{"id":3649,"date":"2022-12-12T13:10:47","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T13:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogint.smartreach.io\/?p=3649"},"modified":"2025-07-29T07:21:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T07:21:51","slug":"increase-email-open-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/increase-email-open-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Increase Email Open Rate for Cold Email Outreach?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:28px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Email open rate is one of the important metrics which determines the success of a campaign. A good email open rate would be somewhere between 25-38% as per the industry standard. Around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wordstream.com\/blog\/ws\/2017\/06\/29\/email-marketing-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">73%<\/a> of millennials prefer to be contacted through mail. This doesn\u2019t mean they would automatically open your email. A low email open rate would indicate that your email campaigns aren\u2019t performing well and some changes are required.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#253b6c;font-size:clamp(17.905px, 1.119rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.789), 28px);\"><strong>A good email open rate would be somewhere between 25-38% as per the industry standard.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Fortunately, this article would provide all the insights on improving email open rates. This article is targeted toward sales teams, sales reps or demand-generation agencies that run <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">cold email outreach<\/a> campaigns. Specific details like formulae, definitions etc are not meant for email marketing teams looking to improve open rates for their marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is an Email Open rate &amp; how is it calculated?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOpened\u201d denotes the number of prospects who have opened the email and \u201cOpen Rate\u201d denotes the ratio of \u201cOpened\u201d to the total number of Prospects contacted. The higher the rate the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The email open rate can be calculated by&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(Number of emails opened \/ Number of Prospects contacted) x 100 = Email Open Rate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you have contacted 1000 prospects and 400 opened your email then<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(400\/1000) x 100 = 40% would be the email open rate<\/p>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<p>Email open rate is a good way of knowing how well your emails are working and if they are grabbing the reader\u2019s attention or not. If your email is being opened then it would mean the below &#8211;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your email had a compelling subject line<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The target audience was right<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your email made it to the inbox rather than getting caught by a powerful spam filter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your email had engaging preheader text<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A low email open rate is responsible for prospects dropping off at the top of your sales funnel and hence affecting your sales pipeline. So the ROI from the email campaign investment will not be great. It is best to address this issue as the earliest. It is an important aspect to analyze if your email campaign needs to be tweaked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are the reasons for a low or declining email open rate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your email open rate is below the industry benchmark, there are definitely some inherent issues with the campaign. Possible reasons might be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Non-effective subject line<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inadequate testing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Non-personalization of emails<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Frequency of emails to the same prospect<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prospect list quality<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Irrelevant content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mobile Optimization<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sending day and time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Customers are not interested in the content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use of keywords that trigger the spam filter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inability to keep subscribers engaged<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Email list containing bounced email ids<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;Double opt-in option not used<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An issue with the email open tracker<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emails landing in social or promotional inbox<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<br>\n<br>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-734eb2c2 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/email-open-rate\/\" style=\"border-radius:0px;color:#2477f6;font-size:clamp(15.197px, 0.95rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.61), 23px);\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Recommended Read: <strong>Email Marketing Metrics: Do Email Open Rates Matter More Than Others?<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<br>\n<br>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is it possible that my emails are opened but the open tracking is not working?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a possibility that your open rates are good but not tracked effectively. So let&#8217;s understand how it works. Open tracking works by inserting a tiny one-by-one pixel image in the email before it\u2019s sent to the recipient. Since the good average email open rate relies on the download of such a graphic image, it isn\u2019t 100% accurate. There can be multiple reasons why the image doesn&#8217;t download<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Many ISPs, as well as users, never load the graphics in an email.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many users prefer to receive emails in text format only. In this case, also, the graphics are never loaded, and although opened, will not be marked as opened.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Users who use mobile to read their emails, read-only the text version of the email. Hence the graphics are never loaded<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Non-HTML (text) emails are not tracked at all (as the graphics are not loaded at all in such emails).&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some email-reading applications do not allow open emails to be reported.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are the other external factors that would increase email open rates?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Email open rates could be increased by following these simple strategies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Creating relevant, useful, and reliable content for the subscribers.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/b2b-sales-subject-lines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Subject lines <\/a>should  &#8211;  Generate curiosity, Personalized, Announce offer, Humourous, Shocking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Proper segmentation of prospect list &#8211; Imagine sending a proposal for accounting software to the \u201cHead of Content\u201d. Proper segmentation increases the chance of getting a response<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Periodic cleanup of the email list<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use a double opt-in option to ensure interested prospects are part of the campaign<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Using optimized images, which would speak for itself.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Optimized content for mobile users<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Business email id should be used while sending emails<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<br>\n<br>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-a89b3969 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/how-to-reduce-the-email-bounce-rate\/\" style=\"border-radius:0px;color:#2477f6;font-size:clamp(15.747px, 0.984rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.645), 24px);\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Recommended Read<strong>: How to Reduce Email Bounce Rate for Cold Email Outreach?