You sent an email campaign and found that none of the emails were opened. You are curious as to how this could happen. It is rare for this to occur and it is likely due to a technical problem rather than a lack of interest from the recipients on your list.

In this article, we will explore the reasons why a 0% open rate for an email campaign is highly unlikely and usually caused by a technical issue. We will also examine possible causes for this low open rate and provide solutions for each of these problems. Additionally, we will provide tips on how to avoid a 0% open rate in future campaigns.

Here are the two main reasons why your 0% open rate is probably due to a technical issue.

Gmail tests campaigns by placing it in both inboxes and spam folders

Gmail may suspect that your emails are spam, but to confirm this, they may place some of your emails in inboxes and some in spam folders to see how recipients interact with them. Even if all of your emails end up in spam folders, it is still possible to receive a few opens as recipients may mark it as "not spam" and open the email, which will activate the open tracking pixel.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection is out there in the wild automatically opening emails

In Fall of 2021, Apple introduced a new feature called Mail Privacy Protection for the Mail app on iOS and macOS. This feature automatically "opens" every email by downloading it to Apple's proxy servers, which can inflate open rates. This can be frustrating for cold emailers and email marketers, but it can also be helpful in identifying issues with email campaigns. If you have a 0% open rate, it may be a sign that something else is causing the problem, particularly if someone on your list is using the Apple Mail app on their iPhone.

So could the reason for my 0% open rate still be that no one opened it?

While it is possible to send a campaign that no one opens, it is highly unlikely and typically only occurs in specific scenarios. For example, if you send to a small list of people who do not use Apple Mail, went to spam for a few of them, and the rest were uninterested or unavailable, you may achieve a 0% open rate. Another example is if you use mail merge personalization in your subject line and made a mistake, resulting in a uninteresting or irrelevant subject line, you may also achieve a 0% open rate. But in general, for cold emailers or email marketers sending a well-crafted campaign to a targeted list, it is difficult to achieve a 0% open rate.

In the next section, we’ll cover the likely reasons why your campaign bottomed out on open rate.

Possibility #1: Your entire campaign is sent to one domain and it has a strict spam filter.

If you have sent a cold email campaign to a large number of people at one company and that company uses an enterprise-level spam filter, it can result in a 0% open rate. Industries such as finance, healthcare, law, government, defense, and aviation, which deal with sensitive information, may be more likely to flag emails as spam. This can be challenging when trying to reach multiple people at one company through a mass email. To overcome this problem, you can try some strategies to bypass the filters and reach your prospects.

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Solution #1: Reduce the number of identical or similar emails you are sending.‍

Adding a small amount of personalization may not be sufficient. Instead, consider using personalized paragraphs or dividing your list into smaller groups and using different emails for each group. This will help to avoid triggering spam filters and increase the chances of your emails being delivered and opened.

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Solution #2: Limit the number of recipients between the sends.

You can slow down the sending speed of your campaign by using a programme like Prondo. You can limit the number of recipients per campaign send and schedule multiple sends by going to the Prondo Campaign Schedule section. Additionally, there is an auto delay feature by Prondo that will more closely resemble the process of typing and sending individual emails, which can help to avoid setting off spam filters and improve the likelihood that your emails will be delivered and opened.

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Solution #3: Turn off click tracking or use a custom tracking domain.

If you are looking for replies to your email rather than clicks, consider turning off click tracking entirely. However, if you wish to track clicks, you can set up a custom tracking domain. This will ensure that your reputation is not linked to other senders on a default shared click-tracking domain. This can improve deliverability, particularly for emails that are sent to companies with very aggressive enterprise spam filters.

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Solution #4: Send as replies to previous conversations.

If you have already had previous conversations with the people at the domain and you wish to reach out again, try sending your emails as replies to those previous conversations. This will avoid having new subject lines and starting new threads, which can help to increase the chances of your emails being delivered and opened. This can help to avoid triggering spam filters and increase the chances of your emails being delivered and opened.

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Possibility #2: Your emails for the scale campaign are sent out using only a single inbox

At any point, you can go into your campaign and add an inbox (or ten) to start sending the same campaign. We'll split the volume between the inboxes automatically. ‍

Solution: Use Prondo Auto load balancer for inboxes‍

With Prondo, you're more likely to run out of prospects to send to than to have scaling issues. Add as many inboxes to your campaign as you want – we'll spread the load across them and keep you under the spam filters' radar.

