The share of delivered emails in which the recipient clicked at least one link. Mailchimp calls this click rate; some tools call the same thing click-through rate.
Formula
Click rate = unique clicks ÷ emails delivered × 100
Example
Meera's festive email is delivered to 8,000 people and 240 of them click a link. Click rate = 240 ÷ 8,000 = 3%. With 3,200 opens, the click-to-open rate is 240 ÷ 3,200 = 7.5%.
How you'll hear it
“Click rate is the number I trust from that send; the opens are mostly Apple.”
What it helps you decide
Which email content, layout and offer to repeat, and, read with CTOR, whether a weak result is a subject line problem or a content problem.
Where people misread it
Comparing click rates across tools without checking the definition: some divide by delivered, some by sent, some count total rather than unique clicks. Link scanners in some corporate inboxes can also register clicks no person made.
The story
Meera sends two emails a week apart, each delivered to 8,000 subscribers, and wants to know which to repeat.
| Delivered | 8,000 |
| Opens | 3,200 |
| Clicks | 240 |
| Click rate | 3% |
|---|
| Delivered | 8,000 |
| Opens | 2,000 |
| Clicks | 200 |
| Click rate | 2.5% |
|---|
The number looks right. Email A wins on click rate, so she plans to drop the sale format.
What it hides. Click-to-open rate tells a different story. Email A: 240 ÷ 3,200 = 7.5%. Email B: 200 ÷ 2,000 = 10%. People who opened the sale email were more likely to click. The problem with B was getting it opened, which points at the subject line or send time, not the content.
What to look at instead. Read click rate and CTOR together. Keep B's body and test a new subject line. Since Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, treat CTOR as a guide, not an exact figure.
All figures are fictional and illustrative.
Work out click rate and click-to-open rate
The example's numbers are filled in. Replace them with yours.
Low opens with a good CTOR points at the subject line or send time. Good opens with a low CTOR points at the content or offer.
Don't confuse it with
- CTR (ads): clicks ÷ impressions on an ad; email click rate divides by delivered emails.
- Click-to-open rate: clicks ÷ opens, which isolates the email body from the subject line.
Related terms
Sources
- About Open and Click Rates, Mailchimp (Intuit)
- Click Rate vs. Click-Through Rate vs. Clicks per Unique Opens, Mailchimp (Intuit)