Open rate is a relative and flawed statistic. Due to the fact that open rate is calculated based on a one pixel image loading, the rise in image-blocking software that is increasingly used by email providers and ISPs has made open rate an even less reliable statistic than it used to be. Open rates have also never taken messages sent as plain text into account (since they cannot include that one pixel image.) As such, we have seen open rates dropping significantly across the board over the past few years. The fact that this drop has NOT been mirrored by a corresponding drop in click-through rates tells us that the statistic is becoming less and less reliable. You can read more about this phenomenon at: http://www.mrss.com/news/Why_Open_Rates_Are_Dropping_M-R_Strategic_Services.pdf (please note that this whitepaper was published in 2006 and we have not updated the data since then.)

However, to provide some context for what a “good” open rate is, in our 2008 enonprofit benchmarks study (available online at: http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/) the average open rate across our nonprofit study partners in 2007 was 17.6%, compared with the average for 2006 which was 21.3%. We will be doing an update of the study that should be coming out in the spring of 2009 that includes 2008 data. You can check sign up to receive it via email when it is published at: http://www.mrss.com/whitepapers.html

Eve Fox, M+R Strategic Services http://www.mrss.com