import React from 'react';
import {GuideLayout, InfoBox} from '../../components/guides';
import {CodeBlock} from '../../components/CodeBlock';
import Link from 'next/link';
import type {FAQ} from '../../components/FAQSection';

const faqs: FAQ[] = [
  {
    question: 'What is a good email open rate?',
    answer:
      'A good email open rate depends on your industry and email type. For B2B emails, 25-35% is considered excellent. For B2C marketing emails, 20-30% is strong. Overall industry averages range from 20-30%, though Apple Mail Privacy Protection has inflated reported rates by 5-15 percentage points since 2021. Compare against your own historical data rather than industry averages alone.',
  },
  {
    question: 'What are average B2B email open rates?',
    answer:
      'Average B2B email open rates typically range from 20-30%, with top-performing campaigns achieving 35-45%. B2B emails tend to outperform B2C because recipients opted in for professional reasons and have higher intent. Industry-specific rates vary: SaaS averages 22-28%, financial services 20-25%, and professional services 25-30%. Transactional B2B emails like invoices and notifications often exceed 50%.',
  },
  {
    question: 'How do I improve my email open rate?',
    answer:
      'The most impactful ways to improve email open rates are: (1) Write compelling, specific subject lines under 50 characters, (2) Personalize beyond first names—use behavioral data and purchase history, (3) Send at optimal times (Tuesday–Thursday, 10am–2pm for B2B), (4) Segment your list to send relevant content to specific groups, (5) Keep your list clean by removing inactive subscribers, (6) Use a recognizable sender name, and (7) Optimize preview text to complement the subject line.',
  },
  {
    question: 'Why are my email open rates low?',
    answer:
      'Low email open rates typically result from: weak subject lines that fail to create curiosity or urgency, poor list hygiene with too many inactive subscribers dragging down averages, emails landing in spam due to deliverability or authentication issues, bad send timing, email fatigue from sending too frequently, or poor segmentation sending irrelevant content. Review each factor systematically and A/B test changes one at a time.',
  },
  {
    question: 'Does Apple Mail Privacy Protection affect open rates?',
    answer:
      'Yes. Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), launched in iOS 15 in 2021, pre-loads email images and tracking pixels, registering "opens" even if the user never actually read the email. This inflates open rates by 5-15 percentage points across the industry. To adapt, focus on click-through rates and conversions as more reliable engagement metrics, and segment by email client to understand true engagement patterns.',
  },
];

export default function EmailOpenRate() {
  return (
    <GuideLayout
      title="Email Open Rates: Industry Benchmarks & How to Improve Yours"
      description="Learn what affects email open rates, industry benchmarks by sector, B2B vs B2C averages, and proven tactics to improve your open rates. Complete guide with actionable tips."
      lastUpdated="2025-12-20"
      readTime="12 min"
      canonical="https://www.useplunk.com/guides/email-open-rate"
      faqs={faqs}
    >
      {/* Introduction */}
      <section id="introduction" className="mb-12">
        <p className="text-neutral-700 leading-relaxed">
          Email open rate measures the percentage of recipients who open your email. It's one of the most important
          email marketing metrics, indicating how well your subject lines, sender name, and send timing resonate with
          your audience.
        </p>
        <p className="mt-4 text-neutral-700 leading-relaxed">
          While recent privacy changes have affected open rate accuracy, it remains a valuable metric for understanding
          email performance and audience engagement.
        </p>
      </section>

      {/* What is Open Rate */}
      <section id="what-is-open-rate" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">What is Email Open Rate?</h2>
        <p className="text-neutral-700 leading-relaxed mb-6">
          Open rate is calculated by dividing the number of unique opens by the number of delivered emails (sent emails
          minus bounces).
        </p>

        <div className="rounded-xl border-2 border-neutral-900 bg-neutral-50 p-8 mb-8">
          <div className="text-center">
            <div className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-4">Open Rate Formula</div>
            <CodeBlock
              language="text"
              code={`Open Rate = (Unique Opens ÷ Emails Delivered) × 100

Example:
- Sent: 1,000 emails
- Bounced: 50 emails
- Delivered: 950 emails
- Unique Opens: 285

