Deliverability Rate

Deliverability rate measures the percentage of emails that successfully reach recipients’ mailboxes, including both inbox delivery and spam folder placement, without being rejected or bounced by receiving mail servers. This metric differs from acceptance rate, which only measures server acceptance, and inbox placement rate, which specifically tracks inbox delivery. Deliverability rate is a comprehensive measure of your email campaign’s ability to reach its intended audience and serves as a foundation metric for evaluating overall campaign effectiveness.

Calculating deliverability rate involves dividing the number of emails that reach recipient mailboxes (inbox plus spam folder) by the total number of emails sent, then multiplying by 100 for a percentage. A healthy deliverability rate typically ranges from 95-98%, with rates below 90% indicating serious problems that require immediate attention. Poor deliverability can result from various factors including sender reputation issues, authentication problems, content triggering spam filters, or sending to invalid or disengaged email lists.

Optimizing deliverability rate requires a holistic approach addressing technical setup, content quality, and sending practices. Implement proper email authentication protocols including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your sender identity. Maintain clean email lists by removing hard bounces immediately and monitoring engagement patterns to identify inactive recipients. Warm up new email accounts gradually and maintain consistent sending patterns. Monitor your sender reputation using tools like Sender Score or Google Postmaster Tools. Create valuable, relevant content that recipients want to receive, avoiding spam trigger words and maintaining appropriate text-to-image ratios. Work with reputable email service providers that maintain good relationships with major ISPs. Track deliverability metrics regularly and investigate sudden drops in performance. Remember that deliverability is easier to maintain than to recover, making prevention-focused strategies more effective than reactive problem-solving.