What is dwell time in email?

Dwell time in email is the amount of time a recipient keeps your message open. It reflects how long they read, skim, or interact with the content. It is not a perfect measure of interest because dwell time depends on how the mailbox client loads images and how it interprets screen activity. Behind the scenes most ESPs estimate dwell time by tracking how long the invisible tracking pixel remains active.

A long dwell time suggests deeper engagement and stronger interest in your message.

This metric is now highly unreliable. Apple Mail Privacy Protection and other proxies can preload the pixel, making it impossible to know how long the user actually viewed the message.

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