What to do when email click rates and open rates decline rapidly?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 24 Jun 2025
Updated 17 Aug 2025
6 min read
A rapid decline in email click and open rates can be alarming, especially when it happens seemingly overnight. It's a clear signal that something has shifted in your email program, impacting how subscribers receive and interact with your messages. This sudden drop often points to underlying issues with email deliverability or subscriber engagement.
Understanding the root cause is the first step towards recovery. While it might feel like a crisis, many of these issues are solvable with a methodical approach to diagnosis and a commitment to best practices. We need to investigate systematically, from technical configurations to content strategy, to pinpoint exactly what went wrong and how to fix it.
Immediate investigation steps
When open and click rates plummet, the immediate reaction might be panic, but a structured approach is far more effective. Start by checking for any recent changes that could have triggered the decline. This includes changes to your sending volume, list acquisition methods, email content, or even your email service provider’s infrastructure.
Next, analyze if the drop is across all major inbox providers (like Gmail, Microsoft Outlook/Hotmail, or Yahoo/AOL) or specific to one. This can help narrow down whether it’s a broad deliverability issue or a challenge with a particular ISP’s filtering mechanisms. A sudden drop in open rates indicates a deliverability problem, meaning emails are not even reaching the inbox.
Here are common signs that indicate a problem with your email program leading to declining engagement:
Symptom
Indication
Action
Sudden drop across all ISPs
Potential blacklist listing or major sender reputation hit.
One of the most common culprits behind a sudden drop in email performance is a breakdown in technical setup or a hit to your sender reputation. Ensure your email authentication protocols, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, are correctly configured and aligned. Even a small misconfiguration can lead to emails being marked as spam or rejected outright. Regularly check your DMARC reports as they provide invaluable insights into authentication failures and email delivery issues.
Furthermore, a sudden decline could indicate that your IP address or domain has been listed on a public or private blacklist (or blocklist). This often happens due to a surge in spam complaints, high bounce rates, or sending to spam traps. Monitoring for blocklist listings is crucial for proactive deliverability management. If you are listed, initiating the delisting process immediately is important, though recovery often takes time.
If a sudden drop has impacted your email open rates, especially after a period of stability, it’s worth reviewing your domain reputation. Maintaining a good sending reputation is critical for reaching the inbox. ISPs closely monitor sender behavior and assign a reputation score based on factors like complaint rates, bounce rates, and engagement.
Common technical issues
DNS issues: Incorrect or missing SPF or DKIM records can cause authentication failures.
IP address changes: A new or changed IP, especially with a low reputation, impacts delivery.
Blacklisting: Your domain or IP might be on an email blacklist or blocklist.
Solutions and checks
Verify records: Use a DMARC record generator and checker to ensure all DNS records are valid.
Blocklist check: Use a blocklist checker to identify listings and request removal.
Optimising content and list engagement
Beyond technical configurations, the content of your emails and the quality of your subscriber list play a significant role in open and click rates. Even with perfect deliverability, if your emails don't resonate, engagement will suffer. Consider your subject lines and preheader text first; they are the gatekeepers to your email’s content.
An unengaging or misleading subject line, or one that triggers spam filters, will lead to low opens. Similarly, your email content must be relevant, valuable, and designed for easy consumption. A clear and prominent call to action is essential for driving clicks. If your email clicks are declining despite high open rates, the issue is likely with the content itself, not delivery.
List hygiene is another critical area. Sending to unengaged subscribers can harm your sender reputation, increasing the likelihood of future emails landing in spam. Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive or unresponsive contacts. This not only improves your engagement metrics but also signals to ISPs that you are a responsible sender focused on quality over quantity. Segmenting your audience based on interests and past behavior can also significantly boost relevance and engagement.
Finally, consider your sending frequency and timing. Sending too often can lead to subscriber fatigue and increased unsubscribes or spam complaints, while inconsistent sending might cause subscribers to forget about you. Experiment with different sending times to find what works best for your audience, as suggested by research into optimal cold email open rates. A disciplined approach to these factors can improve both open and click rates.
Strategic recovery and continuous improvement
Recovering from a rapid decline in email performance requires a multi-faceted approach and patience. Once you’ve identified and addressed the immediate issues, focus on long-term strategies to rebuild your sender reputation and maintain consistent engagement. Utilizing tools like Google Postmaster Tools can provide valuable data on your email deliverability, spam rates, and domain reputation, particularly for Gmail recipients.
Implement feedback loops where available, as these can give you direct insights into how major ISPs perceive your email campaigns. Pay close attention to unsubscribe rates and spam complaints as these are direct signals of subscriber dissatisfaction and can severely impact your sender reputation. A high complaint rate often leads to emails being throttled or blocked.
Finally, remember that rebuilding a strong sender reputation and consistently high engagement metrics takes time. Be patient, continue to send valuable and relevant content, and maintain a clean and engaged subscriber list. This consistent effort will gradually improve your standing with ISPs and restore your email program’s effectiveness.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Actively monitor your sender reputation across all major ISPs using tools like Google Postmaster.
Segment your email lists deeply to ensure content is highly relevant to each subscriber group.
Regularly clean your email list by removing unengaged subscribers to improve overall deliverability.
Consistently review and update your email authentication records: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Prioritize sending valuable content that encourages engagement and minimizes complaints.
Common pitfalls
Ignoring sudden drops in metrics, assuming they will self-correct over time.
Sending to an unsegmented, inactive list, which severely damages sender reputation.
Making significant changes to sending volume or content without proper A/B testing or warm-up.
Failing to check for blacklist listings or not addressing them promptly.
Overlooking feedback loops from ISPs, missing direct signals of deliverability issues.
Expert tips
Leverage DMARC reports to identify authentication failures and delivery issues immediately.
Focus on email engagement beyond opens, tracking clicks, conversions, and replies for a holistic view.
Understand that rebuilding email reputation is a marathon, not a sprint, requiring consistent effort.
Proactively test email deliverability before major sends to catch potential issues early.
Stay informed about new sender requirements from major inbox providers like Google and Yahoo.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says email reputations take a while to build and there is rarely a quick fix for a decline that likely took months to cause.
2023-08-22 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says issues are always solvable, but reputations take time to rebuild from whatever caused the decline.
2023-08-22 - Email Geeks
Restoring your email performance
A sudden drop in email click and open rates is a serious indicator that demands immediate attention. By systematically diagnosing potential technical issues, optimizing your content and list quality, and implementing a long-term strategy for reputation management and engagement, you can effectively address the decline. It’s a commitment to ongoing vigilance and adaptation, but one that is essential for the sustained success of your email marketing efforts.
