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An open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were opened. A click rate is the percentage that led to a click. Open rates have become less reliable than they used to be, because some email providers pre-load images and register an open the recipient never made. Treat open rate as a rough directional signal, not a precise measure. Click rate and replies are more meaningful. So is the number of inquiries an email produced, which is the only number that pays anyone. Rather than chasing benchmarks, compare against your own history. If your click rate drops over three consecutive sends, something has changed: the subject lines, the relevance, or the list. Watch your bounce rate and unsubscribe rate too. A rising bounce rate usually means an ageing list that needs cleaning.
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