Open rate
Open rate is the share of a newsletter's recipients who open a given email.
Since Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflated the figure in 2021, publishers treat open rate as directional and rely more on click-through rate.
Why it matters for publishers
Open rate is still the fastest signal that something has gone wrong — a deliverability problem, a bad subject line, list fatigue. But since Apple's Mail Privacy Protection began pre-fetching images in 2021 it systematically overstates engagement, so it should guide investigation rather than decisions.
How publishers use it in practice
- Compare open rate against your own trend, never against a published benchmark.
- Segment out Apple Mail opens if your platform supports it for a cleaner read.
- A sudden drop usually means deliverability, not content — check authentication and spam placement first.
- Use click-through rate and reply rate to judge whether an edition actually landed.
Frequently asked questions about open rate
- What is a good newsletter open rate?
- Publisher newsletters commonly report 35–55% post-MPP, but the inflation varies by audience. Your own baseline is the only reliable benchmark.
- Is open rate still worth tracking?
- Yes, as a directional health signal and for spotting deliverability problems — just do not optimise or report on it in isolation.