Render rate not open rate

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on May 08, 2008

In his crusade to help free us of our unhealthy obsession with open rates, Loren McDonald proposes some alternative approaches.

Among them, the idea that we should call it the "email render rate" to reflect the fact that all the open rate actually measures is whether or not a tracking image in the sent email was displayed.

Neither Loren nor I would expect the wider email marketing industry suddenly to start using the "render rate" term. But there's nothing to stop you from doing so.

Why bother?

Because words have power. Call something an open rate and people assume it indicates someone opened (read) an email. Even if you know better, it introduces subconscious bias into how you interpret open rate numbers.

Think of it as a render rate, and that subconscious bias disappears. This allows you to focus on what the number truly tells you about your email efforts and encourages you to look elsewhere for the numbers you really need to measure success.

Open rates guide | Tags: email marketing, email open rates, email render rates

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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3 Comments:

Good call man. I especially like how something as simple as one single word can completely change the perception like you're saying. Good call!
By Travis Bell, on 09 May, 2008

Thanks Travis, but the kudos really belongs to Loren for the suggestion. I'm just adding my support.
By Mark Brownlow - Email Marketing Reports, on 09 May, 2008

And we thank you for that support Mark! Glad to see it showing up so many places.

Luke
By Luke, on 30 January, 2009