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Possibility #3: You sent a plain text email

If you sent a plain text email and got a 0% open rate, it is likely because plain text emails do not contain an image pixel, which is necessary for open tracking. Without the image pixel, the email service will not be able to track the open rate. Even if you turn on open tracking, you will not be able to get any open data as plain text emails do not have any images. This is the reason why plain text emails do not register any opens.

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‍Solution: Use light text emails rather than plain text

Instead of sending a plain text email, you can use a "light text" email which is a rich text email that looks like plain text. This allows you to have the best of both worlds, by still being able to track opens while maintaining the authenticity of a plain text email. With light text emails, you can still include an image pixel, which allows the tracking of the open rate. Additionally, this format is more similar to the process of sending a one-on-one message as Gmail defaults to rich text.

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Possibility #4: Your tracking domain was broken

When you set up a custom tracking domain with prondo, it is used for click tracking on your links and on your open tracking pixel. However, if there is a problem with your tracking domain, your campaign may register a 0% open rate. This can happen if the DNS settings for your tracking domain are not correct or if the domain breaks after the initial setup

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‍Solution: Test your tracking domain

Add a new 15-second step to your pre-send checklist where you check your tracking domain.

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Possibility #5: You turned off (or didn’t turn on) open tracking

This is a common and simple reason for why you might register a 0% open rate. It could happen if you accidentally turned off open tracking for your campaign or if you forgot to turn it on before sending the email. This can be easily fixed by checking the settings of the campaign and ensuring that the open tracking is turned on. It is important to double-check the settings before sending out any campaign to avoid this type of mistake.

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‍Solution: Double-check the open tracking setting before you send a campaign

Go to the Prondo Sequences, while you create an email for your campaign, and make sure the checkbox to the left of “Opens” is checked.

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Possibility #6: You’re sending to people who have unsubscribed or hard bounced in the past

Prondo is handling unsubscribe management and bounce management for you, it means that when someone on your list unsubscribes or if emails to them have hard bounced, 

This can result in a 0% open rate if a large number of emails on your list have been suppressed due to unsubscribes or bounces. This is a normal behavior of the system and it is in place to ensure compliance with email regulations and to maintain a healthy email list. It is important to regularly clean and maintain your email list to reduce the number of unsubscribes and bounces.

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‍Solution: Check your campaign report for recipients

If the number of recipients shown on your campaign report is low, it is possible that some of the emails were suppressed. This could happen for a number of reasons, such as invalid email addresses, unsubscribes, or bounces.

You can check your unsubscribe list and bounce list in the Prondo dashboard. Compare those with the list you used for your campaign.

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So here are 10 preventative steps you can take to make sure you avoid 0% open rates (or open rates that are really low) in the future.

• Verify the email addresses using Prondo Email Verifier on your list before sending out a campaign to reduce the number of invalid emails and suppressions.
• Regularly maintain and clean your email list to remove unsubscribed or bounced emails.
• Double-check the settings of your campaign to ensure that open tracking is turned on.
• Use a custom tracking domain and ensure that the DNS settings are correct and the domain is working properly.
• Use "light text" emails instead of plain text emails to allow for open tracking while maintaining the authenticity of plain text.
• Test your emails before sending them out to a larger audience to ensure that they are working properly.
• Make sure that your email subject line and the "from" name are compelling enough to entice recipients to open your email.
• Use a clear and compelling call-to-action to encourage recipients to open and engage with your email.
• Monitor the delivery rate of your emails to identify and address any issues that may be causing suppressions.
• Analyze the campaign data and open rate to identify patterns and optimize your email strategy for better results.

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Getting set up with Prondo

Pronto is a tool that helps users increase their email deliverability and avoid low open rates. According to their claim, 99% of their users report the highest deliverability they've ever had. High deliverability is an important factor in preventing low open rates as emails that are not delivered will not be opened. Pronto also provides tools for users to diagnose the issue if they are facing a 0% open rate. With the right tools and strategy, you can improve your email deliverability and increase your open rates.

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Please sign up for our free account and get better deliverability with your campaigns.

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