Skip to content
newsletter-marketing24.deLaw · Deliverability · Metrics

Last reviewed:

Translated from German; if the versions differ, the German version applies.

Metrics calculator

The metrics calculator works out seven rates from the raw figures of one newsletter send – delivery, bounce, open, click, click-to-open, unsubscribe and complaint rate – and shows how each one is calculated. It is meant for anyone who wants to check the percentages of their sending platform or compare several sends using the same formula.

What the rates mean

A rate is a proportion: events divided by a base. The calculator uses the formulas from the page Metrics. Delivery and bounce rate refer to the emails sent; open, click, unsubscribe and complaint rate refer to the emails delivered (sent minus bounces). “Unique” means that each email counts at most once, even if someone opens or clicks several times. The click-to-open rate relates clicks to measured opens.

The calculator shows the open rate only with a caveat. Apple’s “Protect Mail Activity” feature loads remote content privately in the background when an email arrives. That counts as an open, even if nobody has read the email. From a complaint rate of 0.3% a note appears, because Gmail and Yahoo give 0.3% as the limit for the spam rate.

How to use it

  1. Read the figures for one send from your sending platform’s report: sent, bounces, unique opens, unique clicks, unsubscribes and spam reports.
  2. Enter them as whole numbers, with or without a thousands separator (1,000). Leave unknown values empty; the rates affected then show a dash.
  3. Read off the rates and the calculation. The result changes with every entry.

The calculator

Your figures from one mailing
Delivery rate
–
Bounce rate
–
Open rate with reservations
–
Click rate
–
Click-to-open rate
–
Unsubscribe rate
–
Complaint rate
–

Open rate with reservations: Apple’s “Protect Mail Activity” loads content in the background – this counts as an open even if nobody has read the email. We deliberately do not give comparative values (“good click rate”).

What the calculator does not check

  • How your sending platform counts. Some platforms base rates on emails sent rather than delivered, or count all clicks instead of unique ones. If the values differ, check the base first.
  • Whether a value is good or bad. The calculator deliberately gives no comparative values (“good click rate”); the reason is explained under Are there “good” values?.
  • Whether opens and clicks come from people. It cannot detect automatic requests or bot clicks; it calculates with the figures you enter.
  • The mailbox providers’ spam rate. Gmail reports its spam rate in Postmaster Tools; Gmail measures that figure itself. The calculator only knows the spam reports that your sending platform shows.

Frequently asked questions

Are my figures transmitted or stored? No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. The form has no target, and after reloading the page the example figures are back in the fields.

Why does the open rate say “with reservations”? Because an open is measured through an image that is loaded from a server, and automatic requests such as those from Apple’s “Protect Mail Activity” also count as opens. More on this under Open rate and click rate.

Why does the result differ from my sending platform? The calculator bases open, click, unsubscribe and complaint rate on the emails delivered and calculates with unique opens and clicks. If your platform uses a different base or counts all clicks, the percentages will differ.

Further reading