Email Engagement Rate Calculator
What dormant contacts actually cost.
90-day engagement
35.24%
19.52% in the last 30 days
Dormant contacts cost $3,917 a year and actively hurt deliverability, because mailbox providers read low engagement as a spam signal. Sunsetting them usually raises inbox placement for everyone else — a smaller list that reaches the inbox beats a larger one that does not.
How the Email Engagement Rate Calculator works
Dormant contacts cost money on per-contact pricing and actively hurt deliverability, because mailbox providers read low engagement as a spam signal. A smaller list that reaches the inbox beats a larger one that does not.
Not financial advice. Marketplace fees change, and they vary by country, plan and seller status. Every rate here is an editable default, not a quoted price — check the platform's current fee schedule before you price a product against it. This is not tax or business advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I measure email engagement?
The share of the list that opened or clicked within a window — 30, 60 and 90 days are the usual ones. Because opens are unreliable, a click-based version is stricter and more honest.
What is a sunset policy?
A rule that removes or suppresses contacts after a period without engagement, usually with a final re-engagement attempt first. It trades list size for inbox placement, and the trade is almost always worth making.
Won't removing contacts reduce revenue?
Rarely, because dormant contacts generate almost nothing by definition. The improvement in inbox placement for everyone else usually more than covers it.
How long before sunsetting?
Depends on purchase cycle. A brand people buy from twice a year should wait longer than one with a monthly cycle. Six to twelve months of no engagement is a common threshold.