Why Email Open Rates Are No Longer a Reliable Metric (And What to Track Instead)

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

For years, email marketers have obsessed over open rates. “What’s a good open rate for emails?” and “How can I increase my email open rate?” were the golden questions. But here’s the reality: open rates are no longer a reliable way to measure email marketing success.

If you’re still using them as your main indicator of email performance, you might be making decisions based on misleading data. And that could be hurting your campaigns.

So, why are email open rates unreliable? What should you be measuring instead? Let’s break it all down.

The Way Open Rates Are Tracked Is Flawed

Open rates have always been a shaky metric. Email providers track opens using a tiny, invisible tracking pixel embedded in emails. When a recipient’s email client loads that pixel, it counts as an open.

The problem? Many email clients block images — including tracking pixels — by default. If someone reads your email but doesn’t allow images, it won’t register as an open. On the other side, some security systems or email apps preload images automatically, which can falsely inflate open rates.

So, even before other factors came into play, open rates were never 100% reliable.

Privacy Updates Have Broken Open Rate Tracking

The biggest nail in the coffin for open rates? Privacy-focused changes by major email providers.

Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), launched in 2021, has had the biggest impact. This feature preloads all email content (including tracking pixels) before the user even opens the email. That means if someone uses Apple Mail (on iPhone, Mac, or iPad), your email will register as “opened” whether or not the recipient actually saw it.

Since Apple Mail users make up 40-50% of email recipients, this single change has massively inflated open rates across the board.

And it’s not just Apple. Gmail, Outlook, and other email providers have also introduced privacy features that affect open tracking. Expect more companies to follow suit, making open rates even more unreliable in the future.

Bots and Security Scanners Can Artificially Inflate Open Rates

Many corporate email systems and security tools scan incoming emails for threats. When they do this, they often “open” the email to check for malicious content, triggering the tracking pixel.

This means a large portion of your “opens” may not be real people — just automated systems scanning emails.

Open Rates Tell You Nothing About Engagement

Let’s be real: just because someone opens your email doesn’t mean they actually read it.

How many times have you clicked an email, skimmed it for a second, then closed it? Probably a lot. That’s why open rates alone aren’t a useful engagement metric.

A better question to ask is: What happens after the open?

If people aren’t clicking, replying, or converting, your email isn’t doing its job — no matter how many “opens” you see.

So, What Should You Measure Instead?

If open rates are unreliable, how can you measure email marketing success? Here are the metrics that actually matter:

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR).

• Why it matters: This tells you how many recipients clicked a link in your email.
• How to improve it: Write compelling subject lines, make your CTAs stand out, and ensure your content is relevant.

2. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR).

• Why it matters: This measures how many people who opened your email actually clicked something. It’s a much better indicator of engagement than open rates alone.
• How to improve it: Focus on email design, messaging, and making your CTA irresistible.

3. Conversion Rate.

• Why it matters: Clicks are nice, but are people actually taking the action you want? Whether it’s signing up, making a purchase, or booking a call, this is what truly drives business results.
• How to improve it: Ensure your emails are aligned with your landing pages, use persuasive copy, and make the conversion process seamless.

4. Reply Rate.

• Why it matters: If people are responding to your emails, that’s a great sign of engagement. This is especially valuable in sales, networking, and customer service emails.
• How to improve it: Make your emails feel personal and encourage responses. Ask questions or invite feedback.

5. Bounce Rate.

• Why it matters: A high bounce rate means your emails aren’t getting delivered. If this number is too high, you might have issues with your email list or sender reputation.
• How to improve it: Keep your email list clean, remove invalid addresses, and use a verified email sender.

6. Unsubscribe Rate.

• Why it matters: If people are unsubscribing at a high rate, your emails aren’t resonating with your audience.
• How to improve it: Send relevant, valuable content and avoid sending too many emails.

7. Spam Complaint Rate.

• Why it matters: If too many people mark your emails as spam, your deliverability will suffer.
• How to improve it: Avoid misleading subject lines, send emails people actually want, and always include an easy-to-find unsubscribe option.

Why Email Deliverability Is More Important Than Open Rates

Instead of obsessing over opens, email marketers should focus on something far more important: email deliverability.

What is email deliverability? Email deliverability refers to how successfully your emails reach the inbox (instead of spam, promotions, or getting blocked entirely).

Even if you have a 100% open rate, it doesn’t matter if most of your emails are landing in spam folders.

How to Improve Email Deliverability:

• Maintain a Clean Email List – Remove inactive subscribers and invalid emails to reduce bounce rates.
• Authenticate Your Emails – Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to prove your emails are legitimate.
• Avoid Spam Triggers – Stay away from excessive caps, and misleading subject lines.
• Use a Reputable Email Provider – Some platforms (like Gmail and Outlook) assign sender reputations — a bad one can ruin your deliverability.
• Warm-Up New Email Domains – Sending thousands of emails from a fresh domain can get you flagged. Increase volume gradually.

Test Your Email Deliverability – Doing it regularly with tools like GlockApps will greatly improve the overall success of your email campaigns.

Focusing on email deliverability ensures your emails actually get seen — which is more valuable than any open rate metric.

Final Thoughts

Open rates are dead, but email marketing isn’t. Open rates used to be a quick way to gauge email performance, but those days are over. Between privacy updates, security scanners, and the fundamental flaws in open tracking, this metric just isn’t reliable anymore.

Instead, focus on the metrics that actually drive results: click-through rate, conversions, engagement, and overall email marketing performance. These numbers will give you a much clearer picture of what’s working — and what needs improvement. Moreover, you should always keep in mind email deliverability. Testing it on a regular basis will help you succeed with any email campaign.

So the next time someone asks, “What’s a good open rate for emails?” — you can just smile and say, “That doesn’t matter anymore.”

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