What are email open rate and click rate?
Quick answer
Email open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were opened, and click rate is the percentage in which someone clicked a link. Open rate hints at how well your subject line worked, and click rate hints at how well your content and offer worked.
Last updated
Updated · By Robert Breen
Why it matters for a small business
These two numbers are the simplest way to see whether anyone is paying attention to your email marketing. A falling open rate suggests tired subject lines, a bad sender name or messages landing in spam. A weak click rate with good opens suggests the email was read but the offer or link was not compelling.
Treat open rate with care. Many mail apps now load images automatically or hide activity for privacy, so opens can be overcounted and are less reliable than they used to be. Clicks and replies are firmer signals, and the most trustworthy one is the action you wanted, such as a booking. Compare your own results over time before you compare yourself to anyone else's.
In a real lesson: Build a Lead Magnet Signup Form with an AI Welcome Email
In the AI Lead Magnet Signup Form lesson, you build a "Get the Free Guide" form in Lovable for Harbor & Pine Coffee Roasters, a made-up online coffee brand. An n8n agent tags each new lead with a segment, such as New to Brewing or Gift Buyer, saves the lead to a Google Sheet and uses the Gmail tool to send a short, warm welcome with a link to "The Better Cup at Home" guide.
The lesson does not measure open or click rates. It sends the welcome through a Gmail tool, as if you were typing the email yourself, and a regular Gmail message does not report opens to you. Dedicated email platforms usually do offer those numbers, so if you move your list to one, open and click rates become available.
The segment tag still gives you a way to think about the numbers later. If one segment clicks the guide link far more than another, the tip that fits that segment may be doing its job. Only compare groups once you have enough people in each for the result to mean anything.
Try this lesson free or read the step-by-step guide.
Common confusions
Open rate vs click rate
Opens tell you the subject line got a look. Clicks tell you someone found the content worth acting on. You can have high opens and low clicks, which points to the body, or the reverse, which points to the subject line.
Click rate vs conversion rate
A click only means someone visited the link. The conversion happens afterward, like signing up or buying. A page that loses people after the click needs fixing, not the email.
Tips
- Test one thing at a time, like a subject line, and send each version to a similar group.
- Do not chase a single big number. Track your own trend over months, not one email.
- Remove people who never open after many sends. A smaller, engaged list often performs better.
Related terms
More Business terms
Where you use it: free lessons
- Build a Lead Magnet Signup Form with an AI Welcome Email (Lovable and n8n, 15 min)
- Build an n8n AI Agent That Plans Your Content Calendar (n8n, 12 min)
Prompt templates that use it
Frequently asked questions
- What is a good open rate?
- It varies by industry and list. Because privacy features distort opens, use your own past numbers as the baseline and watch whether they rise or fall over time.
- Can I see opens for emails sent from Gmail?
- Not by default. Regular Gmail messages do not report opens to you. Email marketing platforms add tracking for that purpose, and you should tell subscribers how you track in your privacy notice.