Open rate data has been unreliable since Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection in 2021. By 2026, the majority of email opens in most B2B lists are machine-recorded pre-fetches, not genuine human opens. If your open rate jumped in 2021 and has stayed elevated since, that is almost certainly why.
What the numbers actually mean now
If your email platform reports a 60 percent open rate, a significant portion of that figure is Apple's servers pre-loading the tracking pixel, not a person reading your email. The real human open rate is lower — often by 15 to 25 percentage points depending on your audience's device mix.
This does not mean open rate is useless. Relative trends still tell you something. If open rate drops sharply over several sends, that suggests either deliverability problems or a subject line quality decline. But using open rate as an absolute benchmark — "we need to hit 40 percent" — no longer makes sense.
The metrics that actually matter in 2026
Click rate is now the primary engagement signal for most email programmes. A click requires genuine human intent. For B2B newsletters and promotional emails, a click rate of 2 to 4 percent on your list is solid. Above 5 percent is strong. Below 1 percent means the content is not connecting with what readers want, or you are sending too frequently.
Reply rate matters for sequences aimed at generating conversations. Even a 1 to 2 percent reply rate on a cold outbound sequence represents meaningful engagement if the replies are from the right people.
Revenue per email sent is the ultimate measure for e-commerce and service businesses with a clear conversion path. Divide the revenue attributable to each campaign by the number of emails sent. Track this monthly and it will tell you whether your email programme is growing or stagnating.
When email is not the right focus
Email requires a list. If you are building from zero, the time and effort required to grow a quality list may mean other channels deliver faster results while you build your subscriber base in parallel. And if your product requires a long, high-trust buying process, email works well — but do not expect a sequence to close complex enterprise deals on its own.