What Does "Open" really Mean?

[Stu123]

Hi everyone...and particularly Constant Contact tech folks. I have a question about what it really means when someone "opens" an email. I do not think it means what we all think it means. CC says I have 25,000+ "Most Engaged" folks. The definition is that people "regularly open and click your emails." (I cannot paste an image into this message. Only text is permitted.) Of those 25,000, over 1,000 do not satisfy that definition; and 5,000+ barely satisfy it. One guy opened 99% of the last 165 (163) emails sent but clicked NONE of them! Opened 163 but clicked none?!?!? That's not possible...if "open" means he manually clicked on the email in his Inbox to open it. So what does "open" really mean in a CC context? And what algorithm does CC employ that reports someone opening 163 emails yet clicking none of them? Clearly, no such person exists... Thanks. Stu

[DavidFischerSolutionsForGrowth · Accepted solution]

Stu, thanks for your question about open rates and click rates! It's a great one to understand when diving into email marketing.

Opens tell us how many people actually peeked inside your email. Constant Contact uses a tiny, invisible pixel (like a single dot) embedded in each email that gets activated when it's opened. Think of it as a silent signal that lets us know someone took a look.

Clicks happen when someone interacts with your email by clicking on a link. Maybe it's a link to your website, a special offer, or even just a "learn more" button. Each click shows an extra level of engagement with your message

Constant Contact tracks who opens and who does not and uses that information to segment your email list into people who engage the most...and those who don't. Should someone consistently delete the email without opening it, they would likely fall into the non-engaged segment.
I know how frustrating it can be when your email program is not delivering the results you're looking for. If you'd like to explore ways to ensure email best practices, please reach out.
David Fischer

[Stu123]

HI David.

Thanks for the answer. I gave you a thumbs up. How do I give you a kudos?

I am still perplexed about something: Why would someone open 163 of 165 emails yet not click on one? THAT is what causes me to wonder about how CC tracks opens. And there are more than 1,000 folks like that!

Overall, our open and click thru rates are solid. We send around 80,000 emails per day, seven days week. They concern sports collectibles. For the past 30 days, we are at 59% open and 2.3% CTR.  Thus, I am satisfied with how we are doing. I am just scratching my head over some of CC's metrics. 

If a CC employee contacts me,  can we go over specific examples? I am not able to share them here in a public forum. 

Thanks.

Stu

[Chris-S]

Hey Stu,

You make a good point, let me clarify. A thumbs-up is the same as a "Kudos" in the community. @Stu123. 👍

[DanJ632]

I am not in agreement with the "peeking" part. I know for emails I send, (they go out very early) that many are not up and out of bed to be "peeking". So that does not seem like an accurate explanation. 

[DavidFischerSolutionsForGrowth]

Stu, thanks for the feedback, it's appreciated. Everyone's behavior with emails is different, so it's really not possible to answer the question about the 163/165 numbers.
Your open and click rates appear healthy so you must be doing something right. I am one of Constant Contact's Certified Solution Providers and a SuperUser in the Community (not an employee). Our agency (one of the largest ones among Solution Providers) manages a large number of emails and I'd be happy to take a peek at your emails (no charge). Sometimes a tweak or two can make a meaningful change in results. On a related note...one of our clients is in the sports memorabilia business, so I'm familiar with your industry!
Easily schedule a call or reach out through the website.
David Fischer

[user38189]

Hello, I appreciate this question and I've got a related one for whomever is following this thread.

Is it possible that some email systems scan messages for spam, malicious intent, etc, and that appears as an "open" even before the actual intended recipient sees the message in their inbox?

Many on our list are school district employees and I'm wondering if their district IT may scan emails that are not actually selected or seen by the teachers.

[Chris-S]

Yes, this could happen. Some email systems have security stuff, like spam blockers and virus checkers, that check incoming emails for bad stuff like spam, viruses, or fake emails. Sometimes these things can make it look like an email was opened, even if the person didn't actually read it.

Sometimes this happens with work emails or some email providers that have automatic tools to check out links and stuff in emails to make sure they're OK. And, when they do that, the little tracking thing that counts how many times the email is opened can get set off, making the number look higher than it really is.

[William_A]

Hello @user38189 ,

Yes, if their network or email program uses some kind of security tool that "opens" emails and "clicks" their links to check for malware, it can result in that kind of data. Setting up your account for self-authentication can show the security algorithms that emails being sent through us by you are effectively coming directly from you, and avoid triggering the clicks/opens from bots. However it's unfortunately not a guarantee as some security programs are simply built to function like this. Some security programs will even trigger for internally-sent emails if they're particularly stringent. If these contacts' networks / security programs are using bots to scan for malware, or they're distribution lists / auto-forwarding to larger groups of people, then the numbers are going to be skewed regardless.

_________

To be frank, the reporting info for these contacts simply won't be viable ever. If you're wanting to keep them separate for the sake for your reporting, then I'd advise isolating these contacts to a new list meant for contacts that auto-forward or use bot security checks, and send separate email copies to that list. That way your main emails to your direct, human contacts will have more accurate reporting. 

If you'd like the step-by-step process of what I'm describing:

1. Identify the contacts that are causing these bloated open and click statistics. Consider tagging them for quick referral when you identify them, as this can quicken the list creation.
2. Create a new list, call it something obvious like "Suspected Bot / Auto-Forward Contacts," then add the suspected contacts to that list. If you need to be particularly granular with the list memberships, then I'd advise instead making "suspected..." copies of each of your lists, and applying these suspected contacts to the applicable copied lists.
   • Consider making a note in the suspect contacts of what lists they were previously on, or use the tags mentioned earlier, in case you decide later you don't like this setup and want to put the suspect contacts back into the main lists.
3. Once the suspect contacts are on the suspect list(s), remove them from the normal list(s) they're on.
4. From here on, you'll need to send two versions of the emails you'd normally be sending to these lists - one for the seemingly normal contacts, and a copy that you send to the suspect lists.

_________

Beyond that, there's not much else you can do from your end. Our devs are constantly trying to identify the various programs that utilize this functionality, so they can set our system to ignore the behavior and triggers from these particular programs. If, after setting your account up for self-auth, the click rates continue to be inflated or worsen, then it may be worth calling in. That way our general support or higher level technical team can see if there's any further info that can be gleamed from the content of the emails with you live on the phone, or to see if the domains of the contacts that are seeming to bot-click them show any other particular consistencies we can track.

[user38189]

I don't know yet what's the right balance for us of ease, clarity, and insight, but your response is fabulously complete info for our team to consider. Thank you to both folks who responded so far with great info.

[user38189]

Very insightful and much appreciated!