Why are email open rates low despite high IP reputation and engagement, and what could be causing inaccurate open tracking?

Key findings

• Open rate unreliability: Privacy features, such as Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MMPP), have significantly reduced the reliability of open rates as a true indicator of engagement. Many opens are now pre-fetched or automatically triggered, leading to inflated or inaccurate numbers.
• Hidden spam filtering: Despite a seemingly good IP and domain reputation, emails can still land in spam folders. This can be due to content, specific recipient engagement patterns, or dynamic filtering that is not always reflected in standard reputation tools or basic seedlist tests.
• Content sensitivity: Certain industries (like crypto or online dating) or specific content patterns within messages can trigger spam filters, even if overall sender reputation is good.
• Discrepancy in testing: Personal inbox tests or limited seedlist results may not accurately represent deliverability across a diverse subscriber base or reflect dynamic filtering behaviors of mailbox providers.
• Engagement versus deliverability: A drop in open rates can signal a deliverability problem where emails are filtered before they reach the inbox, rather than an issue with subscriber engagement itself.

Key considerations

• Rethink open rates: Given the declining accuracy, open rates are becoming a less reliable metric. Focus more on metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversions to gauge actual engagement and campaign effectiveness. Read more about how open rates are dying on VerticalResponse's blog.
• Deep dive into deliverability: Investigate potential deliverability issues beyond surface-level IP reputation, considering factors like content, sending patterns, and how mailbox providers might be filtering messages into spam.
• Monitor spam placement: Utilize diverse seedlists and advanced deliverability testing to identify if emails are consistently landing in spam folders for a significant portion of your audience, even if your personal tests look good.
• Review authentication: Ensure your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured and aligned, as authentication failures can lead to inbox placement issues without always impacting overall reputation scores. Learn more about DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
• Content optimization: Analyze your email content, including subject lines, body text, and links, for elements that might be triggering spam filters, especially for sensitive industries.

Key opinions

• Inaccurate open tracking: A common sentiment among marketers is that open rates are increasingly unreliable. They suspect technical glitches or privacy-related changes (like pre-fetched opens) by mailbox providers are causing the discrepancies, especially when click rates remain stable. This phenomenon is why understanding how accurate email open rates are has become critical.
• Content as a factor: Despite good reputation, some marketers believe that specific content (especially in sensitive industries like crypto or dating) can trigger spam filters, leading to low opens even if the email doesn't appear in personal spam folders.
• Sudden unexplained drops: Many report sudden and significant drops in open rates without any changes to their sending practices, templates, or target audience. This points to external factors or algorithm updates by ISPs. Such events require quick troubleshooting, as detailed in our guide on what causes a sudden drop in open rates.
• Seedlist limitations: While useful, seedlist tests are seen as providing a general direction rather than definitive proof of inbox placement for all subscribers, as real-world engagement and dynamic filtering play a big role.

Key considerations

• Focus on clicks and conversions: Shift campaign measurement focus from open rates to more reliable engagement metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversions, especially as open rate accuracy diminishes due to privacy changes like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MMPP). iPost further explains the impact of MMPP on open rates.
• Monitor real opens: If available, analyze your ESP's real opens metric to differentiate between human engagement and automated pre-fetches.
• Segment by engagement: Continue using engagement filtering and consider advanced segmentation strategies, such as intra-day warm-ups, sending to your most engaged subscribers first to build positive signals per email.
• Whitelisting campaigns: Encourage subscribers to add your from address to their address book or contact lists, which can bypass some filtering.
• Content review: Regularly review email content for potential spam triggers, especially if operating in sensitive niches. Consider using content assessment tools, but recognize their limitations.

Key opinions

• Seed testing limitations: Seedlist testing provides a general indication but not a guaranteed outcome for all subscribers, as actual email delivery can vary significantly based on user-specific engagement and dynamic reputation changes.
• Dynamic reputation sampling: Emails are often sampled into the inbox or spam folder by mailbox providers to observe user interaction, leading to fluctuating deliverability even with consistent sender reputation.
• Authentication and alignment: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and alignment are fundamental, and issues here can impact deliverability regardless of other positive signals. Our page on open rate drops after authentication fixes delves into this.
• Pre-fetched opens impact: A sudden drop in reported open rates, particularly while clicks remain stable, can be attributed to mailbox providers (like Gmail or Yahoo) changing how they pre-fetch images, causing these automated 'opens' to no longer be tracked. This is why it's important to understand why Gmail open rates might be low.
• Engagement signals: Consistent positive engagement signals from early recipients can improve inbox placement for subsequent sends within the same campaign.

Key considerations

• Verify open tracking: When open rates plummet but clicks are fine, investigate whether opens are being tracked correctly by the ESP or if changes in mailbox provider behavior are affecting pixel loading. This might be a technical issue related to open tracking events not being registered.
• Implement intra-day warm-up: Consider an intra-day warm-up strategy, sending to your most engaged subscribers first to positively influence sender reputation for subsequent emails in the same send, as this can affect overall domain reputation.
• Analyze conversions over opens: Recognize that low open rates might not equate to poor deliverability if click-through and conversion rates remain healthy. Prioritize metrics that reflect actual user action and business goals, such as outlined in VerticalResponse's article on the shift away from open rates.
• Content and industry review: Acknowledge that content, particularly in regulated or sensitive industries, can be a major factor in spam placement, even if other reputation indicators are strong.
• Beyond seedlists: While seedlists offer insights, they are not exhaustive. Complement them with other deliverability monitoring methods to get a comprehensive view of inbox placement.

Key findings

• Privacy impact on opens: Mailbox providers, notably Apple with Mail Privacy Protection (MMPP), are increasingly preloading images in emails regardless of actual recipient interaction. This significantly distorts open rate data, making it less reliable for true engagement measurement.
• Shift to other metrics: Due to privacy changes, the industry recommends shifting focus to other engagement metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversions, which more accurately reflect recipient interest and intent.
• Sender reputation complexity: Sender reputation is multifaceted, influenced by authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), spam complaints, bounces, and sustained engagement, not just IP 'scores'. Issues in any of these areas can lead to inbox placement problems.
• Content filtering: Content analysis remains a critical part of spam filtering. Even with good reputation, certain keywords, link patterns, or message structures can trigger filters, leading to emails being junked without sender awareness.

Key considerations

• Prioritize authentication: Ensure robust implementation of email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to prove sender legitimacy and improve deliverability. Check for alignment issues, as even a seemingly correct setup can have hidden problems that impact deliverability to major ISPs, such as Outlook's new sender requirements.
• Content best practices: Adhere to best practices for email content to avoid spam triggers. This includes avoiding excessive links, suspicious formatting, or sensitive keywords without proper context, which can lead to emails going to spam even with good reputation, as discussed in Mailgun's guide to open rates.
• List hygiene: Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses, reducing bounces and spam trap hits which can negatively impact sender reputation and inbox placement. Our guides on spam traps offer further insight.
• Monitor blocklists: Continuously monitor for inclusion on IP or domain blacklists (also known as blocklists), as this can severely impact deliverability despite otherwise good reputation metrics. Understand how email blacklists actually work.