Are high open rates always a good sign?

Not always. While high open rates can indicate good inbox placement, modern privacy features and security scanners can artificially inflate these numbers through image pre-fetching and bot activity, making them less reliable indicators of genuine human engagement.

How can I tell if bot clicks are impacting my email performance?

Some email service providers offer analytics that can identify and filter out bot clicks. Reviewing your click data for unusual patterns, such as clicks occurring immediately upon delivery or from suspicious IP addresses, can also provide clues. You might want to refer to this guide on low Gmail clicks for more insights.

What's more important, open rates or click rates?

Click-through rates (CTR) are generally a more reliable indicator of email campaign success, especially in the current email landscape. While open rates show that your email was seen, CTR demonstrates genuine interest and engagement with your content and call to action.

How can I improve my email click-through rates?

To improve CTR, focus on compelling and concise content, clear and prominent calls to action, mobile responsiveness, and sending relevant messages to segmented audiences. Regularly clean your email list to ensure you're reaching engaged subscribers. Consider reviewing your email template design if issues persist.

Can a declining click rate be a deliverability issue?

If open rates remain high, it's generally not a direct deliverability problem, as emails are reaching the inbox. Instead, it points to issues with content relevance, call to action clarity, or audience engagement. However, if both open and click rates decline rapidly , then deliverability should be investigated.

Why are email clicks declining despite high open rates? - Content - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

The scenario is common: you send out an email campaign, see impressive open rates, but then the click-through rates (CTR) tell a different story. It is a puzzling situation that many email marketers face, leading to questions about campaign effectiveness and underlying issues. While a high open rate usually signals good inbox placement, a declining click rate indicates that something is amiss once the email is viewed.

This disparity can be frustrating, especially when other metrics like bounce rates and spam complaints remain healthy. It means your emails are reaching the inbox and being noticed, but they are not prompting the desired action. The causes can range from shifts in how email clients track engagement to issues within the email content itself.

The changing landscape of email metrics

Open rates, while historically a key metric, have become less reliable indicators of genuine recipient engagement. This shift is largely due to privacy enhancements implemented by major email clients, like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). These features pre-fetch images within emails, which can artificially inflate open counts, making it seem as though more recipients are engaging than actually are. Mailbox providers interpret these pre-fetches as "opens", even if the user never actively interacts with the email.

This automated pre-fetching means that a high open rate might not reflect a high level of human interest, but rather the technical process of the email client scanning the content. For marketers, this means relying solely on open rates can lead to a misleading understanding of campaign performance. It becomes crucial to look beyond the vanity metric of opens and focus on more actionable data points such as click rates, conversions, and replies. To learn more about this, check out how open rates are dying.

Understanding inflated open rates

The introduction of features like

Apple Mail Privacy Protection can lead to artificially high open rates. Email clients automatically download images, which registers as an open, even if the user does not genuinely read the email. This skews open data, making CTR a more accurate measure of true engagement.

Content and user experience are king

Once an email is opened, the content and overall user experience become paramount. If clicks are declining, it often points to a disconnect between the intriguing subject line that earned the open and the actual message or call to action (CTA) within the email. Recipients might open the email, but if the content is not relevant, engaging, or clear about the next step, they simply won't click. A poorly designed email, where the CTA is hard to find or the message is too long, can also deter clicks.

Consider the user's journey. Is the email cluttered? Is the value proposition immediately clear? Are there too many choices, causing decision paralysis? Often, the simpler and more direct the message, the better the engagement. For a deeper dive into improving your click-through rate, refer to this guide on how to increase email click-through rate.

Common content pitfalls

Overwhelming information: Providing too much information directly in the email, negating the need to click through.
Vague calls to action: CTAs that are unclear, not prominent, or do not clearly communicate the benefit of clicking.
Irrelevant content: The subject line creates an expectation that the email content fails to meet, leading to immediate disinterest.
Poor mobile experience: Emails not optimized for mobile devices, making them difficult to read or interact with.

