Low open rates usually signal deliverability issues or campaign optimization needs. Here's how to diagnose and fix them.
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Step 1: Check Open Tracking Setting
Before troubleshooting deliverability, make sure opens are actually being tracked. The following settings can override campaign-level open tracking and reduce your open count.
'Send first email as text-only' setting
Opens for Step 1 won't be tracked when the 'Send first email as text-only' setting is enabled in the campaign, as the first email is sent as plain text.
Advanced Deliverability Settings
Always send first email as text-only
Removes HTML and tracking pixels from Step 1 emails across all campaigns
Ensure it's disabled to track opens for Step 1
Disable Open Tracking
Global setting that turns off open tracking across all campaigns
Ensure it's disabled to track opens
Note: Open rates aren't always the best performance indicator. Your true success metric should be the positive reply rate.
There are different opinions on whether you should keep open tracking enabled or if it will increase the reply rate and perceived deliverability with open tracking disabled. The open tracking pixel could technically hurt deliverability, but it is difficult to gauge the extent of it.
Step 2: Check Your Foundation
Your technical setup is essential for your emails reach the inbox instead of spam.
Set up DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) properly. Without these, email providers won't trust your emails, which directly hurts deliverability. Learn how to set up DNS ->
Avoid generic sender addresses like info@. These appear automated and untrustworthy.
Point your domain to an actual website. Domains without a live site can appear suspicious to email filters. You can redirect the secondary domain to your main website.
Warm up accounts for at least two weeks before launching campaigns. New domains lack sender reputation, warmup helps build reputation.
Use a custom tracking domain. Default tracking domains are shared across all users, so adding your own isolates your sender reputation and improves deliverability.
Verify your lead list before uploading. Invalid email addresses cause bounces, which lowers your open rate and damages your sender reputation. Learn how to verify leads->
Step 3: Optimize Email Content
Write simple, curiosity-driven subject lines.
Avoid spam trigger words. Use our AI spam words checker to test your copies.
Remove images and links from initial emails. If you need them, save them for follow-ups where they're less likely to trigger spam filters.
Step 4: Improve Personalization
Personalized emails consistently outperform generic ones.
Add personalized first lines that reference recent achievements or specific details about the lead.
Use variables and spintax to make each email feel individually written rather than templated.
Step 5: Manage Sending Patterns
How you send matters just as much as what you send.
Stay within recommended limits of 30 campaign emails per day per account.
Avoid sudden volume increases. Ramp up gradually to protect your sender reputation.
Schedule emails during business hours in your leads' time zones.
Keep a healthy time gap between emails. Use the default time gap of 9 minutes, plus a random additional 5 minutes.
Step 6: Check Your Deliverability Score
Review our Deliverability Cheat Sheet for recommended account and campaign settings
Use our Inbox Placement feature to evaluate whether test emails are landing in the inbox or spam across different providers. It helps analyze your email content for spam triggers, checks authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and monitors your IPs and domains against 94 blacklists.