Open Rate = (285 ÷ 950) × 100 = 30%`}
              showCopy={false}
            />
          </div>
        </div>

        <InfoBox type="info" title="Unique vs Total Opens">
          <p>
            <strong>Unique opens</strong> count each recipient only once, even if they open multiple times.{' '}
            <strong>Total opens</strong> count every open. Always use unique opens for open rate calculations to avoid
            inflated metrics.
          </p>
        </InfoBox>
      </section>

      {/* Benchmarks */}
      <section id="benchmarks" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">Email Open Rate Benchmarks by Industry</h2>
        <p className="text-neutral-700 leading-relaxed mb-6">
          Open rates vary significantly by industry, audience, and email type:
        </p>

        <div className="rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 overflow-hidden mb-8">
          <table className="w-full">
            <thead>
              <tr>
                <th className="px-6 py-4 text-left text-sm font-semibold">Industry</th>
                <th className="px-6 py-4 text-left text-sm font-semibold">Average Open Rate</th>
                <th className="px-6 py-4 text-left text-sm font-semibold">Good Open Rate</th>
              </tr>
            </thead>
            <tbody className="divide-y divide-neutral-200 bg-white">
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">SaaS / Technology</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">20-25%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">30%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">E-commerce / Retail</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">15-20%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">25%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Financial Services</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">18-23%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">28%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Healthcare</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">20-25%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">30%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Education</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">22-28%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">33%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Media / Publishing</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">18-23%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">28%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Non-Profit</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">24-30%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">35%+</td>
              </tr>
            </tbody>
          </table>
        </div>

        <InfoBox type="warning" title="Post-Apple MPP Benchmarks">
          <p>
            Since Apple Mail Privacy Protection launched in 2021, industry-wide open rates have increased by 5-15
            percentage points. Compare against your own historical data rather than relying solely on industry
            benchmarks.
          </p>
        </InfoBox>
      </section>

      {/* B2B Email Open Rates */}
      <section id="b2b-email-open-rates" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">B2B Email Open Rates</h2>
        <p className="text-neutral-700 leading-relaxed mb-6">
          B2B (business-to-business) emails consistently outperform B2C benchmarks. Recipients opted in because of
          genuine professional need, making them more engaged audiences.
        </p>

        <div className="rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 overflow-hidden mb-8">
          <table className="w-full">
            <thead>
              <tr>
                <th className="px-6 py-4 text-left text-sm font-semibold">B2B Industry</th>
                <th className="px-6 py-4 text-left text-sm font-semibold">Average Open Rate</th>
                <th className="px-6 py-4 text-left text-sm font-semibold">Top Performers</th>
              </tr>
            </thead>
            <tbody className="divide-y divide-neutral-200 bg-white">
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">SaaS / Technology</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">22–28%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">35%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Professional Services</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">25–32%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">40%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Financial Services</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">20–26%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">33%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Agency / Marketing</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">18–24%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">30%+</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-900">Transactional / Receipts</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">45–65%</td>
                <td className="px-6 py-4 text-sm text-neutral-700">70%+</td>
              </tr>
            </tbody>
          </table>
        </div>

        <div className="grid gap-6 md:grid-cols-2 mb-6">
          <div className="rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 bg-white p-6">
            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-3">B2B-Specific Tactics</h3>
            <ul className="space-y-2 text-sm text-neutral-700">
              <li>• Send Tuesday–Thursday, 10am–2pm in recipient's timezone</li>
              <li>• Use company/product name in subject line for recognition</li>
              <li>• Personalize with job title, industry, or company size</li>
              <li>• Reference specific pain points relevant to their role</li>
              <li>• Keep frequency lower—1–2 times per month for cold lists</li>
            </ul>
          </div>

          <div className="rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 bg-white p-6">
            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-3">B2B vs B2C Differences</h3>
            <ul className="space-y-2 text-sm text-neutral-700">
              <li>• B2B decisions are more considered—longer subject lines acceptable</li>
              <li>• B2B audiences check email less frequently on weekends</li>
              <li>• B2B recipients share inboxes with colleagues, affecting metrics</li>
              <li>• B2B unsubscribe rates are typically lower (0.1–0.3% vs 0.3–0.5%)</li>
              <li>• B2B transactional emails (invoices, updates) have much higher opens</li>
            </ul>
          </div>
        </div>