Strategies for higher clicks

Compelling CTAs: Use action-oriented language and make CTAs visually distinct and easy to find.
Concise messaging: Provide just enough information to pique interest and drive clicks for more details.
Strong value proposition: Clearly articulate the benefit of clicking early in the email.
Mobile-first design: Ensure emails render perfectly and are interactive on all devices.

Understanding your audience and list hygiene

Subscriber fatigue is a real phenomenon where recipients become less engaged over time, especially if the email frequency is too high or the content consistently misses the mark. Even if they open the email due to habit or automated pre-fetching, they may not feel compelled to click if the relevance isn't there. Maintaining a healthy, engaged list is critical for strong click rates. This means regularly cleaning your list and segmenting your audience based on their interests and past interactions.

By understanding who your subscribers are and what they respond to, you can tailor your content more effectively, increasing the likelihood of clicks. Regularly removing unengaged subscribers ensures your metrics reflect true human engagement and helps maintain a positive sender reputation with mailbox providers. If you want to know more about declining open and click rates for Microsoft Outlook/Hotmail, you can find a solution here.

Segment	Description	Benefit for CTR
Engaged subscribers	Those who have recently opened or clicked your emails.	Send exclusive content or early access offers, rewarding their engagement.
Inactive subscribers	Those who haven't opened or clicked in a significant period.	Attempt re-engagement campaigns or consider removing them to improve overall metrics.
Demographic/Interest-based	Segmenting by location, purchase history, or stated preferences.	Deliver highly personalized and relevant content, increasing click intent.

The hidden influence of bots

A crucial factor often overlooked when analyzing email performance is the impact of bots and security scanners. Many email security solutions and anti-spam filters automatically scan incoming emails, including clicking on all links, to check for malicious content or phishing attempts. This activity is registered as a click, even though no human interaction occurred. If your clicks are suddenly declining despite high opens, it is possible that these bot clicks were previously inflating your numbers.

This phenomenon can create a deceptive sense of success, as automated clicks do not lead to conversions or genuine engagement. Monitoring for bot activity within your analytics can help distinguish between real human clicks and automated ones. Some email service providers offer features to filter out or identify bot-generated engagement, providing a more accurate picture of your campaign's true performance. You can read more about a sudden increase in click rates due to bot activity on Klaviyo's community page.

Example: Filtering for bot clicks (conceptual)SQL

SELECT
    COUNT(DISTINCT email_address) AS human_clicks
FROM
    email_events
WHERE
    event_type = 'Clicked Email' AND is_bot_click = FALSE;

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Focus on clarifying your call to action within email content for better engagement.

Regularly analyze engagement metrics for individual domains to spot specific issues.

Implement strategies to filter out bot clicks, ensuring accurate performance data.

Common pitfalls

Overstuffing emails with content, reducing the need for recipients to click.

Solely relying on open rates, which are often inflated by privacy features.

Failing to segment your audience and personalize content for optimal relevance.

Expert tips

Marketer from Email Geeks says: It's important to determine if the decline in clicks is due to real engagement dropping off or a decrease in non-human interaction (NHI).

Marketer from Email Geeks says: If open rates remain consistently high, your mail is likely going to the inbox, indicating it's not a direct deliverability problem.

Marketer from Email Geeks says: For DTC and e-commerce, high opens and low clicks suggest image pre-fetching, confirming good inbox placement across platforms.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says: It is important to determine if the decline in clicks is due to real engagement dropping off or a decrease in non-human interaction (NHI).

2024-09-24 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says: If open rates remain consistently high, your mail is likely going to the inbox, indicating it's not a direct deliverability problem.

2024-09-24 - Email Geeks

Conclusion: Beyond the numbers

While it may seem counterintuitive, high open rates coupled with declining clicks often signal that your core deliverability is strong, but your engagement strategy needs refinement. Modern email environments, influenced by privacy changes and sophisticated bot activity, mean that opens are no longer the sole reliable indicator of success.

The focus should shift to optimizing content, user experience, and list segmentation to drive meaningful clicks. By understanding the true reasons behind the numbers, you can adapt your email strategy to foster genuine engagement and achieve better campaign results.