THE HIDDEN METRICS OF EMAIL DELIVERABILITY THE STATE OF ...

THE HIDDEN METRICS OF EMAIL DELIVERABILITY

THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING

SENDER SCORE BENCHMARK

Table of Contents

The Hidden Metrics of Email Deliverability

The State of Email Marketing

Sender Score Benchmark

HIDDEN METRICS OFEMAIL DELIVERABILITY

2The 2019 Hidden Metrics of Email Deliverability returnpath.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page 3 Introduction

Spam Placement Rate

Page 6 Read Rate

Page 8 Deleted Before Reading Rate

Page 10 Reply Rate

Page 12 Forward Rate

Page 14 Complaint Rate

Page 16 “This is Not Spam” Rate

Page 18 Key Takeaways

Page 19 Methodology

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INTRODUCTION

Email marketing is still the leading marketing channel to reach customers, and its effectiveness is only improving. To take advantage of the opportunity of email, marketers need to be focused on the experience they are providing for their subscribers. By understanding, tracking, and improving email engagement, marketers will not only be able to boost their ROI, but it will also help them protect their email program.

Tracking engagement-based metrics (which measure how subscribers interact with your email program) is a critical step in evaluating the success of any email program. Mailbox providers like Microsoft, Gmail, and Yahoo track the positive and negative interactions subscribers have with your program to determine where to place your incoming messages—so marketers need to pay attention to these measures, as well. In fact, a recent study by Demand Metric, in partnership with Return Path, found that marketers who understand that subscriber engagement has a significant impact on filtering decisions are enjoying greater email marketing effectiveness.

While most marketers track metrics like open rates and click-through rates, mailbox providers actually use a different set of data to measure how their users (your subscribers) are interacting with your messages.

The most important engagement metrics for marketers are shown on the right.

These metrics may not be familiar to you, because they typically aren’t included in reporting provided by your email service provider (ESP). Instead, these metrics are measured by mailbox providers—not ESPs—based on all the email they receive and the actions of their mailbox users. Each mailbox provider then uses this data in their own unique filtering calculations to determine where to place incoming messages.

In The Hidden Metrics of Email Deliverability, we detail these “missing metrics” that every marketer should be tracking, what they mean, and why they are important. We also provide industry-specific benchmarks so you can evaluate your email program against your competitors.


Messages marked as spam: A negative signal that email is spam and does not belong in the inbox

Messages read:A positive indicator that subscribers want to receive messages from a particular sender

Messages deleted before reading: A negative indicator that your message wasn’t relevant or desired

Messages replied to: A positive indicator that a message is desired, and likely personal in nature

Messages forwarded:A positive indicator that the recipient desired the message and that others may want it, too

Messages marked as “not spam:”A very strong signal to mailbox providers that email should have been delivered to the inbox


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SPAM PLACEMENT RATE

The spam placement rate is calculated as the number of emails delivered to the spam folder out of total emails sent. Your spam placement rate shows the percentage of emails that were identified as unsolicited bulk email, or spam, by the receiving mailbox provider’s spam filtering system.

Factors: The same elements that block you from the inbox will land you in the spam folder. The reasons can be content based (content triggers that flag emails as spam), reputation based (sending patterns and behaviors), or engagement based (subscriber behaviors).

Significance: Spam placement rate is valuable in understanding how mailbox providers and their spam filters classify your emails. A low spam placement rate signifies you’re a trusted sender, and your emails are desired. A sudden increase in spam placement could indicate an issue with a specific campaign, or your entire email program. High spam placement will also impact your other engagement metrics as few subscribers interact with the messages that land in their spam folder. To learn more about what prevents your emails from reaching the inbox, download our Ultimate Guide to Email Deliverability.

Observations: The spam placement average for all industries in 2018 was nine percent. Sectors like distribution and manufacturing (i.e., shipping) and banking and finance saw the lowest rates at four percent. Education/nonprofit/government had the highest spam placement at 19 percent, followed by social and dating at 16 percent.