        <InfoBox type="tip" title="Segment Transactional vs Marketing">
          <p>
            Keep transactional emails (invoices, notifications, password resets) in separate campaigns from marketing
            emails. Transactional emails typically achieve 40–60% open rates, which will skew your marketing
            benchmarks if mixed together.
          </p>
        </InfoBox>
      </section>

      {/* Factors Affecting */}
      <section id="factors" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">What Affects Email Open Rates?</h2>

        <div className="space-y-6">
          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">1. Subject Line</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700 mb-3">
              Your subject line is the #1 factor. It must be compelling, relevant, and create curiosity without being
              clickbait. Personalization and specificity improve opens.
            </p>
            <div className="rounded-lg bg-neutral-50 p-4 space-y-2">
              <div className="flex items-start gap-2">
                <span className="text-green-600 font-bold">✓</span>
                <span className="text-sm text-neutral-700">
                  "John, your invoice is ready" (personal, specific, clear)
                </span>
              </div>
              <div className="flex items-start gap-2">
                <span className="text-green-600 font-bold">✓</span>
                <span className="text-sm text-neutral-700">
                  "3 proven ways to increase conversion rates" (specific value)
                </span>
              </div>
              <div className="flex items-start gap-2">
                <span className="text-red-600 font-bold">✗</span>
                <span className="text-sm text-neutral-700">"You won't believe this!" (clickbait, vague)</span>
              </div>
              <div className="flex items-start gap-2">
                <span className="text-red-600 font-bold">✗</span>
                <span className="text-sm text-neutral-700">"Newsletter #47" (generic, uninteresting)</span>
              </div>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">2. Sender Name</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700">
              Recipients decide whether to open based on who it's from. Use a recognizable name—either your brand or a
              person from your company. "Company Name" or "John from Company" work better than "noreply@company.com".
            </p>
          </div>

          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">3. Send Time & Day</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700">
              Timing impacts visibility. B2B emails typically perform best Tuesday-Thursday, 10am-2pm. B2C varies more
              by audience—test evenings and weekends. Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.
            </p>
          </div>

          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">4. List Quality & Segmentation</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700">
              Engaged subscribers open more. Segmenting by behavior, interests, or demographics ensures relevance.
              Inactive subscribers drag down open rates—consider re-engagement or removal.
            </p>
          </div>

          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">5. Deliverability & Sender Reputation</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700">
              If emails land in spam, they won't be opened. Maintain good sender reputation through proper
              authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), low spam complaints, and high engagement.
            </p>
          </div>

          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">6. Email Frequency</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700">
              Too frequent leads to fatigue and unsubscribes. Too infrequent and subscribers forget you. Find the sweet
              spot for your audience—typically 1-4 emails per week for marketing.
            </p>
          </div>

          <div className="">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">7. Mobile Optimization</h3>
            <p className="text-neutral-700">
              60%+ of emails are opened on mobile. Use short subject lines (40-50 characters), clear preview text, and
              mobile-responsive design to improve mobile open rates.
            </p>
          </div>
        </div>
      </section>

      {/* How to Improve */}
      <section id="improve-open-rates" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">How to Improve Email Open Rates</h2>

