How to track open rate for plain-text newsletters?
In GetResponse we offer open rate tracking for HTML newsletters. Open rate allows to see how many people have opened your messages to read their content. This is a good indicator of how engaged your contacts are with your messages.
Open rate tracking is a way to measure how many of your contacts have opened your message. In your account, you’ll see the open rate presented as a percentage. We calculate it by dividing the number of email messages opened by the total number of messages sent.
How do we track message opens?
We calculate the open rate based on the images downloaded from the message. In each HTML newsletter, we include a small, one-pixel image. When downloaded, our tracking system records that the message has been opened. Now the open rate for your message can be calculated.
You need to remember a few important things about how open rate tracking works:
- It doesn’t work for plain text messages because they don’t include images. If a subscriber decides to open your message using the plain text option, it won’t count as opened unless there’s a link inside that message that the contact clicks.
- Every time your subscriber opens an HTML message, we count it as a separate open, however we show unique opens there.
How is open rate calculated for plain text messages?
Plain text messages do not allow any formatting or including images. As a result, we’re unable to attach that small tracking pixel to them. This means that open rates can only be calculated based on tracking clicks.
- Make sure you have click tracking enabled. You can set this up when creating your newsletter, in the Newsletter Settings step.
How to enable link tracking?
1. Go to Email Marketing.
2. Click on the Create newsletter button.
3. Scroll down and click on Tracking to expand the section.
4. Press the switch under Click tracking to enable link tracking.
We track every time someone clicks a link in your message. When a link is clicked, we also record that the message had to be opened in order for the reader to open your link. As a result, your open rate will be exactly the same as your click rate.
Example: If 4 people click a link in your plain-text newsletter, the system will also record 4 opens for the messages.
- When people open your plain-text message, but don’t click on a link, we can’t record that the message has been opened.
Where can I see my open rate?
You can view your open rate in detail in message statistics.
1. Go to Email Marketing.
2. Locate the Actions icon (vertical ellipsis) to the right of your newsletter name and hover over it.
3. Select Statistics from the list of options.
