Read your numbers: what open and click rates tell you, and what they don’t

The numbers after every send are tempting. The open rate goes up and you are pleased; it goes down and you worry. But a single number rarely tells the whole story. What helps is knowing how each number is counted, where it goes wrong, and what to do with it.

This guide explains Mujaz’s numbers as they are really counted, and suggests a simple way to read them issue after issue — without panic and without false comfort.

How Mujaz counts

Every number in Mujaz counts unique people, not times. A reader who opened an issue five times counts once. The open rate is the number of people who opened, divided by the number it was actually delivered to — not by everyone on the list.

Each issue’s page shows delivered, unique opens, clicks, click-to-open, bounces and complaints. You reach it from Newsletters with the “Analytics” button on the issue’s card. The Analytics page brings the bigger picture together: subscribers, average open and click rates, growth, and newsletter performance.

Why the open rate is approximate

An open is counted when the images in the email load, and that is where its limits begin:

• Some apps, such as Apple Mail, load images automatically, so some “opens” are machines, not people.
• Other apps hide opens, so a few people who did read the issue show up as not opened.
• Under roughly a hundred deliveries, one or two readers move the rate a lot.

So treat the open rate as a sign of direction, not a verdict. Compare an issue with your own earlier issues, not with a figure you heard about someone else’s newsletter. And if you want a more honest measure, look at clicks.

Clicks, and click-to-open

A click is something a reader does when they decide to go further, which makes it the clearest sign that what you wrote landed. Click-to-open answers one question: of the people who opened, how many clicked? It measures the content itself more than the subject line.

A working rule: the subject line moves opens, the content moves clicks. If opens rose and clicks fell, the subject may have promised more than the issue delivered. If opens fell but clicks held up, the content is fine — try a clearer subject next time.

Bounces, complaints and unsubscribes

A bounce means the address doesn’t receive mail. A complaint means the reader marked your email as spam. Mujaz handles both on its own: only active subscribers are ever sent to, so a bounced or complaining address gets nothing more.

These numbers are usually small, but they are worth watching. If complaints go above 0.1%, it shows up in your weekly security alerts. A sudden rise after one issue is a cue to look: did it reach people who didn’t expect it? Did the sender name change? See the stay out of spam guide.

As for “Unsubscribed since this send”, it counts everyone who left the list after that send, because Mujaz cannot tie an unsubscribe to a single issue. So don’t blame one issue for everyone who left after it. If a reader picked a reason when leaving, you will find it on their profile.

Behind the number

Every number on an issue’s page opens the list of people behind it — “Who?”: opened, clicked, didn’t open, bounced, complained — with search. This is where a rate becomes names: you see who reads you regularly, and who hasn’t opened anything in a while. Details in who opened and clicked.

In Subscribers, the engagement column sums up each reader: high for 5 or more opens or 2 or more clicks, then medium and low. Useful when you are looking for your most loyal readers to ask what they think.

From the number to the next step

Numbers earn your time when they lead to an action. Three Mujaz tools do that:

• Resend to people who didn’t open (every plan): from a sent issue’s analytics, press “Resend to people who didn’t open”. It makes a draft copy aimed at people who received the issue and didn’t open it; change the subject, then send it yourself — nothing goes out automatically. Details in resend to non-openers.
• Engagement filter (every plan): in the editor’s “Audience” tab, send for example only to people active in the last 90 days or new.
• Segments (Lite and up): saved rules such as people who never opened anything, or who clicked in a specific issue — send only to them, or leave them out. Build them in Segments and see the segments article.

And readers who haven’t opened anything in months? First try an issue aimed at them with a segment or a filter; if they still don’t respond, consider unsubscribing them. Your plan’s subscriber limit counts active and waiting-to-confirm people, and a smaller list that really reads gives you more honest numbers.

A simple routine after each issue

1. 1Give the issue time before you judge it.
2. 2Compare it with your last three or four issues, not with one.
3. 3Look at clicks and click-to-open before the open rate.
4. 4If something changed suddenly, open the didn’t-open or complained list to see who is behind it.
5. 5Pick one change for the next issue: a clearer subject, a resend, or a segment.

On your Dashboard, Mujazly’s weekly note sums up the week’s best issue and one thing to try, whenever you have sent something in the last 7 days.

On a new account, notices such as “Comparison metrics unlock after 2 months of sending” or “Engagement segments unlock at 20 subscribers” are completely normal. And web-only posts have likes, not email numbers: Mujaz does not count page views.