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Gerard_Donnell4
Gerard_Donnell4
Level 9
October 16, 2015
Solved

Different email open rates dependent upon report.

I have seen that an email states 1,074 opened it (in the performance report) but when I run an 'Open emails' report it is showing 998...I have no idea how to explain it to the business.

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    dadolyAccepted solution
    Employee
    October 16, 2015

    Hi Gerard,

    Are you comparing a report and a smart list? The report will show you all of the open activities logged within a timeframe - for example, if a lead received and opened an email more than once you'll see the additional opens reflected in the report. (This assumes that the email was sent to the record more than once since Marketo only tracks the first open of an email) The smart list will only show the number of unique leads who opened the email. Additionally, the report will infer an open if a click activity is logged. A smart list will not reflect that as it queries the activity log for the information.

    Another possible reason the numbers are not matching is because the timeframe in the two reports/lists you are using do not match.

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    3 replies

    dadolyAccepted solution
    Employee
    October 16, 2015

    Hi Gerard,

    Are you comparing a report and a smart list? The report will show you all of the open activities logged within a timeframe - for example, if a lead received and opened an email more than once you'll see the additional opens reflected in the report. (This assumes that the email was sent to the record more than once since Marketo only tracks the first open of an email) The smart list will only show the number of unique leads who opened the email. Additionally, the report will infer an open if a click activity is logged. A smart list will not reflect that as it queries the activity log for the information.

    Another possible reason the numbers are not matching is because the timeframe in the two reports/lists you are using do not match.

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      Stephen_Jeong1
      Stephen_Jeong1
      Level 3
      June 24, 2016

      Hi Mel,

      If the performance report counts all opens, then isn't it possible for an email to have an open % that is above 100?

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      Anonymous
      October 16, 2015

      Hi Gerard,

      I believe this is due to the way that an email open is recorded.  Marketo counts an email as opened only if the end user downloads the hidden tracking pixel. What happens is that if a user does not download images, it is possible for them to open and click a link on an email without downloading that tracking pixel.  So when you run the Report (open email) and get 998, that is the list of users that downloaded that tracking pixel.  When you run the performance report, Marketo is being clever and counting anyone that clicked a link on the report automatically as an open, so you get 1,074 as 76 people must have clicked a link in your email without downloading the tracking pixel.

      I hope this helps.

      Simon

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