The "78% open rate" flex needs to die in 2026 Every week someone slides into my DMs or posts a screenshot bragging about open rates like it's 2015 Let's be real. Apple MPP has been inflating open rates for almost 4 years now. Your "78% open rate" probably means: - Apple Mail pre-loaded your email on a device that never opened it - Your list is small enough that bots and pixel fires skew everything - You're only sending to your most engaged 5% and calling it a win Or you genuinely don't know how email tracking works in 2026 Open rates are a vanity metric. Here's what actually matters: - Click rate - Revenue per recipient - Conversion rate from email - Unsubscribe and spam complaint rate - List growth vs. churn If you can't tell me what your email program generated in revenue last month, your open rate doesn't matter. I don't care if it's 78%. I don't care if it's 98%. And if this made you reconsider your entire thought process... then You should join us at Commerce Roundtable Retention Roadshow... We're gonna talk a lot on modern metrics, AI, strategy and finding actions behind all of it.. NYC June 5 | Miami June 8 | LA June 10 | Austin June 12 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dpxAUX28
Thank you! The amount of founders I talk to that are so sure about “We have a great open rate, but then people aren’t clicking or buying” just sickens me to be honest. How much money did you make? That’s the first question I tell people to ask of themselves and their brand.
That explains my 98% open rate with $0 afterwards. I thought I had a bick writing dig for a sec
Open rates are nice, but conversion rates are chef's kiss 💋
the money is the ultimate kpi. show me the money!
The metric debate hides a positioning debate. When the list, the offer, and the audience aren't sharply defined, no number saves the program open rate, revenue per recipient, or anything in between. Modern metrics make older confusion easier to track.
Well said. You can't improve what you can't measure. And open rates are metric that have almost nothing to do with revenue increase. Track number of sales calls with qualified prospects, and their buying signals instead.
Do they buy, do they head instore, do the reply or engage in some way? That should be the brag
Finally someone said it. Open rates became directionally useful at best after Apple MPP. Revenue per recipient tells a much better story.
I always lead with revenue, it's all anyone really cares about anyway 😅
Revenue per recipient is the metric that actually tells you whether your email program is building or burning the business and the brands still celebrating open rates while ignoring what those opens are generating have been measuring the wrong thing for years.