Email open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were opened: unique opens divided by emails delivered (sent minus bounces), times 100.
Open rate = Unique opens ÷ Emails delivered × 100
On the sample data below, six months come to 31.95%.
Why it matters
Open rate tells you whether subject lines and sender reputation are working. It was long the main email metric, but privacy features now make it less reliable.
Worked example
The table shows the columns this metric needs from six months of a made-up subscription brand. Add each column up over the six months, then put the totals into the formula:
| Month | Emails delivered | Emails opened |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 24,000 | 7,920 |
| 2026-02 | 25,500 | 8,160 |
| 2026-03 | 27,100 | 8,940 |
| 2026-04 | 28,400 | 8,800 |
| 2026-05 | 29,800 | 9,540 |
| 2026-06 | 31,500 | 9,770 |
| Total | 1,66,300 | 53,130 |
53,130 ÷ 1,66,300 × 100 = 31.95%
Add up first, then divide. Averaging the six monthly figures gives a slightly different answer, because it counts a small month the same as a large one.
Month by month
| Month | Email open rate |
|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 33.00% |
| 2026-02 | 32.00% |
| 2026-03 | 32.99% |
| 2026-04 | 30.99% |
| 2026-05 | 32.01% |
| 2026-06 | 31.02% |
Email open rate calculator
How to read it
Apple Mail Privacy Protection and similar features open emails automatically, which inflates open rates. Use click rate for decisions and open rate only for trends within one audience.
Common mistakes
- Divide by delivered, not sent, so bounces do not count against you.
- Unique opens and total opens differ; use unique.
- A jump in open rate after a list change may be bots or privacy features, not interest.
Calculate email open rate in Excel, SQL or Python
The quickest version, for the sample sheet laid out as in the CSV (headers in row 1, months in rows 2 to 7):
=SUM(AI2:AI7) / SUM(AH2:AH7)- Email open rate in Excel and Google Sheets — per-month formula and zero-safe version
- Email open rate in SQL — query by month and for the period
- Email open rate in Python (pandas) — pandas script with expected output
Related metrics
See all business metrics, or the statistics methods that sit behind them.
Questions people ask
- What is email open rate?
- Email open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were opened: unique opens divided by emails delivered (sent minus bounces), times 100.
- How do you calculate email open rate?
- Open rate = Unique opens ÷ Emails delivered × 100. For example, with six months of sample data: 53,130 ÷ 1,66,300 × 100 = 31.95%.
- What is the email open rate formula in Excel?
- With the sample data laid out as in the downloadable CSV, =SUM(AI2:AI7) / SUM(AH2:AH7) gives the figure for the whole period (format the cell as a percentage). For one month, use =AI2 / AH2 and fill it down.
- What is a good email open rate?
- There is no figure that is right for every business: it depends on your products, prices and channels. Apple Mail Privacy Protection and similar features open emails automatically, which inflates open rates. Use click rate for decisions and open rate only for trends within one audience.
Check how stable it is
A metric moves for ordinary reasons as well as real ones. These methods separate the two: the spread shows what a normal month looks like, the moving average smooths it, the z-score flags a month that is out of line and the trend line shows the direction.
Guides
About the data on this page
The figures come from a small made-up dataset, printed above in full so you can check every number by hand. Download it as monthly.csv. The results are computed from those rows when the page is built, and the Excel formulas, SQL and Python on these pages are run against the same rows before publishing, so the code and the answers agree.
To get these numbers from your own data without writing formulas, try AnalyzeIt: ask in plain words and it shows the working behind every figure.
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