Year Over Year Change: Overall spam placement saw a large decrease at five percentage points, with the majority of industries experiencing a decrease in their spam placement. Office supplies had the largest decrease at 10 percentage points, followed by food and drug and health and beauty at eight percentage points. Distribution and manufacturing was the only industry to have an increase in spam placement at one percentage point.


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Banking & Finance 5% 4% 4% 4% 4% 6% -1%

General Merchandise 5% 5% 8% 6% 6% 10% -4%

Deals & Rewards 11% 9% 9% 11% 10% 14% -4%

Health & Beauty 10% 9% 8% 9% 9% 17% -8%

Distribution & Manufacturing 4% 4% 6% 3% 4% 4% 1%

Service 14% 9% 6% 10% 10% 14% -4%

Sporting Goods 12% 14% 10% 11% 12% 19% -7%

Computers & Electronics 6% 6% 5% 5% 6% 12% -6%

Flowers & Gi�s 12% 12% 10% 10% 11% 17% -6%

Real Estate 10% 9% 7% 7% 8% 12% -4%

Automotive 13% 13% 12% 13% 13% 17% -4%

Insurance 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 8% -4%

Jobs 12% 12% 8% 8% 10% 10% 0%

Media & Entertainment 12% 13% 11% 10% 12% 17% -5%

Social & Dating 16% 17% 15% 18% 16% 21% -4%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 9% 10% 9% 10% 9% 14% -5%

Telecommunication 8% 8% 7% 8% 8% 12% -5%

Business & Marketing 14% 14% 13% 14% 14% 15% -2%

Education/NonProfit/Government 18% 20% 20% 19% 19% 24% -5%

Food & Drug 10% 6% 5% 5% 7% 15% -8%

Apparel & Accessories 8% 7% 7% 6% 7% 13% -7%

Household & Home Improvement 7% 8% 7% 8% 8% 12% -4%

Kids & Babies 7% 7% 6% 4% 6% 11% -5%

Office Supplies 9% 8% 7% 6% 8% 17% -10%

Pets 15% 13% 8% 8% 11% 15% -5%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 7% 8% 8% 9% 8% 12% -4%

Travel 7% 7% 6% 6% 6% 11% -5%

ALL 10% 9% 9% 8% 9% 14% -5%

INDUSTRY Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2018 AVG 2017 AVG YOY CHANGE

SPAM PLACEMENT RATE BY QUARTER



READ RATE

The read rate is calculated as the number of emails that are marked as “read” out all emails sent. Read rate is similar to open rate, but it is far more accurate because it accounts for all emails viewed, regardless of image rendering.

Factors: Various factors can have an impact on read rate. The quality of your subject lines and timing typically have the greatest influence, but deliverability issues can also be the culprit behind a sudden decline in emails being read.

Significance: Read rate allows you to distinguish successful campaigns that grab subscribers’ interest, from the failed campaigns that are ignored. Read rate also has an effect on your deliverability, as poor engagement impacts how mailbox providers deliver your email. If your read rates are consistently low, mailbox providers will begin to view your email as unwanted and start delivering your messages to the spam folder.

Observations: Overall, the average read rate in 2018 was 24 percent. Distribution and manufacturing had the highest read rate for the third year in a row at 60 percent. Insurance companies followed in distant second place with a read rate of 43 percent. The education/nonprofit/government and business and marketing industries saw the least positive engagement with subscribers, with read rates of 16 and 17 percent, respectively.

Year Over Year Change: Overall read rates rose in 2018 by two percentage points, with each individual industry seeing an increase as well. Telecommunications saw the highest increase of five percentage points. The rest of the industries had increases between one and four percentage points.



