The number
A client account displayed a 92 percent open rate on its list engagement screen. The underlying figures were 238 opens on 263 sends, account wide, over the 30 days to August 20, 2026.
Why it is fiction
Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre fetches images, which registers an open whether or not a person ever looked. On a small send base that distortion is enormous. As a working rule, any open rate above roughly 50 percent is telling you about machines.
What was worth quoting
On the same screen, a 5.31 percent click rate and a $359.43 average order value. Both survive scrutiny. Neither is as pleasant to put in a report.
The discipline
Before a number goes in a report, ask what would have to be true for it to be wrong. Open rate fails that test. Click rate, revenue per recipient and order value pass it.
If this sounds like your store
This is what Klaviyo email, done for you fixes. See it on one store, with the before and after, in the case study.