What is a good email click rate?

For broadcast campaigns, a click rate around 2 % is solid, above 3 % is strong and below 1.5 % is a warning sign. Automated flows such as welcome or abandoned-cart emails run at 5–6 % because they are more relevant and better timed. All of these move with your industry.

CTOR meaning — what does click-to-open rate actually measure?

Click-to-open rate divides unique clicks by unique opens, so it measures only the people who already opened the email. That isolates the content and the call to action from the subject line. The median sits around 6.8 %, with an industry range of roughly 3–15 %. Click rate, by contrast, divides by everyone the email reached.

Click rate or open rate — which one should you steer by?

Click rate. Since Apple Mail Privacy Protection began preloading tracking pixels, roughly half of reported opens are machine-generated, which distorts both the open rate and the CTOR derived from it. A click is a deliberate action that cannot be triggered automatically, which makes the click rate the most reliable engagement figure available today.

Why is my email click rate falling?

The usual causes are an unclear or missing call to action, lists that have grown large without being segmented, slipping list hygiene (dormant and dead addresses sitting in the denominator) and content that has drifted away from what people signed up for. One clear CTA, proper segmentation and removing inactive contacts usually lift the number noticeably.

Email Click Rate and Click to Open Rate Calculator

Work out the click rate and click-to-open rate of your newsletters — and see how each one relates to the open rate underneath it.

Emails delivered Successfully delivered, bounces excluded Unique opens Unique clicks

Click rate (CTR)

2.0 %

clicks ÷ emails delivered

Click-to-open rate

10.0 %

clicks ÷ opens

Open rate

20.0 %

opens ÷ delivered · Open rate calculator

Where your click rate sits

1.5 % 3 % 6 %

< 1.5 % (Low) 2–3 % (Solid) > 3 % (Strong)

Guide values for broadcast campaigns — automated flows run considerably higher.

Target CTR (%) (optional) Shows the extra clicks at the same send volume.

Next step

Email Marketing ROI Calculator

Turn those clicks into money — and check the 36:1 figure against your own campaign.

Two denominators, one set of clicks — CTR vs CTOR

The click rate (CTR) is the share of delivered emails that produced a click. It judges the campaign end to end — subject line, open, and then the action. The click-to-open rate (CTOR) takes only the opened emails as its denominator, which isolates one thing: how persuasive the content and the call to action were once someone was actually looking. Same clicks on top, different populations underneath. This is the most confused pair of terms in email marketing, and not by accident — plenty of tools label their CTOR as «CTR». Before you compare your number to anyone else's, check which denominator they used.

Click rate (CTR) (%) = (clicks ÷ emails delivered) × 100

Click-to-open rate (CTOR) (%) = (clicks ÷ opens) × 100

Both rates from three numbers: how to calculate click to open rate

Of 5,000 delivered emails, 1,000 are opened and 100 produce a click:

Emails delivered5,000

Unique opens1,000

Unique clicks100

CTR = (100 ÷ 5,000) × 100 = 2.0 %

CTOR = (100 ÷ 1,000) × 100 = 10.0 %

Automations beat broadcasts: what is a good click to open rate

The guide values below help you place your own number. All of them move with your industry, your list quality and the type of campaign — a welcome flow and a monthly newsletter are not measured on the same scale.

Campaign CTR (average) ~2 %

Strong > 3 %

Low < 1.5 %

CTOR (median) ~6.8 %

CTOR (range by industry) 3–15 %

Automated flows (CTR) ~5–6 %

Counted honestly: what Apple MPP does to CTOR

Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) preloads tracking pixels and inflates the open count — roughly 49 % of reported opens are considered machine-generated. Because CTOR carries opens in its denominator, it inherits that distortion and comes out artificially low. The click rate rests on a deliberate action that no preloader can trigger, which is why it is the more trustworthy engagement figure today. Treat open rate and CTOR with care, and steer by CTR.

One link, one job: how to improve email click through rate

A single clear call to action: One email, one goal. Competing links split attention — one prominent, unambiguous CTA outperforms three polite ones.
Segmentation beats volume: A relevant send to the right segment earns a higher click rate than a generic broadcast to the whole list, even though it reaches fewer people.
List hygiene: Dead and dormant addresses sit in the denominator and drag CTR down. Removing them lifts the metric and protects deliverability at the same time.
Automations, not only broadcasts: Welcome, cart and trigger flows are more relevant and better timed — their click rates run well above those of one-off newsletters.

Background and sources

MailerLite — Email Marketing Benchmarks (3.6 million campaigns analysed)
Brevo — Email Marketing Benchmarks

Frequently asked questions

What is a good email click rate?: For broadcast campaigns, a click rate around 2 % is solid, above 3 % is strong and below 1.5 % is a warning sign. Automated flows such as welcome or abandoned-cart emails run at 5–6 % because they are more relevant and better timed. All of these move with your industry.
CTOR meaning — what does click-to-open rate actually measure?: Click-to-open rate divides unique clicks by unique opens, so it measures only the people who already opened the email. That isolates the content and the call to action from the subject line. The median sits around 6.8 %, with an industry range of roughly 3–15 %. Click rate, by contrast, divides by everyone the email reached.
Click rate or open rate — which one should you steer by?: Click rate. Since Apple Mail Privacy Protection began preloading tracking pixels, roughly half of reported opens are machine-generated, which distorts both the open rate and the CTOR derived from it. A click is a deliberate action that cannot be triggered automatically, which makes the click rate the most reliable engagement figure available today.
Why is my email click rate falling?: The usual causes are an unclear or missing call to action, lists that have grown large without being segmented, slipping list hygiene (dormant and dead addresses sitting in the denominator) and content that has drifted away from what people signed up for. One clear CTA, proper segmentation and removing inactive contacts usually lift the number noticeably.