What's a good email open rate for eCommerce?

If campaign opens look weak, you likely have a deliverability problem, not a content problem.

Do Apple Mail Privacy changes make open rates useless?

Not useless, but inflated for Apple Mail users. About many email opens come from Apple devices. Klaviyo flags these so you can filter them. We use a blend of non-Apple opens plus click rates to get the real picture.

How often should I email my list?

For most eCommerce brands, 2-3 campaigns per week to engaged segments is the sweet spot. If your list is small or engagement is low, drop to once per week until you rebuild your reputation. Flows don't count toward this, they're triggered by behavior.

Will cleaning my list lose me sales?

No. People who haven't opened your emails in 6 months aren't buying from your emails anyway. Removing them improves your sender reputation, which means the people who actually want to hear from you will see your emails. Revenue goes up, not down.

How long does it take to fix sender reputation?

Plan on a stretch of disciplined sending to engaged segments only. Severe cases where you've been flagged as spam can take 90 days. The key is consistency, one slip-up blast to your full list can undo weeks of progress.

Email Marketing Guide

Your open rates are dropping. And it's probably not your subject lines.

You've tried emojis in subject lines. You've tried personalization tokens. You've tried sending at different times. Nothing moves the needle. Open rates keep sliding, week after week.

Here's what nobody tells you: subject lines account for only part of whether someone opens your email. The rest is your sender reputation, and every time you send to unengaged subscribers, Gmail and Yahoo push you further toward spam. It's a death spiral that accelerates the more you ignore it.

This is the same playbook we use when an account is in this spiral. The playbook below is exactly what we do, in order, every time. It works, but you have to follow the steps and resist the urge to blast your whole list while you're fixing things.

150+

Clients

$70M+

Revenue

$23M+

Ad Spend

Klaviyo Gold Partner

How to fix this, step by step

Audit your sender reputation right now

Go to Google Postmaster Tools and register your sending domain. It shows you exactly how Gmail views your domain, spam rate, authentication status, and reputation score. If your spam rate is strong, you have a deliverability problem. Check Klaviyo's deliverability tab too, look at bounce rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribe rates. You can't fix what you can't measure.

Stop sending to anyone who hasn't engaged in 90 days

Today. Not next week. Build a segment in Klaviyo: "Opened Email at least once recently OR Clicked Email at least once recently." Send campaigns only to this segment until your open rates stabilize. Yes, your "list size" will shrink. That's the point. A list of 3,000 engaged people will generate more revenue than 15,000 ghosts who never open anything.

Run a sunset flow for unengaged subscribers

Build a flow triggered by a segment of profiles who haven't opened or clicked in 120+ days. Send 2-3 "last chance" emails over 10 days. Subject lines like "Should we stop emailing you?" or "We're cleaning our list, want to stay?" Anyone who doesn't engage gets suppressed. This removes quiet contacts from your list, and that's exactly what needs to happen. Your sender reputation starts improving once the work is in market.

Fix your authentication records

If SPF, DKIM, and DMARC aren't set up properly, your emails are more likely to land in spam, no matter how good they are. In Klaviyo, go to Settings → Domains and verify your sending domain shows all green checkmarks. If it doesn't, add the DNS records Klaviyo provides. Also set up a DMARC policy (start with p=none to monitor, then move to p=quarantine). This is mandatory, not optional.

Optimize your subject lines for length and clarity

Now that deliverability is fixed, subject lines actually matter. Keep them short enough for mobile: Klaviyo's own data shows shorter subject lines get higher opens. Use sentence case, not Title Case. No emojis (they're spam triggers for many filters now). Front-load the benefit: "Your order ships free" beats "Amazing Deal Inside: Free Shipping On All Orders!!!" Use preview text to complement the subject line, not repeat it.

Warm your sends back up gradually

After cleaning your list, don't immediately go back to 3 campaigns per week. Start with one campaign per week to your most engaged 30-day segment. Watch opens. When they're consistently strong, add a second send per week and expand to your 60-day segment. Then 90-day. This gradual expansion signals to inbox providers that your emails are wanted. Rushing this process puts you right back in the spam folder.

Want us to handle this?

Steps 1 through 5 will stop the bleeding. If you follow them precisely, you should see open rates climb back strong once the work is in market. The same sequence works when you follow it.

But maintaining those open rates, and pushing them higher, requires ongoing work. Continuous list hygiene, send frequency optimization, A/B testing at scale, and flow architecture that keeps engagement high 24/7. That's what we do for our Klaviyo clients every single day. If you want a detailed deliverability report and a fix plan specific to your account, we'll do it for free.

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