Banking & Finance 37% 38% 38% 38% 38% 36% 2%

General Merchandise 28% 28% 28% 28% 28% 25% 3%

Deals & Rewards 19% 19% 19% 18% 19% 17% 1%

Health & Beauty 23% 23% 24% 24% 23% 20% 3%


Service 28% 30% 30% 28% 29% 28% 1%

Sporting Goods 24% 24% 25% 25% 25% 22% 3%

Computers & Electronics 28% 28% 29% 27% 28% 26% 2%

Flowers & Gi�s 22% 22% 23% 24% 23% 21% 2%

Real Estate 30% 29% 28% 29% 29% 28% 1%

Automotive 24% 25% 25% 24% 25% 22% 3%

Insurance 44% 43% 43% 42% 43% 39% 4%Jobs 24% 24% 25% 25% 24% 23% 1%

Media & Entertainment 20% 21% 21% 22% 21% 19% 2%

Social & Dating 19% 19% 19% 19% 19% 17% 2%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 24% 22% 22% 23% 23% 21% 2%Telecommunication 38% 38% 39% 40% 39% 33% 5%

Business & Marketing 17% 17% 17% 17% 17% 15% 2%

Education/NonProfit/Government 17% 16% 16% 17% 16% 16% 1%

Food & Drug 22% 23% 23% 23% 23% 20% 3%

Apparel & Accessories 23% 23% 24% 24% 24% 21% 3%

Household & Home Improvement 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 23% 2%

Kids & Babies 20% 20% 20% 21% 20% 19% 1%

Office Supplies 22% 23% 22% 23% 22% 21% 1%Pets 23% 25% 27% 27% 26% 22% 4%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 22% 22% 22% 21% 22% 19% 3%Travel 26% 26% 26% 26% 26% 25% 1%ALL 23% 24% 24% 24% 24% 22% 2%


READ RATE BY QUARTER



Another term for this would be the “ignore rate.” As the name indicates, the deleted before reading rate measures how often a recipient deletes email without reading it, calculated as the total number of unread emails deleted out of total emails sent.

Factors: An unread email sent to the trash may signal a disengaged subscriber. A high deleted before reading rate is a sign of a failed campaign. But a consistently high deleted without reading rate can be an indication of permission issues or a lack of satisfaction with your overall email marketing program.

Significance: From a mailbox provider’s perspective, the read rate is an important metric indicating how desirable subscribers find your messages which can impact your inbox deliverability. A high deleted before reading rate, therefore, indicates lack of interest in your messages, and can result in future emails being filtered to the spam folder.

Observations: The average deleted before reading rate in 2018 was 16 percent. Matching its lead in reads, distribution and manufacturing was the least ignored sector with a deleted before reading rate of nine percent. On the opposite end of the spectrum, emails from the pet industry were the most ignored with a deleted before reading rate of 20 percent.

Year Over Year Change: The increase in read rate was accompanied by an increase in actively ignoring emails, as the overall deleted before reading rate rose by four percent. Like reads, each vertical saw an increase in deleted before reading, with pets having the largest increase at six percentage points. The remaining industries had increases between three and five percentage points.

DELETED BEFORE READING RATE



Banking & Finance 15% 14% 14% 13% 14% 11% 3%

General Merchandise 18% 17% 16% 15% 16% 12% 4%

Deals & Rewards 17% 16% 15% 14% 15% 12% 3%

Health & Beauty 18% 17% 16% 15% 16% 12% 4%


Service 15% 15% 14% 14% 14% 10% 5%

Sporting Goods 20% 19% 18% 17% 19% 13% 5%

Computers & Electronics 18% 17% 16% 15% 16% 12% 4%

Flowers & Gi�s 21% 19% 18% 18% 19% 14% 5%

Real Estate 16% 15% 14% 14% 15% 11% 4%

Automotive 16% 15% 14% 13% 15% 11% 4%

Insurance 14% 13% 12% 12% 13% 9% 3%Jobs 17% 16% 15% 14% 16% 11% 4%

Media & Entertainment 18% 17% 16% 16% 16% 11% 5%

Social & Dating 15% 14% 13% 13% 14% 9% 5%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 14% 14% 13% 12% 13% 9% 4%Telecommunication 15% 14% 12% 11% 13% 10% 3%

