Internal Email Metrics That Matter: Moving Beyond Open Rates

What is a good internal email open rate?

For internal communicators looking to know how well their strategy is working, a standard place to start is email open rates. And it makes sense: The more people click on your messages, the better.

Data from PoliteMail’s 2025 Internal Email Communications Benchmark Report, which examines over 4 billion internal emails sent to more than 12 million employees worldwide to reveal email open rates by industry, shows the benchmark for email open rates sits at 64%. That means, on average, about 2 in 3 corporate emails get opened. An internal comms department that scores higher is doing well. A team that scores below should probably reassess their approach.

Open rates by industry

The PoliteMail benchmark report also calculates average open rates of 10 S&P Industry Sectors.

Technology Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 58.3%

Consumer Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 66.0%

Healthcare Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 65.6%

Financial Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 73.9%

Industrials Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 70.3%

Materials Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 68.5%

Energy Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 70.9%

Communications Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 64.1%

Education Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 65.3%

Utilities Sector – Average Email Open Rate: 63.4%

While internal email open rates are a good metric to start the self-evaluation process, they’re a flawed place to finish.

Some employees, for example, may open an email then delete it seconds later – or ignore the content completely due to a loss of interest or ping on Slack. Some email security tools will automatically “open” a message, even if the intended receiver doesn’t. Furthermore, if a company’s email distribution list contains the accounts of several former employees, the open rate will always be inaccurate.

Reasons like these underscore why email open rates aren’t the most reliable metric for gauging employee engagement.

How to track beyond email open rates with these 5 metrics

Thankfully, communication professionals have options. Below are five other ways to measure the effectiveness of your internal email strategy.

1. Attention rate:

   More than just monitoring whether an email was opened or not, an attention rate reveals if employees are actually absorbing what they’re seeing. If someone opens an email but only views it for three seconds or less, this metric categorizes the message as ignored. Beyond the binary notion of opened vs. unopened emails, attention rate offers a nuanced understanding of employee engagement by distinguishing between superficial and genuine attention to the content. Organizations can use this data to refine their messaging strategies, ensuring emails are not only opened but also resonate with their intended audience enough to inspire further engagement.

2. Click-through rate (CTR):

   For emails that contain a link, this metric shows what percentage of recipients clicked as instructed. If a call to action receives a robust number of clicks despite appearing near the bottom of a message, that’s a sign people are scrolling through the entire email. CTR also provides insights into how effectively your call to action (CTA) prompts engagement. For instance, a higher click-through rate suggests that the message resonated with the audience and motivated them to take the desired action, whether it’s filling out a survey, registering for an event, or accessing additional resources. Further, tracking CTR over time can reveal patterns, helping you identify which types of content or email formats perform best.

3. Read time or time-on-page:

   As the name implies, this metric measures how long an employee spends viewing an email and whether or not that lines up with the amount of time it should take to read the content. A longer read time typically indicates that employees are engaging with the material, taking their time to absorb the information provided. An internal communicator can also measure multiple reads, forwards, and replies as KPIs for engaging content. On the other hand, if recipients aren’t sticking around long enough to read the entire message, that’s a sign it might be time to reassess the email’s structure or content. Strategies such as breaking up dense text into smaller paragraphs, using bullet points, or adding visual elements like charts or infographics can encourage readers to spend more time on a message. Furthermore, adjusting the tone and making the language more conversational might also entice employees to fully engage with the content, rather than skimming or ignoring it altogether.

4. Bounce Rate:

   Bounce rate can be a valuable metric in assessing the effectiveness of an internal email campaign. A high bounce rate—especially if it includes hard bounces caused by invalid or deactivated email addresses—can indicate outdated employee contact lists or poor list management, which undermines message reach and impact. Conversely, a low bounce rate suggests that the message was successfully delivered to most intended recipients, providing a solid foundation for evaluating other engagement metrics like open and click-through rates. Monitoring bounce rate helps ensure communication infrastructure is healthy and that messages are actually reaching the workforce, which is critical for internal communication effectiveness.

