In plain English
Calculated as clicks divided by delivered emails. Unlike opens, a click requires a deliberate action, which is why it remained reliable when open tracking did not.
It measures whether the email persuaded anyone to act. A high open rate with no clicks means the subject line worked and the email did not.
What to know
Clicks over delivered
Unique clicks, ideally.
Requires intent
Which is why it stayed reliable.
Varies by email type
Transactional and nurture emails are not comparable.
Compare to yourself
Benchmarks across industries mean little.
Why it matters
Click-through rate is now the most reliable engagement signal in email. It is also the basis for the suppression decisions that protect deliverability.
Common mistakes
×Comparing click rates across different email types.
×Counting total clicks rather than unique clickers.
×Ignoring where in the email the clicks occurred.
×Chasing clicks with misleading link text.
FAQs
What is a good click-through rate?
Better than your own recent average for that type of email.
Total or unique clicks?
Unique clickers. Total clicks flatter emails with many links.
WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM
Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.
I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.
More About Tariq →