<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<br>\n<br>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/linkedin-automation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SmartReach <\/a>is a sales enablement software that specializes in email outreach with better email deliverability. It also provides features such as email validation, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/spam-test-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">spam test<\/a> reports, <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/features\/detailed-analytics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">detailed email campaign reports<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/features\/prospect-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">prospect management<\/a>, campaign soft start, workflow automation, improved prospect response management via <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/top-shared-inbox-and-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">shared inbox<\/a>, multichannel outreach and many more which helps the sales team to close deals faster. There are various ways within the <a href=\"https:\/\/app.smartreach.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SmartReach app<\/a> that can be adapted to increase email open rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Increase Email Open Rates within the SmartReach Environment?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Following these simple and easy steps would help to increase email open rate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Setting up a <a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/sending-holiday-calendar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">holiday calendar<\/a>, where the campaign gets paused during the holiday season<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/ab-testing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">A\/B test<\/a> with one subject line and different email body templates. Then analyze our template report and share the working template with your team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow up on a regular basis. Set up unlimited follow-ups with <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/integrations\/salesforce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SmartReach<\/a>, the follow-ups auto stops when a prospect or someone from the prospects domain responds. A gap of 3 to 5 days between follow-ups is recommended. Best to limit your campaign to 5 follow-ups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sending emails when the prospects are active increases the chance of opening. Use our \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/types-of-reports#best-time-to-send-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Best time to Send<\/a>\u201d report and accordingly tweak your campaign settings.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keeping an eye out for spam filters so as to avoid them by using a clear recognizable <a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/change-sender-name\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">sender name<\/a>, verifying the sender and not using deceptive subject lines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add the prospect&#8217;s time zones to the prospect&#8217;s upload. Send emails preferably during working hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Personalize subject lines &#8211; SmartReach provides an option to <a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/how-to-create-and-use-merge-tags-in-smartreachio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">create a custom <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/help.smartreach.io\/docs\/what-is-a-merge-tag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">merge tag<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Limit your daily email sending to 150 emails per email ID. The lesser the number of emails sent, the better the <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/masterclass\/cold-email\/email-deliverability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">email deliverability<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use email soft start when starting a campaign as it enhances open &amp; response rates.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Keeping track of the email open rate is a good practice as it would keep you informed about maintaining an industry-standard open rate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So are your email open rates in check? Now that you\u2019ve learned the reasons for low open rates and stuff that will increase email open rates for your <a href=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/masterclass\/cold-email\/what-is-a-cold-email\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">cold email outreach<\/a> campaigns; then it wouldn\u2019t hurt to make a few adjustments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to schedule a call to understand how SmartReach.io can increase email open rates then do book a meeting today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What is the industry-standard range for a good email open rate?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"A good email open rate would be somewhere between 17-28% as per the industry standard.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What are some reasons for a low or declining email open rate?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Some possible reasons for a low or declining email open rate include non-effective subject lines, inadequate testing, non-personalization of emails, and irrelevant content, among others.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What are some strategies to increase email open rates?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Strategies to increase email open rates include creating relevant and reliable content, using compelling subject lines, proper segmentation of the prospect list, periodic cleanup of the email list, and using optimized images, among others.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What features does SmartReach offer to help increase email open rates?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"SmartReach offers features such as A\/B testing, unlimited follow-ups, best time to send reports, email soft start, personalized subject lines, and tracking email open rates, among others, to help increase email open rates.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How does open tracking work, and why might it not be 100% accurate?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Open tracking works by inserting a tiny one-by-one pixel image in the email, but it may not be 100% accurate as some users prefer not to load graphics or read emails in text format only.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How can a low email open rate affect a sales funnel?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"A low email open rate can lead to prospects dropping off at the top of the sales funnel, negatively impacting the sales pipeline and diminishing the ROI from the email campaign investment.\"\n    }\n  }]\n}\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.smartreach.io\/register\/?utm_source=smartreach_blog&amp;utm_medium=try_for_free_banner&amp;utm_campaign=increase_open_rate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"726\" height=\"363\" src=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/8-3.png\" alt=\"Improve Lead Qualification Process &amp; Lead Quality\" class=\"wp-image-6816\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/8-3.png 726w, https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/8-3-300x150.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-a89b3969 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Email open rate is one of the important metrics which determines the success of a campaign. A good email open rate would be somewhere between 25-38% as per the industry standard. Around 73% of millennials prefer to be contacted through mail. This doesn\u2019t mean they would automatically open your email. A low email open rate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[179,194],"class_list":["post-3649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sales_development","tag-cold-email","tag-sdr"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Increase-Email-Open-Rate.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3649"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23314,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3649\/revisions\/23314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartreach.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}