Email open rate: the complete guide to measure and improve

In brief: The open rate remains an essential indicator in emailing, but its reliability has changed with Apple Mail Privacy Protection. In B2B in France, the median rate hovers around 16-18%. To improve it: work on your subject lines, segment your database, take care of your deliverability and round out your analysis with the click rate.

The open rate, a KPI that has changed its face

The open rate is probably the first indicator you look at after every send. Naturally. It is the most immediate, the most visible, the one that gives you the pulse of a campaign in a few seconds. But behind this apparent simplicity, the reality has evolved quite a bit in recent years.

In concrete terms, the calculation is as follows: number of unique opens divided by the number of emails delivered, multiplied by 100. An email is counted as “opened” when the tracking pixel, an invisible image embedded in the message, is loaded by the recipient’s email client. And that is precisely where things get complicated.

First distinction to keep in mind: unique opens and total opens. A unique open counts a single open per recipient, even if they look at the message five times in the day. Total opens add up every viewing. To measure the real reach of a campaign, the unique open rate is the reference.

Why is this indicator still so closely followed despite its limits? Because it gives a quick reading of two things: the relevance of your subject line and the quality of your contact database. A rate that collapses from one send to the next is a warning signal. A stable or rising rate is confirmation that your recipients recognise you and that your messages interest them enough to click on them.

Be careful, however, not to make it the alpha and omega of your analysis. Since 2021 and the arrival of Apple Mail Privacy Protection, the counters sometimes tell a different story from reality. We come back to this further on.

The reference figures in France and worldwide

Let’s talk numbers. And let’s start with France, because global averages can give a distorted picture.

In B2B, the median open rate in France is around 16.6% according to data from EmailScope.fr, which continuously analyses more than 1.7 billion emails sent by 955 B2B companies. DMA France, for its part, reports an average rate of 18.22% across all sectors, rising to 26% when the subject line is personalised. The gap between the two is not trivial. It already shows that personalisation makes a real difference.

Internationally, the figures are noticeably higher. MailerLite, based on 3.6 million campaigns analysed, reports a median rate of 43.46%. Klaviyo, across more than 100,000 brands, shows 37.93% for classic campaigns and 48.57% for automated emails. These figures should be treated with great caution: they are inflated by Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which pre-loads tracking pixels and counts fictitious opens.

Benchmarks by sector

Not all sectors are in the same boat. In France, Brevo’s data on its French customers gives a good snapshot:

• Entertainment: 46.35%
• Public administration: 38.79%
• NGOs and non-profits: 36.96%
• Retail: 30.61%
• E-commerce: 28.96%

The trend is the same everywhere. Sectors with a strong relational or community dimension outperform. Online commerce, for its part, suffers from stronger marketing pressure and high sending volumes that pull rates down.

B2B versus B2C: different logics

B2B generally shows lower open rates than B2C, between 15% and 23% depending on the source. It would be a mistake to stop there. The B2B click rate hovers around 2.2% to 3.5%, which reflects a more qualitative engagement. Professionals open less, but when they open, they take action. Internal newsletters, meanwhile, regularly exceed 40% opens. A reminder that the context of reception matters as much as the content itself.

An interesting data point noted by EmailScope.fr: the B2B open rate in France rose by 12.7% between the first quarter of 2024 and early 2026, going from 15.2% to 29.0%. A sign that practices are improving, or that measurement is influenced by the technical evolutions of email clients. Probably both at once.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection: why your open rates are distorted

If your open rates have jumped for no apparent reason since late 2021, the answer may be right under your nose. Apple Mail Privacy Protection, introduced with iOS 15 and macOS Monterey, changed the rules of the game for all senders.

The mechanism is fairly simple. When a recipient uses Apple Mail with MPP enabled, Apple automatically pre-loads the message’s images via its own proxy servers. Whether or not the user opens the email. The tracking pixel fires systematically, and your emailing platform records an open that isn’t one.

The figures speak for themselves. In January 2025, Apple Mail accounted for 49.29% of email opens according to Litmus. Around 64% of B2C subscribers use a version of Apple Mail compatible with MPP. Some newsletters saw their apparent open rate go from 28% to 55% overnight. Without any change in their strategy.

And that’s not all. MPP also masks recipients’ IP addresses. Geolocation and segmentation by location become inoperative for these contacts.

How to interpret your figures despite this bias

First approach: segment your statistics. Some ESPs identify opens triggered by MPP and flag them. If your platform allows it, analyse the rates on Apple domains and the others separately. You will get a picture much closer to reality.

Second approach, probably the most sustainable: redirect your analysis towards indicators that MPP cannot distort. The click rate remains a voluntary action, impossible to simulate with a proxy. The CTOR, which relates clicks to opens, gives a measure of the relevance of your content to real readers. The conversion rate, for its part, links your campaigns directly to your business objectives.

This does not mean you should abandon the open rate. It remains useful for following a trend over time on your own database. But making it your only benchmark amounts to flying blind on half your audience.

The 6 factors that make your open rate vary

Your open rate does not depend on a single lever. It is the combination of several elements that determines whether a recipient will open your message or move on to the next one.

The subject line

The first visible element in the inbox, the subject line decides the fate of your email in a fraction of a second. An effective subject line is between 30 and 50 characters long, gets straight to the point and makes people want to know more. Personalisation, if only with the company name or a reference to the recipient’s sector, can generate a significant gain. DMA France measures a gap of nearly 8 points between a generic subject line and a personalised one. To go further on this subject, we have detailed how to craft the subject line to stand out in the inbox.

The sender name

It is often underestimated, and that’s a shame. The sender + subject line pair is all your recipient sees before deciding. A human name, such as “Julie from [Brand]”, inspires more trust than a “contact@entreprise.com” or an impersonal “Newsletter”. Some tests show a gap of 5 to 10 points just by changing the sender format. Incidentally, the pre-header that accompanies the subject line also plays a decisive role in this first impression.

