Spike in Sales email opens

[AllenB]

My email opens have increased dramatically recently. Typically 5-15 of my 150 daily outbound emails get opened. In the last 2-3 days, I am getting almost 100 of the 150 opened daily. I don't think that my emails are written that brilliantly to have such a large spike in opens. Have you had similar feedback from other users or is there a problem with your tracking code?

[AllenB]

1:1 sales emails. I'm not opening them myself. They appear to be opening within seconds of sending.

[Jnix284]

@AllenB that is very interesting, I've only seen the opposite problem, where the open rates have dropped. We're even seeing replies come through to emails that never showed open.

Are you sending directly from HubSpot or one of the integrations?

[AllenB]

Directly from HubSpot or Gmail.

[Jnix284]

@AllenB just you or anyone else on your team?

@jolle any ideas about why open rates would spike for 1:1 sales emails?

[AllenB]

Just me.

[jolle · Accepted solution]

@Jnix284 @AllenB this is super interesting, especially depending on if this is something that the entire team is seeing.

The only immediate thing that comes to mind is Apple's iOS 15 privacy updates that have been inflating open rates over the last year (article 1 from HubSpot, article 2 from HubSpot). Emails can show as "opened" almost immediately as they're being scanned first by Apple. 

You could try sending a marketing email to the same group of contacts to see if you get similar open rates.

Definitely keep an eye on this over the next week to see if it continues. If you suspect that there could be something wonky happening with your open tracking, you can reach out to HubSpot Support as well.

Hope this helps!!

[JNeal7]

I'm getting lots of email opens - there is one contact that looks like opened emails 26 times.  I know this is incorrect.   Plus seeing a lot that appear to open 1-2 minutes after I send it - and I know that is not true.  Happens if I send from laptop or Iphone.    I'm sending to their work email addresses.

How do I determine what is real and what isn't?  If they open - I want to be more proactive in my followup - but now I just don't know.

Thanks

[Jnix284]

@JNeal7, as @jolle shared, the immediate opens are caused by the iOS privacy update that is scanning the emails and that makes those opens unreliable.

The most common reason you see high numbers of opens would be because your email is at the top of the inbox and gets opened every time they delete the message above, but IDK about 26 times...

Really the best thing you can do is look at other behavioral events, what time of day are they visiting your website? Are they clicking links in the email or engaging with content on social?

[JNeal7]

Thanks for your reply.

I send them to different people in different companies various times of day. Does not seem to have anything in common.

Some show they are opened a minute after sending. Since they usually go to executives, I know this is not reality. I have no idea now which ones, if any, have been opened. There are not usually links to click in them, so no way to check that.

Thanks for any ideas on how to resolve.

[Jnix284]

@JNeal7 to clarify, I wasn't intending to say that you could solve the open issue based on when you're sending, but rather look to other behavioral events that could help you identify a better time to follow up than relying on email opens.

[AllenB]

It does , thank you

[Jnix284]

Thanks @jolle I had a feeling you'd know what was going on from the sales side - I've only run into the opposite on the marketing side. 🙂

[Jnix284]

@AllenB intersting to see such a big jump, are you opening your own sent emails by chance? are you talking 1:1 sales emails or are you using the marketing email tool?