Business & Marketing 17% 17% 16% 15% 16% 11% 5%

Education/NonProfit/Government 17% 16% 15% 14% 15% 10% 5%

Food & Drug 20% 19% 17% 16% 18% 13% 5%

Apparel & Accessories 19% 18% 17% 16% 17% 13% 4%

Household & Home Improvement 21% 20% 19% 18% 19% 15% 4%

Kids & Babies 18% 17% 16% 15% 17% 13% 3%

Office Supplies 21% 19% 18% 17% 19% 14% 4%Pets 22% 20% 20% 18% 20% 14% 6%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 19% 18% 17% 15% 17% 13% 5%Travel 19% 18% 17% 16% 18% 13% 4%ALL 18% 17% 16% 15% 16% 12% 4%


DELETED BEFORE READING RATE BY QUARTER



The reply rate is calculated as the number of replies to your email out of the total of email sent.

Factors: A high reply rate could mean one of two things: an engaged subscriber list or subscribers trying to unsubscribe. Truthfully, there’s isn’t a target “reply rate” that your email marketing program should try to achieve. Having a low—or no—reply rate won’t necessarily hurt your deliverability, but having a high reply rate can help.

Significance: A reply to an email message is a very strong positive signal of engagement showing mailbox providers that a message was likely desired, and improves the sender’s chance of being delivered to the inbox for any future campaigns sent to a particular subscriber. We don’t suggest email marketers try anything gimmicky to increase their reply rate. Instead switch from your “noreply@” from: address to one that’s managed.

Observations: Reply rates for commercial emails are unsurprisingly quite low, with an average of 0.06 percent in 2018. Service based sectors saw higher reply rates last year with telecommunications and insurance having the highest reply rates of over one percent. Deals and rewards, education/nonprofit/government, and toys/hobbies/crafts had the least replies at a rate of 0.01 percent.

Year Over Year Change: The overall reply rate decreased by almost half from last year’s average of 0.11 percent. The majority of industries saw a decrease in replies. The largest decrease in replies was in the telecommunication sector with a decrease of more than one full percentage point, but the industry was still able to maintain its lead in reply rates. The pet industry had the only increase in replies at 0.03 percent. Toys/hobbies/crafts and social and dating saw no change in average replies.

REPLY RATE



Banking & Finance 0.17% 0.15% 0.15% 0.14% 0.15% 0.27% -0.12%

General Merchandise 0.10% 0.08% 0.09% 0.08% 0.09% 0.11% -0.02%

Deals & Rewards 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.02% -0.01%

Health & Beauty 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.05% -0.02%

Distribution & Manufacturing 0.34% 0.24% 0.25% 0.22% 0.25% 0.51% -0.25%

Service 0.22% 0.21% 0.20% 0.18% 0.20% 0.68% -0.48%

Sporting Goods 0.05% 0.04% 0.05% 0.04% 0.05% 0.07% -0.02%

Computers & Electronics 0.11% 0.09% 0.10% 0.08% 0.09% 0.16% -0.07%

Flowers & Gi�s 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.05% 0.04% 0.09% -0.05%

Real Estate 0.24% 0.16% 0.16% 0.13% 0.17% 0.31% -0.14%

Automotive 0.10% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% 0.14% -0.05%

Insurance 1.17% 1.12% 1.11% 0.82% 1.03% 1.93% -0.89% Jobs 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 0.04% -0.01%

Media & Entertainment 0.04% 0.03% 0.03% 0.04% 0.03% 0.06% -0.03%

Social & Dating 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 0.02% 0.00%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 0.13% 0.11% 0.10% 0.10% 0.11% 0.31% -0.20% Telecommunication 1.28% 1.08% 1.03% 0.99% 1.09% 2.16% -1.07%

