If you’re sending sales emails through Salesloft, you probably care about whether anyone’s opening them. Maybe your boss keeps asking for open rates, or maybe you just want to know if your sequence is working at all. Either way, tracking and improving open rates isn’t magic—it’s about understanding what’s actually being measured, knowing the limits of the data, and making practical tweaks that move the needle.
This guide is for sales reps, team leads, or anyone else who wants real advice on getting their Salesloft emails opened (and not just sent into the void).
1. How Salesloft Tracks Email Opens (and Why It’s Not Perfect)
Before you try to boost open rates, you should know what’s really being measured.
How it works:
Salesloft tracks opens by inserting a tiny, invisible image (a “tracking pixel”) into your emails. When someone loads the email and the image, it’s counted as an open.
What this means in real life:
- It’s not always accurate. Some email clients block images by default, so a person might read your email—and never trigger an open.
- Sometimes you get false positives. If someone has images set to auto-load, or if their security software “opens” the email to scan it, you might get an open that isn’t a real human action.
- You can’t tell who opened it in a forwarded email. If your message gets shared around, every open is registered to the original recipient.
Bottom line:
Open rates are a helpful directional metric, but don’t obsess over tiny percentage changes.
2. Getting Your Open Rate Data in Salesloft
Let’s get the basics out of the way: here’s how you actually find your open rates in Salesloft.
a. Cadence and Template Reporting
- Go to the “Analytics” or “Reporting” tab.
- Look for reports on “Cadences” (your sequences) or “Templates.”
- You’ll see open rates as a percentage—number of opened emails divided by number sent.
Pro tip:
Track by template and by cadence. Sometimes a single template tanks your average; sometimes it’s the audience or timing.
b. Activity Feed
- On your Salesloft dashboard, there’s an activity feed that shows individual opens.
- You can see when someone opened an email, and how many times (if you’re into that level of detail).
c. Exporting Data
- If you want to slice and dice the numbers yourself, export your data as CSV.
- This helps if you want to filter by persona, industry, or other fields not shown in the built-in reports.
Don’t waste time:
You don’t need fancy third-party dashboards unless you’re managing a huge team or reporting to someone with a spreadsheet obsession.
3. Diagnosing Low Open Rates: Common Causes
If your open rate feels low, don’t panic. There are a few usual suspects.
- Bad subject lines. If the subject’s boring, generic, or looks like spam, people won’t open.
- Sending at the wrong time. Hitting inboxes when people are asleep or heads-down? Your email’s buried.
- Poor targeting. Blasting the wrong audience? Don’t expect miracles.
- Deliverability issues. If you’re on a blacklist, or your domain setup is sloppy (think SPF, DKIM, DMARC), your emails might land in spam.
- Over-sequencing. If you’re sending too many emails, recipients may tune you out.
Ignore these myths: - “Personalization always boosts opens.” Not if it’s fake or awkward. - “Longer subject lines = better open rates.” There’s no magic length.
4. How to Actually Improve Your Open Rates
Let’s get practical. Here’s what to try, in order of impact.
Step 1: Fix Your Subject Lines
- Be specific. “Quick question” is played out. Try “Question about your Q2 hiring plans.”
- Avoid spammy words. Words like “free,” “guarantee,” or “act now” can trigger filters.
- Test curiosity vs. clarity. Sometimes a clear subject (“Intro to our pricing options”) beats curiosity (“Thoughts on your process?”). Test both.
- Keep it short-ish. Aim for 3–7 words, but don’t stress about it. Focus on clarity.
Pro tip:
If you wouldn’t open your own email, neither will they.
Step 2: Optimize Send Times
- Start with mornings, mid-week. Tuesday–Thursday, 8–10am in the recipient’s time zone is a safe bet.
- Test and adjust. If you’re selling to night owls or international folks, tweak accordingly.
Step 3: Clean Up Your Lists
- Remove bounced and unengaged addresses. Keeping dead weight tanks your deliverability.
- Segment by persona/industry. Tailored emails (not just “Hi {FirstName}”) work better.
Step 4: Check Your Technical Setup
- Authenticate your domain. Make sure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are set up. Ask your IT team if you’re not sure.
- Warm up new sending domains. Don’t blast 500 emails from a new domain on day one; ramp up slowly.
Step 5: Personalize—But Don’t Fake It
- Use relevant details. Mention something real about the prospect or company.
- Don’t overdo it. Tacking on “Congrats on your funding!” when they announced it six months ago just feels lazy.
Step 6: Avoid Over-Sending
- Respect the sequence cadence. More emails don’t always mean more opens; they can land you in spam.
Step 7: Run A/B Tests
- Test subject lines and send times. Salesloft lets you A/B test templates. Try small changes, and give it enough volume to see a real difference.
- Don’t test everything at once. Tweak one variable at a time.
5. What Not to Waste Time On
- Pixel tracking tricks. Adding multiple pixels or “read receipts” just annoys people and rarely works.
- Overly clever subject lines. If your subject is a riddle, it’s more likely to get ignored.
- Obsessing over tiny percentage swings. Open rates bounce around. Look for trends, not perfection.
6. How to Track Improvements (and Know When You’ve Won)
- Set a baseline. What’s your current open rate? (20–35% is typical for cold outbound.)
- Pick one change at a time. Change a subject line, or a send time—not both.
- Give it a week or two. Don’t flip-flop daily.
- Look for meaningful jumps. A 2–5% increase is real. Less than that? Could be noise.
- Share learnings and templates. If something works, spread it to your team.
7. Honest FAQ: Real-World Email Open Rate Questions
Q: What’s a “good” open rate in Salesloft?
A: For cold outbound, 20–35% is normal. If you’re seeing less than 15%, something’s probably broken. Warm lists (existing customers) can hit 40–50%, but don’t chase unicorns.
Q: Can I trust open rate numbers?
A: They’re a decent directional metric, but not gospel. Some opens aren’t real and some real opens don’t get counted.
Q: Should I care more about replies than opens?
A: Absolutely. Opens mean you got their attention; replies mean you started a conversation.
Q: Is it worth buying lists to boost open rates?
A: Not really. Purchased lists often have bad data and lower engagement. Build your own when you can.
Keep It Simple (and Keep Iterating)
Chasing perfect open rates is a losing game. Use Salesloft’s reports to spot what’s working, fix the obvious problems, and test small changes—especially to your subject lines and timing. Don’t get paralyzed by tiny fluctuations or magical best practices. Get the basics right, keep your lists clean, and focus on earning genuine replies. That’s how you’ll see real results.