Why your email open rates changed
On October 1, 2026, we updated how open rates are calculated so they count only the people who actually opened your emails. If your open rates look lower than before, don't worry: your emails aren't performing worse, the numbers are simply more accurate.
Why open rates dropped
Open rates now count only real opens. Automatic opens no longer count, so many organizations see their open rate drop, sometimes by about half. That doesn't mean fewer supporters are reading your emails: it means the number now only counts the people who did.
Two things can open your emails without the person:
Security tools, often used by companies and schools, open emails to scan them before they reach the inbox.
Privacy settings, like the one built into Apple Mail, open every email automatically so senders can't tell when a person actually reads it.
These automatic opens used to count toward your open rate, which made it look higher than it really was.
How the open rate is calculated now
Open rate = real opens ÷ (delivered emails − Unknown recipients).
For example: 992 real opens ÷ (4,168 delivered emails − 200 Unknown recipients) = 25.0%.
Emails sent before October 1, 2026 keep the open rate they had under the old calculation, and their bar is shown in grey so you can tell them apart at a glance. Comparing an older email with a newer one isn't a like-for-like comparison: the older rate includes automatic opens. Automated emails keep sending over time, and their open rate counts only emails sent since October 1, 2026, so the number stays accurate.
The Unknown status
The Unknown status covers recipients who use Apple Mail with a privacy setting turned on. Their email app opens every email automatically, so there's no way to know whether they read yours. These recipients don't lower your open rate: they're left out of the calculation, and they aren't included when you use Resend to non-openers, since some of them may have read your email. If one of them clicks a link, we know they read your email and they move to Clicked.
Which number should I watch?
Clicks are now your most reliable signal: they always come from a real person. Keep an eye on your click rate and on the purchases made from your emails to see what connects with your supporters.
For what each recipient status means, see Tracking email performance.
Switched from another email tool?
Your numbers can look different when you move to Zeffy, because tools count opens differently. Mailchimp leaves out bot and Apple Mail opens by default for campaigns sent since July 2024, with a setting to show the raw numbers. Constant Contact shows raw open rates to long-time customers, and net rates to customers who joined in 2026 or later.