Click to open rate

Sara Heegaard March 3, 20222 minute read

Sara is a copywriter focused on lifting up Recharge's merchants, partners, and their customers. Before Recharge, her past lives included writing and editing at four different subscription... Full bio

What is click to open rate (CTOR)?

Click to open rate (CTOR) is an email marketing metric used to assess the effectiveness of email content. It compares the number of people who clicked on an email link (click through rate, or CTR) to the total number of people who opened that email (email open rate). Generally speaking, the higher an email’s CTOR is, the more engaging and appealing the content is perceived to be for subscribers. These insights can be used to assess the health of a company’s email campaigns and its email marketing strategy. 

CTOR vs CTR: What’s the difference?

Both click to open rate and click through rate are important email marketing benchmarks for assessing the success of a campaign—but the two shouldn’t be confused. While CTR measures the number of people who clicked on an email link out of all sent emails, CTOR compares clicks only to the people who opened the email. This makes CTOR an excellent tool for assessing the relevance of your email links among your more engaged subscribers. 

Strategies for improving CTOR

There are several strategies businesses can use to optimize their email content and boost their subscribers’ engagement. First, deliver clear, conversion-driven CTAs that tie back to your subject line. Answer the question that got them to open your email, and make links easy and enticing to click. Ensure the rest of your email copy is concise, scannable, and easy to digest to bring those CTAs to the forefront, being sure to place any more critical information earlier in the email. Finally, interesting visuals can help keep the content and layout dynamic and communicate your message beyond just the copy.