The Shocking Truth About Email Metrics in 2025

If you’re an email marketer and still consider open rates as the main indicator of success, it’s time for a wake-up call.

In fact, it’s way past that time. In 2021, Apple announced its MPP feature along with the iOS 15 update, taking email marketers by storm.

So, what is Apple MPP?

As per the feature, Apple Mail prevents email senders from tracking email opens and users’ IP addresses to protect their privacy. It automatically loads email content, like images, on devices with iOS 15 and inflates open rates.

This means that open rates are no longer a reliable metric, and one should track clicks and submissions to understand how their campaigns performed.

Okay, but how did it impact real email marketers?

We survey email marketers yearly to understand trends, benchmarks, and best practices. Then, we compile our findings in a report called ‘State of Email’, which helps fellow marketers discover what’s working (and what’s not) for others in the industry.

In 2023 and 2024, we discovered marketers had started prioritizing click rates and submissions as their go-to email metric.

However, we were shocked when we surveyed 130+ marketers for the State of Email 2025.

What we learned while creating the State of Email 2025

Last year, the number of marketers relying on open rates increased to 20.5% in 2024 — a sharp contrast to previous years.

This could mean

🍎 Our surveyors didn’t have enough Apple users in their email list, which is highly unlikely as Apple Mail dominates the email clients market with a whopping 56.7% share.

🤷Or they rely on outdated metrics due to a lack of awareness or a tendency to report inflated performance.

In either case, this situation points towards a deeper issue of poor email strategy at the top and a disregard for the true potential of email marketing.

If you’ve read to this point, you’re a true-blue email marketer, and the next section is for you.

Actionable tips to get over open rates and improve email strategy

As many wise people say, what you can’t measure, you can’t improve. Hence, it’s important to be honest about your campaign performance, even if that means reporting lesser numbers.

However, if your email strategy is right, you can improve metrics like CTR and submission and build a long-lasting relationship with your subscribers — the real purpose of email marketing.

Here are some tips to help you through -

Respect your email recipients

✅ Start by honoring their choices — ask them how frequently they want your emails or whether they want them at all.

✅Keep the ‘Unsubscribe’ button loud and clear. Smaller and engaged list > Large but non-responsive list

✅Ask for feedback consistently and implement it. You can now add rating widgets with stars and emojis or even a form inside email.

Optimize for engagement, and not just opens

✅ Don’t turn your emails into another promotional ad, especially if you’re a SaaS. Use emails to nurture subscribers and engage them.

✅ Use email gamification to spice up your boring emails. Think quizzes, polls, and even scratch-the-card widgets.

✅ Give recipients a reason to respond to your emails or wait for the next one. Informative newsletters, product updates, and even catchy promotional emails can help subscribers wait for your emails.

Learn from your peers

✅ Do not work in silos. There’re many communities and shared resources to get inspiration from. For example — Really good email, Email love, etc., for email design and copy.

✅ Follow experts and learn from their practices. You can find them on LinkedIn, hear through their webinars/podcasts, or even reach out on Slack communities like email geeks.

✅ Always keep a tab on industry trends. Reports like State of Email can tell you where you stand and what you need to improve.