Email click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of recipients who clicked at least one link in your email. It's the most reliable metric for measuring email engagement — because a click means someone actually read your message and took action.
Formula: CTR = (Unique Clicks ÷ Emails Delivered) × 100 · CTOR = (Unique Clicks ÷ Unique Opens) × 100 · Open rate = (Unique Opens ÷ Emails Delivered) × 100
Enter the numbers from one sent email (or one campaign) to get your CTR, click-to-open rate and open rate.
Click-through rate (CTR)
2.58%
Unique clicks ÷ emails delivered × 100
Average: 2–3%Above average — the offer and CTA are working
Click-to-open rate (CTOR)
6.8%
Unique clicks ÷ unique opens × 100
Healthy: 10–20%Acceptable, with room to sharpen the CTA
Open rate
38.0%
Unique opens ÷ emails delivered × 100
Average: 20–40%Healthy for a permission-based list
Your CTR is at or above average. Test subject lines and CTA placement to push higher.
These are averages. Want your real numbers, per template and per recipient?
Track opens & clicks freeCTR counts unique clicks, not total clicks. If the same person clicks three links, that is one click for this calculation.
Read CTR as reach, CTOR as persuasion — a high open rate with a low CTOR means the subject line works and the body does not.
What counts as a "good" CTR depends entirely on your industry. Here are the latest benchmarks across major sectors:
| Industry | Average CTR | Top 25% CTR |
|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce / Retail | 2.5 - 3.5% | 5.0%+ |
| Real Estate | 3.0 - 4.0% | 6.0%+ |
| B2B / SaaS | 2.0 - 3.0% | 4.5%+ |
| Newsletters / Media | 3.5 - 5.0% | 7.0%+ |
| Education | 3.0 - 4.5% | 6.5%+ |
| Financial Services | 2.0 - 2.8% | 4.0%+ |
| Healthcare | 2.5 - 3.5% | 5.0%+ |
| Travel / Hospitality | 2.0 - 3.0% | 4.5%+ |
Bottom line: if your CTR is above 3%, you're doing well. Above 5%, you're in the top quartile. Below 1.5%, it's time to rework your email design, copy, and targeting.
| Metric | What it measures | Reliability |
|---|---|---|
| Open Rate | Did the recipient open the email? | Medium — inflated by MPP, blocked by image filters |
| Click-Through Rate (CTR) | Did the recipient click a link? | High — not affected by image blocking |
| Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) | Of those who opened, how many clicked? | High — measures email quality |
| Bounce Rate | How many emails didn't arrive? | Medium — depends on list hygiene |
| Unsubscribe Rate | How many opted out? | High — clear signal |
How do you calculate email click-through rate?
Divide unique clicks by the number of emails delivered, then multiply by 100. If 25 people clicked in an email delivered to 1,000 inboxes, the CTR is 2.5%.
What is a good email click-through rate?
A CTR of 2-3% is the cross-industry average. Above 3% is good, above 5% is top-decile. Click-to-open rate of 10-20% means the email itself is doing the persuading.
What is the difference between CTR and CTOR?
CTR is unique clicks divided by emails delivered. CTOR (click-to-open rate) is unique clicks divided by unique opens, so it isolates how persuasive the email body and CTA are.
Why is my click-through rate so low?
Three usual causes, in order: the CTA is buried below the first scroll, the email has several competing links, or the audience is cold. Fix placement first, then reduce links to one button.
Does a click tracking pixel change my CTR?
No. Open tracking uses a 1x1 image, click tracking rewrites links to a redirect. Both record the event; neither changes the rate itself, though Apple Mail prefetching can inflate opens and therefore lower CTOR.
Ready to measure your real CTR per template and per recipient? Open and click tracking is built into the template builder — no extension required.
Open the tracking dashboard →