If you ever find yourself at a table with 2 email marketers, the conversation will probably feature open rates at least once. “What is a good open rate?” is one of the most common questions that email marketing agencies get, so you can say that as email marketers, we lose some sleep over it.
That’s because, obviously, you can only make a sale if someone opens your emails. And eCommerce email marketing is, in large part, a numbers game. To win, you need to send enough emails, of high enough quality, to get the opens that lead to sales.
So with that in mind, what is a good open rate for email? In particular, what’s a good open rate (OR) for eCommerce – and how can you improve yours to boost email marketing revenue?
All great questions – and all tricky to answer in brief. But here’s the TL;DR if you’re not in the mood to read to the end:
- Set realistic expectations based on your industry and your niche within it.
- Invest in killer email subject lines (and preheaders).
- The right email list segmentation makes the difference between “viral” and “invisible”.
- Figure out the best email send times for your audience – it may not be what you think.
What is the Average Email Open Rate?
(Also: how long is a piece of string?)
We’re often asked for an average email open rate, to compare against actual rates.
It’s an important question, but it really depends on the industry and niche that you’re working in. Email marketing works differently in each one – and even within industries, certain segments get better average open rates than others.
According to the latest Klaviyo data, there’s a non-trivial variance in campaign open rates different eCommerce segments:
- Clothing & Accessories: 40.48%
- Food & Beverage: 40.58%
- Health & Beauty: 37.82%
- Office Supplies: 37.79%
- Specialty: 50%
Their data puts the average at 39.74%. Bear in mind that this includes the impact of iOS updates, which really inflate open rates. So if your email open rates are somewhere in the 30’s, you’re doing okay. It could be a lot worse. But it could be a lot better, too, which is where a done-for-you email marketing service can make all the difference in the world (more on that a little later).
What’s the open rate formula?
Here’s how to calculate open rate figures for your monthly KPI report or that email marketing deep dive your CEO is bugging you about:
To calculate the email open rate, divide the number of emails that were opened by the total number of emails that were successfully delivered (not bounced). Then, multiply that result by 100 to get the percentage.
For example, if you sent 1,000 emails and 200 of them were opened, your open rate would be 20% (and your CEO will have some questions for you).
The open rate formula is pretty simple, but getting it to a healthier place takes time.
Here are some fixes to consider if you’re stuck at or below the average email open rate for your niche.
How to Increase Email Open Rates: 4 Proven Strategies
Send More: Increase Email Frequency To Get More Opens
There’s no hard and fast rule about how many emails an eCommerce store should send. But “at least once a week” is a general rule of thumb.
The more you send, the more data you have to analyze to find opportunities and spot anomalies. For example, if you notice that a certain send time correlates with a big drop in opens, that’s important. Change things up and find a better time for your audience.
Basically, your subscribers’ behavior can tell you as much as a direct survey (if not more). You just need to be paying attention, and know how to interpret it.
And you can only get to the point of having useful data on their behavior if you’re sending at a high enough volume.
Write Engaging Email Subject Lines – You Only Get One Chance (and 50 characters)
The email subject line is the first thing your recipients see. You have a very short space (around 50 characters) to get attention and motivate the click. And we’re all getting tired of cliche, gimmicky or overly aggressive email subject lines cluttering our inboxes.
Here’s what you want to do instead:
- Personalize where you can. Adding a recipient’s name can be a nice touch – even if it is a little predictable.
- Keep it short: pack as much as you can into the character limit.
- Ensure that there’s follow-through from the subject line to the email content.
Remember: you’re writing email marketing subject lines, not email subject lines for internal communication. So your focus should always be on what your audience needs. Sometimes that’s humor (great for nurturing content and newsletters). But sometimes it’s more about giving as much information as possible in 50 short characters, like during a sale.
Pack Value Into Your Email Preheader Text, Too
The preheader text gives the reader a little more context about what’s in the email. Use this space wisely: highlight an offer, a unique selling point, or a teaser that complements the subject line. Think of it as your last shot at convincing the reader to click – not as just something else you need to fill in.
Most email clients display preheader text between 30 and 75 characters on mobile devices, while desktop clients can show up to 130 characters. To ensure visibility, we recommend that you keep preheaders between 40 and 100 characters.
Segment Your Email List
If you have great subject lines and engaging content, but your email open rates still aren’t as high as you’d like, you could be segmenting your list wrong.
Segmentation is kind of a science in itself, so it’s very easy to make mistakes that end up sabotaging your email revenue. Here are some of the biggest:
Over-Segmentation: Creating too many small, niche segments can water down your messaging (and make your email marketing team’s life more difficult without any gain in revenue).
Outdated Segments: Your email list is always changing, and so should your segments. Update them regularly as customers move through different stage of their customer lifecycle with you. But be careful: if you update your segmentation logic too frequently, the result could be duplication or confused messaging.
Only Using Demographics: Demographics like age, gender and location are an obvious starting point for segmentation. But there’s even more to consider, like behavioral and transactional data: purchase history, browsing habits, and others. This means digging into your GA4 data (daunting, we know, but worth it).
Failing to Exclude Customers: Forgetting to exclude certain segments, like sending a “Welcome” email to loyal customers or a “First Purchase Discount” to someone who just bought will irritate readers and skyrocket unsubscribe rates.
Optimize Your Email Send Times
It’s easy to assume that nobody will read your emails on a Monday morning, or that everyone will open at noon on a Wednesday because that’s what the latest industry guide says.
The truth is that this is one of the more dynamic parts of email marketing. So, don’t reach any conclusions until you test and analyze the best times to send your emails. Depending on your audience, certain days and times might give better open rates. And sometimes, it’s not the times you expect. We’ve got amazing results from a Sunday afternoon send. It’s all about your audience – so put in the work to find out what they like.
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