Email clicks higher than email opens on report

[Jennifer_Bisho1]

I'm a little confused about a few reports I pulled in Marketo.  I created 2 Smart Lists - one to show exactly who clicked on a link in the email, and another to show who opened the email.  Some of the leads on the click report do not show up on the open report.  Any idea how this is possible?  Also, what is considered to be a true open in Outlook?  I heard that you have to click download pictures in order for it to register as an open, however this email has no images.  If it has no images, do you have to double-click on the email in your Outlook inbox to have it register as an open?

[Devraj_Grewal]

Jennifer, a "click" in an email does not necessarily mean the recipient "opened" the email. In order to "open" the email, the recipient must download the images. It is possible to click a link in an email without downloading the images, so you can have a click without an open.

So your smart lists are correct, it will populate the list of leads who did open or click the email. In email reports, however, Marketo will register a "click" as an assumed "open", so it will make sure every click is recorded as an open as well.

[Jennifer_Bisho1]

Very interesting.  But what if your email has no images in it whatsoever (like this one does)?  All it has is plain text and a few links.  So I'm wondering how someone that clicked on a link is recorded in the Smart List but does not appear in the Email Open report.

[Devraj_Grewal · Accepted solution]

As far as I am aware, there is no way to accurately determine an open if the email is "text-only". I believe if it is html without images, it should still ask the recipient to download images/links.

Yes, those leads will appear in the smart list as they did "click" the email. They did not "open" the email, but the email report does record every click as an open. Again, every click is an assumed open in an email report.

[Jennifer_Bisho1]

You're right.  I found this out as well:  even though this email does not have images directly embedded in it that you can see, it’s still an email built in HTML so a tracking pixel is included in the email which means that “Download images” link will appear in someone’s Outlook inbox.  If they do not click this link it will not register as an open.  So you can click on a link in an email without actually opening it.  This explains why some leads are on the click report but not on the open report. Devraj Grewal​ Justin Cooperman​

[Justin_Cooperm2]

That's correct. A majority of people have "auto download images" enabled, but there is no guarantee. And it's not technically possible to see the open if they don't click in their email client to "download images"

One thing to note is that when we see a click event with no open, we will increment the open count in our email performance report and in the new email insights analytics tools. This is because we have additional business logic built-in there to handle these situations.

[Jennifer_Bisho1]

Good to know, thanks!  We haven't received the new email insights analytics tools yet   I wonder when that will happen 😕

[Justin_Cooperm2]

Everything Devraj said is correct. It's not possible technically to know if someone opened a "Text" version of an email. If your "HTML" version of your email only contains text and links, it is only possible to know if someone opened if their email client has "download images automatically" enabled. If they don't download images, they can still click a link in your email...