What’s better than a beautiful email? A beautiful email that people open and click on. (If you’ve ever sent out an email campaign and eagerly watched the statistics dashboard to see how many subscribers opened and clicked, you know what we’re talking about.)
We’re all about the open and click rate thrill, so let’s dive into:
Where can you find your open and click rates?
What’s considered a “good” open or click rate?
What makes people open emails and click anyway?
We’ll tackle each topic one by one, but first, let’s see how you can find these statistics in Flodesk. If you’re already in the know on your email stats, keep scrolling to the next section.
Where can I find the open rates and click rates of my email?
You can access your email statistics report for a sent email campaign in one of two ways.
On any sent email, click on the bar graph icon in the bottom right corner, then click View details.
Hover over the email card and click on View Results.
To learn more about your email analytics, check How can I see how my emails performed.
Where can I find the open and click rates of emails in my welcome sequence?
Glad you asked! You can find your welcome sequence email stats within workflows.
Step 1. On your Workflows dashboard, find the specific Workflow you’re interested in and click on the chart icon in the bottom right corner > View details.
Step 2. On the Overview tab, you'll find an overview of your Workflow's performance. And you can see each step in the Workflow and its statistics on the Details tab.
To learn more about your email analytics, check How can I see how my workflow performed.
Now that you know where to find your email (and workflow) stats, let's dive into what a good open and click rate are, shall we?
What’s considered a good open rate and click rate?
First, let’s define the open rate and click rate.
Open rate is the percentage of your total recipients who opened your email.
Click rate (also known as click-through rate) is the percentage of your total recipients who clicked on a link within your email.
That means if you send an email to a list of 100 subscribers, and all of them open your email and click on a link in your email, you have a 100% open rate and click rate. Similarly, if 75 people open and 50 click, then your open rate is 75% and your click rate is 50%.
But this rarely happens.
Why?
Because your subscribers get a lot of emails—just like you. Not only from their family members or friends but also from other businesses. Your email is part of a never-ending daily competition trying to grab their attention so that they choose your emails to open and read. 💌
So what is considered good or bad?
A recent report shows the average email benchmarks for all industries in the U.S. are as follows:
Average open rate: 21%
Average click-through rate: 2.2%
Open rates and click rates depend on factors like
the industry you’re in,
where your subscribers are located,
the size of your email list
what type of email campaigns you’re sending,
if your readers use the Apple Mail app and have enabled the “Protect Mail activity” option—just to name a few.
Also, what may be a good open rate and click rate for you and your business is not the same as your biz bestie's.
Note: If you recently changed email marketing service providers, it's not unusual to experience a drop in open rates. You can read about why this happens here.
How can I boost my open rates?
Whether your open rates are above or below industry benchmarks, there’s always room for improvement.
To boost your open rates:
Write compelling and click-worthy email subject lines and email preview texts. If it’s something that grabs your subscribers’ attention and promises value for them, they will be eager to open your email.
Remember that a lot of people read emails on their phones. So optimize your subject lines and preview text for mobile viewing. Keep them short, relevant and interesting. There's no magic formula here—it takes time to find the best type of subject lines that your audience loves. Some of your subject lines will perform better than others. After every email is sent, check and track the email’s performance to keep learning and optimizing.
Try something new. Like personalizing the subject line with your subscriber’s first name.
Pay attention to the day and time you send your emails. Open rates can depend on the day and time you send your email campaign. Some of your subscribers may be reading their emails very early in the morning, others may prefer browsing them during lunch—not to mention the night owls who like reading your emails at midnight. The day of the week can also impact your open rates. Try sending your emails out on different days to see how it affects your opens. Your audience might love getting emails on Saturdays whereas your biz bestie’s audience might love getting emails on Tuesdays.
After trying each of these tactics, carefully analyze each email campaign. Look at how they were received and when they were opened. And make small adjustments the next time.
Note: If you see lower open rates and a lot of your subscribers have gmail.com addresses, your emails may be clipped in Gmail. Learn more about this and what to do here.
How can I increase my click rates?
Once your subscribers open your email, your next task at hand is to persuade them to take a certain action (this is called a CTA, or call to action).
Common CTAs include:
Clicking on a link in the email to read your latest blog post. Your CTA text could be “Read More.”
Booking your new service via a “Book Now” button.
Registering for your upcoming webinar with CTA language like “Save my spot!”
The more people clicking on your CTAs, the higher your click rates.
You can increase your click rates by:
Segmenting your audience. Segmenting is when you put your subscribers into smaller groups based on similarities. Like their interests, preferences or behaviors. And don't worry, you can set up as many segments as you want in Flodesk—your subscribers won't be double-counted and you’ll never pay more. When you segment your list, you can create and send them hyper-relevant, value-packed, personalized emails and offers, making it a no-brainer for them to click and get even more value from you.
Reduce choice overload. If your subscribers have many choices—that is, links in your email—they may decide not to choose at all. Having a single CTA typically increases your click rate.
Include your most important content and CTA above the fold. That means it shows up at the top of your email and is the first thing the reader sees without scrolling down. And don’t be afraid to include the same CTA in your emails twice—once above the fold and once after.
Provide value. Ever notice how the saying is "give and take", not take, take, take? Make sure you’re giving something valuable (like resources, tips or freebies) more often than you’re asking for something in return (like to buy from you) to keep them engaged and clicking.
Summary
To see your email open and click rates in Flodesk, click on the little chart icon in the bottom right corner of each email card and select "More details."
Both open rates and click rates are highly dependent on your industry, email list size, subscriber preferences and nature of your email campaigns.
The best way to boost your open rates is to write click-worthy, but not misleading subject lines and preview texts.
To increase your click rates, send personalized and valuable offers and content to your segmented list and try to use a single call-to-action in your email campaigns.
Use your email open and click rates to help you continue tweaking your subject lines, preview texts and content until you find the best versions that can help your business grow.
More to learn: