Skip to main content

Read opens, clicks, and click-to-open rate

Interpret the headline engagement numbers for a Broadcast and what each one tells you.

Before you begin​

  • A Broadcast that has already been sent and has had time to collect activity (results keep accruing for hours, sometimes days).
  • Access to the reporting area for the Folder that contains the Edition.
  • A quick sense of your delivered count, since opens and clicks are most useful as rates against delivered, not against total sent.

Steps​

  1. Open the report for your Broadcast from the reporting area (confirm the exact steps in your account).
  2. Read Opens. This counts subscribers who registered an open (typically by loading tracking content). Note whether the figure shown is unique opens (distinct subscribers) or total opens (every reopen counted).
  3. Read Clicks the same way. Distinguish unique clicks (distinct subscribers who clicked at least one link) from total clicks (every link click).
  4. Calculate rates against delivered, not sent: open rate = unique opens / delivered; click rate = unique clicks / delivered.
  5. Read click-to-open rate (CTOR) = unique clicks / unique opens. This tells you how compelling the content was for the people who actually opened, independent of subject-line and deliverability effects.
  6. Compare against your own baseline for similar Broadcasts rather than a generic benchmark.

Result​

You can state, for one Broadcast, how many subscribers opened, how many clicked, and how persuasive the content was once opened (CTOR). A high open rate with a low CTOR points at content or calls-to-action; a low open rate points at subject line, timing, or deliverability.

Canonical terms: Author, Edition, Folder (Project Folder), Broadcast. See the Glossary.