Why Your Email Open Rates Are Going Down — And What to Do About It

If your email open rates are going down, you’re not alone. Earlier this year, Google and Yahoo rolled out stricter requirements for email senders, and while these changes were meant to decrease the level of spam in inboxes, some marketers saw their legit emails get caught in the net.

“But wait!” you say. “I’m a B2B marketer! I’m not emailing people with Google or Yahoo addresses!” First, you might be emailing more Google users than you think; Google Workspace now has a much larger market share than Microsoft Office. But this may not be the only reason you’re struggling with open rates. Here are a few other reasons your open rates might be dipping. 

You’re getting zero-click email opens 

Zero-click search has become a big deal in the SEO world. Nearly 60% of this year’s Google searches resulted in zero clicks because users are getting what they need from the search engine results page (SERP) itself. This number will continue to increase with the expansion of Google’s AI Overviews. Between AI Overviews and the rising number of users turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity instead of Google, more and more people are consuming brand content without visiting the brand’s website. 

I believe a similar phenomenon happens with marketing emails. How many times have you read the subject line, read the preview text, and decided you had the gist and didn’t need to read the full email? I do this all day long. Often it’s information I wanted and am glad to have — otherwise I wouldn’t stay subscribed to emails from these senders. But I only open if I need additional information.

I actually think this is okay, as long as the contact is opening some of your emails. I may not want to sign up for every single webinar you’re offering, but I want to know about them so I can choose the ones that apply to me. Providing your most helpful info up front (as opposed to making me dig through an email for it) makes me feel more positive sentiment toward your brand.

You’re emailing people who don’t want to hear from you

As our HubSpot Administrator Jillian Hazy said on the Sidetrekked episode Why are my email open rates going down and what should I do about it: 

“If someone hasn’t opened your emails for a year, stop sending to them.”

Focus your lead nurturing campaigns on the contacts who are actually engaged.

With everyone else, it’s okay to take a break. Just because a contact doesn’t want to hear from you now doesn’t mean they’re lost forever; the timing may not be right. Give them some space and try again later. We’re a big fan of running occasional re-engagement campaigns for our clients; this is where we try to win back unengaged contacts with fresh, compelling content, such as a brand new case study, industry report, or white paper.

You’re emailing too frequently

Marketers need to do a better job of treating people’s inboxes as sacred space. Someone allowing you to send them emails is a privilege — don’t abuse it. Don’t email them multiple times a week or email them with the same information or offers over and over. Email them when you actually have something valuable to offer. Emails that add to the noise are more likely to go unopened.

The bigger picture: open rates affect email deliverability

If email service providers see that a high percentage of users are engaging with an email — opening, clicking, moving to the primary inbox, replying — then emails from that sender will be more likely to make it to the primary inbox in the future. If they see the opposite — low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, recipients moving an email to a promotional inbox or to spam — it lowers the sender’s chances of making it through their filters again.

Yes, email service providers can keep your emails from even making it to the inbox in the first place, and once you’re on their “bad” list, it’s tough to get off of it. Email deliverability is already a huge challenge for B2B senders, as corporate IT security filters are quick to flag marketing emails. Don’t make it worse for yourself by sending bad emails.

A few ideas for improved email results

Here’s what we advise our clients to do to improve their email open rates and deliverability:

• Be picky about the contacts you email. A smaller, highly engaged list is much more valuable than a huge list that doesn’t engage.
• Do frequent value checks. Does every email you send offer something of value to the recipients? If not, why are you emailing? (Check out our favorite email newsletters for examples of senders who are doing a great job.)
• Encourage replies to emails. Replies are one of the strongest signals to email service providers that recipients believe there’s a real human on the other side of an email.
• Don’t rely on email alone. Email is great, but it’s not the best channel for reaching every contact. Experiment with your channel mix to find the best place to reach individuals, and then personalize your mode of outreach based on their preferences.

Want more email advice? Check out the most recent episode of Sidetrekked, Why are my email open rates going down and what should I do about it.