Business & Marketing 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.03% 0.04% -0.01%

Education/NonProfit/Government 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.05% -0.03%

Food & Drug 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.05% -0.02%

Apparel & Accessories 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.05% -0.03%

Household & Home Improvement 0.05% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.09% -0.05%

Kids & Babies 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% -0.01%

Office Supplies 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% 0.05% 0.06% 0.14% -0.08% Pets 0.05% 0.05% 0.06% 0.06% 0.05% 0.03% 0.03%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.02% 0.00% Travel 0.15% 0.13% 0.13% 0.11% 0.13% 0.22% -0.09% ALL 0.07% 0.05% 0.06% 0.05% 0.06% 0.11% -0.05%


REPLY RATE BY QUARTER



Factors: Forwards are generated when subscribers find an email interesting enough that they want to pass it on to others.

Significance: A high forward rate shows strong subscriber engagement and indicates the content you’re sending is relevant to not only your subscribers, but also their networks.

Observations: Like replies, forwards are rare for commercial emails with account based sectors seeing higher rates. The overall average for forwards in 2018 was 0.02 percent. Along with their high reply rates, telecommunications and insurance along with distribution and manufacturing had the highest forward rates at 0.13 percent. Deals and rewards and social and dating had the lowest with an average of zero forwards.

Year Over Year Change: The overall average forward rate saw no change from last year, and the majority of verticals also saw no change. Along with its increase in replies, the pet industry had the only increase in forwards at 0.01 percentage points. Insurance had the largest decrease in forwards at 0.04 percentage points.

The forward rate is calculated as the number of your emails that are forwarded on to others out of total emails sent.

FORWARD RATE



Banking & Finance 0.05% 0.05% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.05% -0.01%

General Merchandise 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.03% 0.00%

Deals & Rewards 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Health & Beauty 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%


Service 0.08% 0.08% 0.08% 0.08% 0.08% 0.08% 0.00%

Sporting Goods 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 0.01% 0.00%

Computers & Electronics 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.00%

Flowers & Gi�s 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%

Real Estate 0.05% 0.04% 0.03% 0.03% 0.04% 0.06% -0.02%

Automotive 0.02% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.00%

Insurance 0.14% 0.14% 0.13% 0.10% 0.13% 0.16% -0.04%Jobs 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%

Media & Entertainment 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 0.01% 0.00%

Social & Dating 0.01% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.03% 0.00%Telecommunication 0.15% 0.13% 0.13% 0.12% 0.13% 0.15% -0.01%

Business & Marketing 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%

Education/NonProfit/Government 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%

Food & Drug 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.00%

Apparel & Accessories 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%

Household & Home Improvement 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 0.02% 0.00%

Kids & Babies 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%

Office Supplies 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.00%Pets 0.01% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.01%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%Travel 0.08% 0.08% 0.08% 0.06% 0.07% 0.07% 0.00%


ALL 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.00%

FORWARD RATE BY QUARTER



Factors: There are various reasons why a subscriber would mark your messages as spam throughout the different stages of an email relationship. For more information about why complaints occur, download the Marketer’s Guide to Subscriber Complaints.

Significance: Spam complaints are a direct signal from subscribers to mailbox providers that your content is unwanted. As such, mailbox providers heavily factor spam complaints into their filtering decisions.

Observations: The average overall complaint rate in 2018 was 0.39 percent, well over mailbox providers’ recommendation of 0.2 percent. Business and marketing had the most complaints with an average of 1.4 percent, followed by jobs and office supplies at 0.77 and 0.73 percent, respectively. General merchandise, distribution and manufacturing, and toys/hobbies/crafts where the only industries that achieved averages below the recommended 0.2 percent.