Sending day and time

In B2B, working days remain the best performers. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 9am and 11am generally concentrate the best rates. Monday can work, but the inbox is often saturated after the weekend. Friday afternoon, don’t count on it.

Database segmentation

Sending the same message to everyone is a guarantee of really speaking to no one. A message targeted by business sector, company size or past behaviour will always perform better than an undifferentiated mass send. Segmented emails show markedly higher open rates than mass sends. This is no longer a discovery, but it remains surprisingly little applied in the field.

Database quality and hygiene

Obsolete addresses, contacts inactive for months, typing errors that pile up. All of this weighs directly on your rates. Bounces degrade your sender reputation with ISPs, which reduces deliverability on subsequent sends. Cleaning your contact database is not an optional chore. It is a prerequisite.

Deliverability

An email that does not reach the inbox will never be opened, it’s as simple as that. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication for all bulk senders. Without this configuration, your messages risk the spam folder or outright rejection. The reputation of your IP and your sending domain also plays a decisive role. A good habit to adopt: monitor your open rates by recipient domain to spot a deliverability problem before it gets worse.

7 best practices to concretely improve your rates

Let’s get practical. Seven levers you can activate quickly, ranked by impact.

Personalise subject lines beyond the first name

The first name in the subject line, everyone does it. The effect has worn off. What works today is contextualisation: mentioning the recipient’s business sector, referring to a recent event at their company, or building on past behaviour. The idea is for the recipient to think “this message really concerns me”.

Segment by behaviour and engagement

Beyond the classic demographic criteria, your contacts’ behaviour is a gold mine. Who opens regularly? Who clicks? Who hasn’t opened anything in six months? By adapting content and frequency to these profiles, you send less but better. And your rates go up mechanically.

Clean your database regularly

Inactive contacts don’t just inflate your routing costs. They degrade your sender reputation and drag all your indicators down. A quarterly clean-up, removing hard bounces and quarantining long-term inactives, should be part of your routine.

Test systematically with A/B

Two subject line versions, the same segment, and the numbers decide. A/B testing on subject lines is the fastest way to make progress. One condition: test only one variable at a time and have enough volume for the result to be usable.

Adapt the sending frequency

Too many emails kill email. Not enough, and your recipients forget you. The right rhythm depends on your sector and your audience. The warning signal is fairly clear: if your unsubscribe rate rises, you are probably sending too much. Conversely, a gradually falling open rate can betray database fatigue.

Monitor your deliverability by recipient domain

An open rate that suddenly drops on Gmail but stays stable on Outlook points to a targeted deliverability problem. Not a content problem. Analyse your performance by domain to quickly identify the ISPs giving you trouble and correct course before the situation gets worse.

Use AI to optimise subject lines

Generative AI makes it possible to produce and test dozens of subject line variants in a few minutes. Not a magic wand, but a useful accelerator for breaking out of your writing habits. A generic subject line turned into a contextualised hook can easily gain 10 to 15 points of opens. The key is to keep control over the tone and consistency with your brand image.

Beyond the open rate: the complementary KPIs to track

The open rate only tells part of the story. To use data to manage your email campaigns, it is better to cross-reference it with other indicators.

The click rate (CTR)

The action indicator par excellence. Unlike an open, a click is a voluntary step, impossible to simulate with a proxy or automatic pre-loading. In B2B, the average click rate oscillates between 2.2% and 3.5%. That’s little in absolute terms, but each click represents a prospect who has shown concrete interest in your content.

The CTOR (Click-to-Open Rate)

The CTOR relates the number of clicks to the number of opens. It measures the ability of your content to convince those who actually read your message. If your open rate is good but the CTOR plateaus, the problem lies in the message itself, not in the subject line.

The conversion rate

This is the direct link with your business objectives. How many recipients carried out the desired action after clicking: demo request, white paper download, appointment booking? This indicator varies greatly by sector and campaign type, but it is the one that justifies your investment in emailing.

The unsubscribe rate

In France, the average rate is around 0.22% according to DMA France. A spike in unsubscribes after a campaign sends a strong signal: unsuitable content, too high a frequency or a poorly segmented database. Tracking this rate over time makes it possible to detect an erosion of the relationship before it becomes irreversible.

The ideal remains to combine these indicators in a coherent dashboard. For an overview of all the KPIs that really count in B2B emailing, the open rate serves as a trend signal, the CTR and CTOR measure real engagement, and the conversion rate validates the business impact.

FAQ

What is a good email open rate?

In B2B in France, a rate above 20% is considered good. Between 15% and 20%, you are in the average. Below 15%, optimisations are needed on the subject line, segmentation or deliverability. These benchmarks vary by sector and campaign type.

How is the open rate calculated?

Number of unique opens divided by the number of emails delivered, multiplied by 100. We are talking about emails delivered, not emails sent: bounces are excluded from the calculation.

Why is my open rate abnormally high?

It is most likely linked to Apple Mail Privacy Protection. This mechanism automatically pre-loads tracking pixels and counts fictitious opens. If a significant share of your database uses Apple Mail, your displayed rates are higher than reality. Segment your statistics by email client to see more clearly.

What time should you send a B2B emailing?

The best-performing slots are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 9am and 11am. Monday also works, but the inbox is often cluttered. Test different slots on your own database: every audience has its habits.

Should you still track the open rate in 2026?

Yes, but never in isolation. The open rate remains useful for following a trend over time and detecting anomalies. However, it is no longer enough as a main indicator. Systematically cross-reference it with the click rate, CTOR and conversion rate to get a reliable picture of your performance.