Acceptance Rate

Acceptance rate in email marketing measures the percentage of emails that are accepted by the receiving mail server, regardless of whether they ultimately reach the inbox or spam folder. This metric differs from delivery rate, which only counts emails that reach their final destination. Understanding acceptance rate is crucial for diagnosing deliverability issues and maintaining healthy email sending practices, as it represents the first hurdle your emails must clear before reaching recipients.

Email acceptance rates are determined at the server level by the recipient’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) or email service. Factors influencing acceptance include sender reputation, authentication protocols, sending volume patterns, and compliance with technical standards. A good acceptance rate is typically above 95%, while rates below 90% indicate serious deliverability problems that require immediate attention. Poor acceptance rates often result from blacklisting, poor sender reputation, authentication failures, or sending to too many invalid addresses.

Improving acceptance rates requires attention to technical email setup and sender reputation management. Implement proper authentication protocols including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your identity as a legitimate sender. Maintain clean email lists by removing hard bounces immediately and monitoring soft bounce patterns. Gradually warm up new IP addresses and domains rather than immediately sending large volumes. Monitor your sending reputation using tools like Sender Score, Google Postmaster Tools, or Microsoft SNDS. If acceptance rates drop suddenly, investigate potential causes such as blacklist inclusion, authentication failures, or content triggering spam filters. Work with your email service provider or IT team to resolve technical issues that might be causing acceptance problems.