Open a sent campaign and the analytics show what happened: how many were sent, how many arrived, and what people did next.
| Figure | Means |
|---|---|
| Recipients | How many the campaign went to. |
| Delivered | How many the receiving mail systems accepted. |
| Opens | How many were opened — approximate, see below. |
| Clicks | How many clicked something. The number that actually matters. |
| Bounced / failed | What could not be delivered. |
| Unsubscribed | How many asked to stop. |
Opens are an estimate, clicks are not
DO NOT BUILD A DECISION ON THE OPEN RATE ALONE
What good looks like
Compare against your own previous campaigns rather than an industry average. Your list, your trade and your sending history make published benchmarks close to meaningless. The useful question is whether this one did better than the last one to a similar list.
The numbers worth acting on
- Delivered well below recipients — a data problem. Check the bounce list.
- Clicks near zero with normal opens — the email was read and did not persuade. Look at the call to action.
- A spike in unsubscribes — the wrong audience, or too often.