Open rate doubled on about a third of the volume

The problem

In June 2023 the motion sent about 127,000 emails at a 13.2 percent open rate. August came in at 12.1 percent. In September bounce rate spiked to 12.06 percent.

Every result was one number for the whole list. There was no way to see which profile was working.

What we built

Cutting volume isn't free. Fewer sends means fewer chances at a reply. We cut it anyway, because the list was burning.

We split the list into three profile segments. We cleaned it against the bounce spike. Then we tracked open, response, bounce, qualified lead, and sales qualified lead rates per segment, per month.

We also tracked the source on every opportunity, outbound or personal network. That stops outbound taking credit for a referral.

What it produced

• Open rate went from 13.2 percent in June to 27.3 percent in October.
• Monthly volume went from about 127,000 to about 45,000.
• Bounce rate fell from 12.06 percent in September to 2.86 percent in October. That's a 76 percent reduction, while volume rose 3.5 times over the same month.
• The first week of segment reporting showed open rates of 19.9, 27.0, and 30.8 percent. Same campaign, three different answers.

September shows a 32.2 percent open rate. We don't count it. It came on a small send with a 12 percent bounce rate.

Your scenario

If your volume is high and your open rate is low, send us a month of numbers. We'll tell you which lever we'd pull first.

Related tools: BounceBan, SMTP2GO, Instantly, Domain Deliverability Checker, Deliverability Pack

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links.

Client names are always kept confidential at MMG, so they have been removed from this case study.

Published February 10, 2026

Last updated February 28, 2026