Year Over Year Change: Complaints more than doubled from last year’s average of 0.17 percent. The majority of industries had a rise in complaints, with business and marketing having the largest increase at 0.98 percentage points. The office supply industry was the only vertical to see a decrease in complaints from last year, although it was slight at just 0.03 percentage points.

The complaint rate is the rate at which subscribers report your messages as spam. It is calculated as the number of “report spam/junk” complaints out of emails sent.

COMPLAINT RATE


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Banking & Finance 0.45% 0.42% 0.12% 0.09% 0.26% 0.09% 0.17%

General Merchandise 0.17% 0.15% 0.12% 0.08% 0.12% 0.08% 0.05%

Deals & Rewards 1.12% 0.70% 0.16% 0.11% 0.49% 0.15% 0.34%

Health & Beauty 0.51% 0.53% 0.38% 0.28% 0.41% 0.23% 0.18%

Distribution & Manufacturing 0.51% 0.13% 0.09% 0.06% 0.17% 0.08% 0.08%

Service 0.63% 0.50% 0.30% 0.31% 0.43% 0.14% 0.29%

Sporting Goods 0.68% 0.42% 0.47% 0.39% 0.48% 0.31% 0.16%

Computers & Electronics 0.32% 0.24% 0.16% 0.18% 0.22% 0.11% 0.11%

Flowers & Gi�s 0.52% 0.55% 0.54% 0.88% 0.63% 0.42% 0.22%

Real Estate 0.31% 0.39% 0.11% 0.09% 0.23% 0.05% 0.18%

Automotive 0.95% 0.74% 0.52% 0.43% 0.65% 0.27% 0.39%

Insurance 0.54% 0.62% 0.13% 0.15% 0.33% 0.18% 0.15%Jobs 1.56% 1.27% 0.15% 0.08% 0.77% 0.34% 0.43%

Media & Entertainment 0.67% 0.63% 0.46% 0.40% 0.54% 0.24% 0.30%

Social & Dating 0.52% 0.52% 0.21% 0.20% 0.36% 0.15% 0.21%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 0.57% 0.52% 0.33% 0.31% 0.43% 0.15% 0.28%Telecommunication 0.51% 0.31% 0.17% 0.15% 0.28% 0.25% 0.03%

Business & Marketing 2.10% 2.33% 0.74% 0.22% 1.40% 0.42% 0.98%

Education/NonProfit/Government 0.72% 1.17% 0.45% 0.32% 0.65% 0.23% 0.42%

Food & Drug 0.58% 0.41% 0.25% 0.25% 0.37% 0.19% 0.17%

Apparel & Accessories 0.37% 0.31% 0.19% 0.13% 0.24% 0.14% 0.10%

Household & Home Improvement 0.41% 0.31% 0.21% 0.21% 0.27% 0.12% 0.15%

Kids & Babies 0.55% 0.62% 0.21% 0.13% 0.36% 0.17% 0.19%

Office Supplies 1.39% 0.93% 0.64% 0.13% 0.73% 0.76% -0.03%Pets 0.46% 0.27% 0.28% 0.22% 0.30% 0.10% 0.20%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 0.27% 0.23% 0.13% 0.16% 0.19% 0.10% 0.09%Travel 0.31% 0.26% 0.15% 0.16% 0.21% 0.10% 0.12%


ALL 0.65% 0.54% 0.24% 0.18% 0.39% 0.17% 0.21%

COMPLAINT RATE BY QUARTER



Factors: There are a number of reasons for a low “this is not spam” rate. Only email that lands in the spam folder can generate a “this not spam” vote; therefore, a low “this is not spam” rate may not be a problem at all and could indicate that few of your emails are being sent to the spam folder. But if you have a high percentage of mail being sent to spam and your “this is not spam” rate is still low, the causes could be a lack of permission, lack of awareness, or simply a lack of interest from your subscribers.

