The open rate metric measures the percentage of recipients who open your cold emails. Open rate is a good way to tell whether your subject line and preview text are attention grabbing and intriguing, or whether they need tweaking.
Tracking open rates helps you improve engagement and refine your cold email outreach.
It’s a no brainer that you should always optimize your emails to get opened, tracking open rates can actually hurt your campaigns instead of improve them.
In 2024, tracking your open rates for cold emails can actually hurt your deliverability.
This is because of two main reasons:
See the way your cold outreach tool figures out the open rate of your outreach campaigns is by using tracking pixels.
An email tracking pixel is a tiny, invisible 1×1 image in emails that sends back information when the email is opened.
Many email services, including Gmail, Outlook, and others, are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to combat spam and often see tracking pixels as a red flag. Consequently, emails with tracking pixels are more likely to be filtered into spam folders or blocked entirely, reducing their deliverability.
Plus, with AI tools automatically opening emails to check for spam, open rates aren’t as reliable as they used to be.
Many email services use AI tools to automatically open emails and scan their content for spam or malicious activity.
See where this is going?
The AI tools trigger the tracking pixel, making it appear as though the email has been opened by a human recipient.As a result, the open rates recorded can be inflated and misleading.
Marketers might see high open rates and assume their emails are effective, while in reality, many of those “opens” are from automated systems, not actual potential customers.
While tracking open rates can lead to some insights, the response rate is the KPI that will give you a better idea of how effective your email campaigns really are.
Unlike open rates, tracking response rates doesn’t rely on tracking pixels, which can trigger spam filters and hurt your deliverability. Instead, it’s a straightforward metric: simply divide the number of responses received by the number of emails sent. Boom.
And while AI tools can fake email opens, responses are genuine interactions that can’t be easily manipulated. Even if AI-generated responses do occur, they’re easy to spot and disregard.
While tracking open rates might not be as relevant, you should still put effort into making your emails stand out.
There’s a big difference between putting less focus on tracking open rates as a metric, and completely ignoring them. There are two main factors that influence whether a prospect will open your email, and they shouldn’t be overlooked.
The preview text is what the receiver sees in their inbox when looking at your email.
The first impression. If you don’t stand out your email will not get opened. Your prospects inbox is probably flooded with other emails, and so your prospect will only open the ones that seem interesting or useful. Just like you would, right?
So, “optimizing” the preview text is the pillar of any successful cold email. The top of the funnel.
The preview text consists of:
Example:
Imagine your name is Matt, and you’re the CEO of a small company, receiving an email from Ivan, also a CEO of a small company.
Which subject line are you more likely to click on:
Chances are, you’re already halfway through the email with the second subject line, while the first one is likely deleted. Personalization, even in the subject line, is crucial if you want your emails to be opened.
The length of your email subject line is also crucial for capturing attention and encouraging opens. It is recommended keeping it between 30 to 60 characters.
According to our analysis of millions of cold outreach campaigns, the optimal time to send cold emails is in the morning, typically between 8 and 10 AM.
Sending your email during this window ensures that your message is one of the first things your prospects see when they log in, increasing the chances of it being noticed and opened. This timing strategy helps your email stand out and reduces the likelihood of it getting lost in a crowded inbox later in the day.
In conclusion, while cold email open rates have traditionally been a key performance indicator, their relevance is waning in 2024. The advent of advanced spam detection tools and changing email engagement behaviors necessitate a shift in focus towards metrics that truly matter—response rates and meaningful engagements. Despite this, the importance of crafting engaging subject lines and strategic timing cannot be overlooked, as they ensure that your emails reach the intended audience. By prioritizing the quality of interactions over mere open rates, businesses can navigate the evolving landscape of email marketing more effectively, driving better results and fostering stronger connections with their recipients.
