iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
To track email performance in Mailchimp, enable open and click tracking in the campaign’s Settings & Tracking before you send. After sending, open the campaign report to review deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, and—when commerce data is connected—orders and revenue. Treat open rates as estimates, not a precise measure of readership.
1. Check tracking before you send
Mailchimp needs tracking enabled when an email is sent for open and click statistics to populate in its report. Open tracking is enabled by default for regular email, except plain-text email; click tracking is enabled by default for Mailchimp email campaigns. Defaults can vary with the campaign’s settings, so verify them rather than assuming they are on.
- Open the email campaign in Mailchimp’s email builder.
- Go to Settings & Tracking.
- Confirm that open tracking and click tracking are enabled if you need those metrics.
- Send the campaign. These settings cannot retroactively record activity that happened before tracking was active.
Mailchimp’s documentation says that open and click tracking must be on for those statistics to appear in a report (About Email Reports).
Recommended Free Tools
2. Find the campaign report and start with delivery
After sending, open the campaign’s report from Campaigns or Reports. Start with successful deliveries: these are recipients whose emails did not hard- or soft-bounce. Mailchimp uses successful deliveries as the denominator for its open and click rates, so a delivery problem can affect how the engagement figures should be read.
#1 Best Overall
The report overview can include successful deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes. Orders and revenue appear when the relevant commerce or purchase data is available. Report fields and availability can vary with the campaign and connected data; consult the report’s definitions before interpreting a commerce figure as the full effect of an email.
3. Read the metrics without confusing people and events
| Metric | What it tells you | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Successful deliveries | Recipients whose messages did not hard- or soft-bounce. | This is the denominator Mailchimp uses for the open and click rates described in its open and click rate definitions. |
| Open rate | The share of successfully delivered emails that registered an open. | A directional signal only: image loading and privacy-related activity can distort it. |
| Click rate | The share of delivered emails that registered at least one click. | Useful as a broad engagement measure; inspect unique clicks and link-level results for more detail. |
| Opened / clicked | Unique recipients who registered an open or clicked at least one tracked link. | Counts people, not every repeat event. |
| Total opens / total clicks | All recorded open or click events. | Includes repeat activity by a recipient. |
| Clicks per unique opens | The share of recipients who registered an open and also clicked. | Can help assess follow-through among recorded openers, but inherits open-tracking limitations. |
| Orders and revenue | Commerce or purchase outcomes reported from connected data. | Use the report’s own definitions and attribution context; an attributed order does not by itself prove the email caused the purchase. |
Mailchimp defines click rate as the percentage of delivered emails that registered at least one click. “Clicked” is a unique-recipient count, while total clicks count repeated clicks. This distinction matters: a high total-click number may reflect repeat activity by a smaller group rather than broad reach.
4. Treat opens as an imperfect signal
Mailchimp records an open through a tiny tracking image loading; a reader who blocks images may not register an open. Mailchimp also counts a tracked click as an open, even if the image did not load. Apple Mail Privacy Protection and other bot activity can inflate open and click metrics. Mailchimp describes open-rate tracking as not fully accurate because it relies on images (About Open and Click Rates).
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →For a more reliable read of engagement, use click rate and unique clicks alongside delivery, unsubscribes and abuse reports. Mailchimp recommends excluding bot activity for more accurate reports; the report’s bot-filtering controls can affect the numbers you see, so use a consistent setting when comparing campaigns.
5. Identify which links and placements worked
Open Click Performance to see tracked URLs and their total and unique clicks. Use it to distinguish a link that attracted many repeat clicks from one that reached more individual recipients. For email layout, the Click Map overlays click activity on the design and, for eligible emails, can compare desktop and mobile activity.
These views help answer practical questions that an overall click rate cannot: did readers choose the primary call to action, did a secondary link draw attention, and did the placement perform differently across devices? Compare links with the same purpose and similar prominence before changing a design based on raw click totals.
6. Track what happens after the click
Mailchimp’s built-in open and click tracking records email activity; website behavior and purchases require downstream data. If your store or purchase data is connected, the report may show orders and revenue fields such as gross sales, total revenue or average order revenue. Check the definitions and attribution context in the report before treating those values as a complete account of what the campaign caused.
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchWindows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallMailchimp also offers optional Google Analytics tracking to follow campaign clicks through to website activity and purchases. This is separate from Mailchimp’s built-in tracking; when enabled, third parties collect and report data under their own data practices. Use the analytics setup appropriate to your site and account, and do not assume that open or click tracking alone provides purchase attribution (Connect or Disconnect Google Analytics).
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.7. Compare campaigns on a like-for-like basis
When assessing a new send against an earlier campaign, compare similar audiences and sending contexts. Review delivery success first, then click rate and unique clicks, link or placement results, unsubscribes and abuse reports, and downstream outcomes when their tracking is configured. Use open rate as supporting context, not the deciding score.
Mailchimp notes that averages vary by audience, industry, company size and other factors. Its benchmark feature can add context, but an average is not a universal target. A useful comparison is one that helps you decide what to change for your own audience—not one that treats a general benchmark as a pass/fail threshold.
8. Troubleshoot missing or surprising results
- No open or click statistics: Check whether the corresponding tracking option was enabled in Settings & Tracking before the send. Reports cannot reconstruct activity that was not tracked.
- Low open rate but meaningful clicks: Image blocking can suppress recorded opens, while Mailchimp treats tracked clicks as opens; read the measures together rather than assuming the open figure is exact.
- Unusually high opens or clicks: Apple Mail Privacy Protection and bot activity can inflate metrics. Check bot filtering and apply the same reporting approach when comparing sends.
- Clicks but no visible website purchases: Mailchimp’s email click tracking is not the same as site analytics or purchase attribution. Confirm that the relevant commerce connection or separate analytics tracking is configured.
- Different totals across views: Check whether you are looking at unique recipients or total events, and whether the report is filtered to a particular activity segment.
9. Inspect recipient activity when you need detail
The report’s Activity menu can show recipient lists for behaviors such as opened, clicked, bounced or unsubscribed. Mailchimp’s documentation describes exporting the activity list. Use that detail when you need to understand which segment acted, rather than relying only on campaign-wide totals. Exact report access and interface labels may vary by account or change over time.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