5. Employee feedback:

   Sometimes the best way to gather data on employee engagement is to simply ask them to share their thoughts and feelings on specific topics. This can be done through surveys, focus groups, or even informal discussions. Surveys allow you to collect quantitative data on areas like communication effectiveness, while focus groups can provide deeper qualitative insights into how employees perceive specific messages or strategies. Informal discussions, on the other hand, offer a chance to gather spontaneous and honest opinions, shedding light on what may not come through in structured formats. Armed with the results, internal communicators can adjust their strategies to address concerns, fine-tune messaging, and take advantage of opportunities to improve workplace morale. This method not only offers valuable data but also demonstrates a willingness to listen and adapt, enhancing trust and collaboration across the organization.

3 more email metrics to consider

Without trying to complicate the matter, another way to check the health of your internal communications strategy beyond mere email open rates is to think in terms of reach, readership, and engagement. Each metric sheds light on how employees are reacting to your messages and where there’s room to improve.

Below, read how PoliteMail defines each term and learn how they can boost performance across your organization:

1. Reach: This metric captures the percentage of your audience that received your message, opened it, and paid the minimum amount of attention. Reach is not the size of your distribution list. It’s also not equivalent to a standard email open rate, since employees who immediately delete or skip the message aren’t counted.

How to improve Email Reach:

If your team’s reach levels are low, the first place to start is your distribution lists. Make sure all the accounts are up to date and accurate. Once that’s done, consolidate your channels and refine your email groups. With tighter targeting, your messages are more likely to reach their intended audience. Clever and succinct subject lines also help in this area.

How PoliteMail can help:

With PoliteMail, users can send to distribution groups that already exist in their Exchange or Azure environment, no importing required. Users can also create further segmented lists within PoliteMail,or use our SyncroNym automated list management product.

2. Readership: This metric measures how long an employee spends viewing a message and whether the length of time is enough to read all the content. PoliteMail organizes Readership by the following categories: read, skimmed, engaged, and left open.

How to improve Email Readership:

When Readership is lower than desired, try making your emails more concise. Introduce more images and infographics, which can convey information faster than text alone. Determine a delivery schedule to create a familiar cadence for colleagues. Relevant subject lines that punch through the noise also matter.

How PoliteMail can help:

The Schedule Send feature in PoliteMail allows users to schedule a measured message to be sent at a future date and time, in the employee’s time zone, and during the employee’s working hours. PoliteMail does not require the sender of the email message to be online at the time of release. Use PoliteMail’s Editorial Calendar to help you schedule sends with others in your organization.

3. Engagement: A hybrid metric, email engagement combines the percentage of content read with the click rate, assuming a call to action appears in the message. Factors that influence this gauge are reading ease, content relevancy, and link effectiveness. By analyzing email engagement, organizations can identify areas for improvement, such as refining the tone, optimizing the placement of calls to action, or ensuring the overall design of the email encourages interaction. Furthermore, email engagement serves as a valuable tool for understanding the effectiveness of communication strategies and ensuring messages resonate with the intended audience.

How to improve Email Engagement:

Using plain, straightforward language while avoiding jargon will help boost engagement. Sometimes, switching writing styles can make all the difference, as an entertaining tone doesn’t mean the message can’t be informative and educational, too. Also, consider where you place calls to action. Don’t shy away from experimenting until you reach a satisfying level of effectiveness.

How PoliteMail can help:

PoliteMail is able to give you content metrics at a glance, including reading ease, reading score, and word count. The HeatMap feature allows you to see which parts of your emails your recipients found most engaging.

Harness data beyond email open rates to hone your strategy

Email open rates are a fine place to begin.

That said, internal communicators looking to do better than the average email open rate in 2025 need to get the full picture of how their strategy is performing. They should consider incorporating more email engagement metrics into their dashboard, such as attention rates, click-through rates, and direct employee feedback.

Assessing the situation in terms of reach, readership, and engagement is another more comprehensive way of getting the crucial questions answered.