        <div className="space-y-4">
          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              1
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Write Compelling Subject Lines</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Test different approaches: questions, personalization, numbers, urgency (without being spammy). Keep
                them under 50 characters. A/B test to find what resonates with your audience.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              2
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Personalize Beyond First Names</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Use behavioral data, past purchases, browsing history, or location. "Products you recently viewed" or
                "Based on your interest in [topic]" outperform generic blasts.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              3
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Segment Your Audience</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Send targeted emails to specific groups based on engagement level, purchase history, demographics, or
                interests. Segmented campaigns see 14-100% higher open rates than non-segmented.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              4
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Optimize Preview Text</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Preview text appears next to the subject line. Use it to complement your subject, add context, or create
                additional curiosity. Don't let it default to "View this email in your browser".
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              5
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Clean Your Email List Regularly</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Remove subscribers who haven't engaged in 6-12 months. While this reduces list size, it dramatically
                improves open rates and sender reputation. Quality over quantity.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              6
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Test Send Times</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Run A/B tests sending the same email at different times. Track when your specific audience is most
                responsive. Send time optimization can improve opens by 20-50%.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              7
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Re-engage Inactive Subscribers</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Before removing inactive users, send a re-engagement campaign: "We miss you" or "Still interested?"
                emails with special offers. Remove those who still don't engage.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div className="flex items-start gap-4 p-6 rounded-xl bg-neutral-50 border border-neutral-200">
            <div className="flex h-8 w-8 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-neutral-900 text-white text-sm font-bold">
              8
            </div>
            <div className="w-full max-w-full break-words">
              <h3 className="font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Use a Recognizable Sender Name</h3>
              <p className="text-neutral-700">
                Build consistency with your sender name. People are more likely to open emails from names they
                recognize. Avoid changing it frequently.
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </section>

      {/* Apple MPP Impact */}
      <section id="apple-mpp" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">Apple Mail Privacy Protection Impact</h2>
        <p className="text-neutral-700 leading-relaxed mb-6">
          Since iOS 15, Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads email images and tracking pixels, making open tracking
          less reliable for Apple Mail users.
        </p>

        <div className="grid gap-6 md:grid-cols-2">
          <div className="rounded-xl border-2 border-amber-200 bg-amber-50 p-6">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-amber-900 mb-3">What Changed</h3>
            <ul className="space-y-2 text-neutral-700">
              <li>• Apple Mail pre-loads all images automatically</li>
              <li>• Opens are registered even if user never sees email</li>
              <li>• 30-50% of email lists use Apple Mail</li>
              <li>• Open rates appear 5-15% higher than reality</li>
              <li>• Open-based automation is less accurate</li>
            </ul>
          </div>

          <div className="rounded-xl border-2 border-blue-200 bg-blue-50 p-6">
            <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-blue-900 mb-3">How to Adapt</h3>
            <ul className="space-y-2 text-neutral-700">
              <li>• Focus on click rates as primary engagement metric</li>
              <li>• Track conversions and replies, not just opens</li>
              <li>• Use multi-touch attribution</li>
              <li>• Compare your own historical data, not industry averages</li>
              <li>• Segment by email client to understand true engagement</li>
            </ul>
          </div>
        </div>

        <InfoBox type="tip" title="Beyond Open Rates">
          <p>
            With less reliable open tracking, prioritize metrics like click-through rate, conversion rate, reply rate,
            and revenue per email. These better indicate true engagement and ROI.
          </p>
        </InfoBox>
      </section>

      {/* Related Guides */}
      <section id="related-guides" className="mb-12">
        <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold text-neutral-900 mb-6">Related Email Guides</h2>
        <div className="grid gap-4 md:grid-cols-3">
          <Link
            href="/guides/email-click-through-rate"
            className="block rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 bg-white p-6 transition hover:border-neutral-300 hover:shadow-lg"
          >
            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Email Click-Through Rate</h3>
            <p className="text-sm text-neutral-600">Optimize CTAs and improve email clicks.</p>
          </Link>
          <Link
            href="/guides/email-deliverability"
            className="block rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 bg-white p-6 transition hover:border-neutral-300 hover:shadow-lg"
          >
            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Email Deliverability</h3>
            <p className="text-sm text-neutral-600">Reach the inbox to maximize opens.</p>
          </Link>
          <Link
            href="/guides/email-marketing-best-practices"
            className="block rounded-xl border border-neutral-200 bg-white p-6 transition hover:border-neutral-300 hover:shadow-lg"
          >
            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-neutral-900 mb-2">Email Marketing Best Practices</h3>
            <p className="text-sm text-neutral-600">Complete email marketing strategy guide.</p>
          </Link>
        </div>
      </section>
    </GuideLayout>
  );
}
