Are email open rates accurate? Why opens lie, and what to track instead
Adoptiv Team··3 min read
Short answer
Not very. An open is recorded when an invisible image loads, so privacy proxies, security scanners and your own preview can all count as opens, while people who block images never count. Treat an open as a hint, a click as a stronger signal, and a reply as the only sure one. For sales, call while the signal is fresh, but don't build a forecast on opens.
A prospect "opened your proposal six times." It sounds like buying intent, so you call, and they haven't read it. What really happened is that their email security scanned it, their phone preloaded it, and you opened your own sent copy twice. Open tracking is useful, but only once you know where its numbers come from.
How open tracking works
Every tracked email carries a tiny invisible image, the tracking pixel. When the reader's mail app loads it, the sender's system records an open. Click tracking rewrites each link so it passes through a recording step before reaching the real page. Both depend on something loading, and that's the weak spot.
Why opens get counted wrong
What happens
Effect on opens
How common
Privacy proxies (e.g. Apple Mail Privacy Protection) preload images
An open is recorded whether or not anyone read it
Very common on Apple devices
Company security scanners fetch the email
False opens, and often false clicks
Common with business recipients
You open your own sent copy
Counted as the customer
Common unless your tool filters it
The reader looks twice in a minute
Two opens instead of one
Common
Images are blocked or text-only mail is used
A real read is never counted
Less common, but real
Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, introduced in 2021, loads images through a proxy whether or not the message is read. That's why many senders saw open rates jump overnight without any change in replies.
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A reply. The only certain signal. Measure reply rate first.
A click on a specific link, such as the pricing page or a booking link, especially more than a few seconds after sending.
An open soon after a call or a meeting, when you know a person was expecting it.
A first open, a day or more after sending. More likely to be a person than an instant open on delivery.
A raw open count. Useful in aggregate to compare subject lines, weak for any single person.
How sales teams should use opens
Use opens to time a call, not to decide whether to make it. Follow-up should happen anyway; an open just moves it up the list.
Watch the first open time, not the total. Ten opens in a minute is usually one person or one scanner.
Prefer clicks for branching. In an automated follow-up sequence, branch on clicks or replies where you can.
Never report opens as engagement to a client or a manager without saying how they were counted.
How Adoptiv does it
Adoptiv's open and click tracking leaves out the noise it can identify. Opens from inside Adoptiv or a browser signed in to it are ignored, so you never count yourself. Crawlers and preview tools that identify themselves are left out, and repeat looks by the same reader within five minutes count once. The first open and first click keep their time for good. Individual events are kept for 180 days and the totals stay. Each tracked link carries a signature, and a link that fails the check is refused rather than forwarded.
Tracking is added as each message leaves, so mail held with send later is tracked too. Email sequences keep their own opens and clicks for branching, counted separately from the inbox. As Adoptiv's own page says, an open is only recorded when the reader's mail app loads images, so treat opens as a signal, not proof.
Common questions
Are email open rates accurate?+
Not fully. Privacy proxies and scanners create false opens, and blocked images hide real ones. They're best for comparing emails, not for judging one person's interest.
What is a tracking pixel?+
A tiny invisible image in an email. When the reader's mail app loads it, the sender learns the email was opened.
Why did my open rate suddenly go up?+
Often because more recipients use a mail app that preloads images through a privacy proxy, which records opens nobody made.
What should I track instead of opens?+
Replies first, then clicks on specific links. Use opens only to time a follow-up.
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