Email Open Rate Calculator
(Open, Click and Click-to-Open Rates)
Enter emails sent, bounces and unique opens, and optionally clicks, to get open rate, click rate and click-to-open rate with a comparison to published benchmarks.
Hard and soft bounces, so open rate uses delivered emails
Result
💡 Formula Guide
What Email Open Rate Really Measures
Email open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were recorded as opened at least once. This email open rate calculator computes the rate from your campaign counts and puts it beside Mailchimp's published average.
Example. 12,000 emails sent, 180 bounced and 4,500 unique opens: delivered is 11,820, and the open rate is 4,500 ÷ 11,820 = 38.07%. With 320 unique clicks, the click rate is 320 ÷ 11,820 = 2.71% and the click-to-open rate is 320 ÷ 4,500 = 7.11%.
Benchmarks You Can Compare Against
Mailchimp publishes email marketing benchmarks across its users. The page says the data was last updated in December 2023 and covers campaigns sent to at least 1,000 subscribers. Other platforms publish their own numbers with different definitions and customers, so figures from two platforms are not directly comparable.
| Mailchimp industry | Average open rate | Average click rate |
|---|---|---|
| All users | 35.63% | 2.62% |
| Non-profits | 40.04% | 3.27% |
| Education and training | 35.64% | 3.02% |
| Business and finance | 31.35% | 2.78% |
| Ecommerce | 29.81% | 1.74% |
The calculator compares your open rate with the all-user figure and shows the gap in percentage points. Use benchmarks to see whether you are in a similar range, not as a target. A list can sit below the average and still be profitable.
Why Open Rates Became Unreliable
Open tracking works by loading a tiny invisible image when an email is displayed. Apple Mail Privacy Protection, introduced in 2021, downloads that image through Apple's servers in advance, regardless of whether a person looks at the email. The result is that some reported opens, particularly on lists with many Apple Mail users, are automated. How much this raises your open rate depends on your audience.
Practically, this means you should stop treating raw open rate as a precise measure of attention. Track it as a trend for the same list, put more weight on clicks and conversions, and use click-to-open rate to gauge how engaging your content is. When you compare A/B subject-line tests, be aware that the open rate can no longer separate real interest from machine opens as cleanly as it once did, so consider testing on clicks or revenue instead, and check significance with the A/B Test Significance Calculator.
💡 Rule of thumb: if opens rise but clicks and sales do not, suspect inflated opens rather than better subject lines.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the number of emails sent and, if you know it, the number that bounced.
- Enter unique opens.
- Optionally enter unique clicks to see click rate and click-to-open rate.
- Read the open rate, its comparison with the benchmark, and the supporting metrics.
Open rate is a means, not an end. Follow it through to money with the Email Marketing ROI Calculator, look at the click stage with the CTR Calculator, and see what a lead or sale costs with the CPL Calculator. If you run a paid newsletter, the Newsletter Revenue Calculator turns open rate into sponsorship income.
Improving Open Rate the Sustainable Way
Start with deliverability, since an email in the spam folder cannot be opened. Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, keep complaint and bounce rates low, and remove subscribers who have not engaged in many months. Then work on relevance: segment by behaviour or interest, send at times your readers actually use, and write subject lines that promise something specific. Use a sender name readers recognise. Test one change at a time and judge results on clicks and conversions as well as opens, so improvements in your numbers reflect real reader interest.
Frequently Asked Questions About Email Open Rates
How do you calculate email open rate?
Divide unique opens by delivered emails and multiply by 100. Delivered means sent minus bounced. If you sent 12,000 emails, 180 bounced and 4,500 were opened, the open rate is 4,500 ÷ 11,820 × 100 = 38.07%.
What is a good email open rate?
Mailchimp's published benchmark across all users is 35.63% for opens and 2.62% for clicks, in data last updated in December 2023. Its industry averages range from 29.81% for ecommerce to 40.04% for non-profits. Mailchimp notes that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection may affect the accuracy of open rates, so judge your rate together with your click rate and your own trend.
Why are my open rates suddenly higher than before?
Often because of Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which pre-loads email content and can register an open even when nobody read the message. Its effect grew as more people adopted it. If opens rose without a matching rise in clicks or sales, treat the increase with suspicion.
What is click-to-open rate?
Click-to-open rate (CTOR) is unique clicks divided by unique opens. It shows how compelling the content was for people who opened, and it is less distorted by machine opens than open rate alone, although it is still affected when opens are inflated. It is a better guide to content quality.
Should open rate use sent or delivered emails?
Delivered is standard, because bounced emails could not be opened. Some tools divide by sent. Use one definition consistently and check what your platform does before you compare numbers with other sources.
How can I improve my open rate?
Clean your list of inactive addresses, use a recognisable sender name, write specific subject lines, test send times and segment by interest. Good deliverability, meaning authentication with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, keeps you out of spam folders, where no email is opened at all.
What is a normal click rate?
Mailchimp's all-user click rate is 2.62%. Its industry figures include 1.74% for ecommerce, 2.78% for business and finance, 3.02% for education and training and 3.27% for non-profits. Other platforms publish their own figures with their own definitions, so compare against the benchmarks of the platform you send from.
Do these benchmarks apply to my industry?
Only loosely. The all-user figure blends every industry and list type. Look up industry-specific benchmarks from your email platform and treat them as context, while tracking your own trend as the main measure.
Last Updated: October 2026 | Reference figures are Mailchimp's published benchmarks (data last updated December 2023), checked on mailchimp.com in October 2026.