190].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Eswar
      Open rate is not seems to be accurate because of the feature of image blocking. Most email service providers have this option to block the images within the email. Now i watch only click through rate of the link i promote within the broadcast.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[461481].message }}

Trending Topics