Significance: The “this is not spam” metric is a strong and positive indicator to mailbox providers that your emails are desired and may indicate a false positive with the spam filter. A “this is not spam” selection shows mailbox providers that subscribers are actively searching for your messages, enough to go into the spam folder and “rescue” them.

Observations: The overall “this is not spam” rate for 2018 was 0.02 percent. Distribution and manufacturing and telecommunications were rescued from the spam folder the most at 0.08 and 0.05 percent, respectively. Education/nonprofit/government, kids and babies, and real estate saw the least rescues with a “this is not spam” rates of 0.01 percent.

Year Over Year Change: 2018 saw a steep drop in “this is not spam” rescues at 1.75 percentage points. This might largely be a result of the decreased overall spam placement, which was five percentage points lower than the previous year’s results. Every vertical saw a decrease in “this is not spam” rates with general merchandise seeing the largest decrease of 3.17 percentage points, followed by flowers and gifts at 2.59 percentage points.

The “this is not spam” rate is calculated as the number of times a subscriber marks your message “not spam” or “not junk” out of the number of emails delivered to the spam folder. Another term for this would be the rescue rate as these messages are rescued from the spam folder by subscribers.

“THIS IS NOT SPAM” RATE



Banking & Finance 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.03% 0.04% 0.89% -0.86%

General Merchandise 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 3.20% -3.17%

Deals & Rewards 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 1.47% -1.46%

Health & Beauty 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 2.52% -2.50%


Service 0.04% 0.05% 0.03% 0.04% 0.04% 0.53% -0.49%

Sporting Goods 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 2.52% -2.50%

Computers & Electronics 0.04% 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 2.09% -2.06%

Flowers & Gi�s 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 2.61% -2.59%

Real Estate 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.70% -0.69%

Automotive 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.03% 0.04% 1.46% -1.42%

Insurance 0.07% 0.05% 0.04% 0.04% 0.05% 0.88% -0.84%Jobs 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 0.87% -0.85%

Media & Entertainment 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.58% -1.56%

Social & Dating 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.53% -1.51%

Technology/So�ware/Internet 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 1.28% -1.26%Telecommunication 0.05% 0.05% 0.04% 0.05% 0.05% 1.62% -1.57%

Business & Marketing 0.02% 0.02% 0.03% 0.02% 0.03% 1.32% -1.29%

Education/NonProfit/Government 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 2.19% -2.17%

Food & Drug 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.40% -1.38%

Apparel & Accessories 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 1.91% -1.90%

Household & Home Improvement 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.53% -1.51%

Kids & Babies 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 1.15% -1.14%

Office Supplies 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 2.26% -2.24%Pets 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.94% -1.92%

Toys/Hobbies/Cra�s 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% 0.02% 1.76% -1.74%Travel 0.03% 0.03% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.69% -1.66%


ALL 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 0.02% 1.77% -1.75%

“THIS IS NOT SPAM” RATE BY QUARTER



KEY TAKEAWAYS

Marketers were more successful at reaching the inbox in 2018, with overall spam placement decreasing by five percentage points. One large contributor to this is likely the new data protection laws that were put into effect (GDPR). This new standard requires marketers to clean up their lists to send only to subscribers they have clear permission to mail to. While this led many marketers to remove large portions of their list, the upside is a clearer, more active subscriber file to market to.

An offshoot of these cleaner lists is a more active list; however, this increase in engagement was both positive and negative in nature. While overall read rates rose by two percentage points and all industries saw increases of various sizes, deleted before reading and complaint rates also increased.

As subscribers increase their activity in the inbox, is more important than ever for marketers to pay attention to subscriber activity. To take advantage of this, marketers should try the following tactics:

Keep track of your metricsTrack how your subscribers interact with

each message and adjust your content accordingly. Are they complaining

more for certain campaigns, or when you increase send frequency? Are your

subject lines enticing subscribers to open or are they actively placing your content in the trash? In a recent study

we found that on average, marketers lose 34 percent of new subscribers within

the first month of their subscription. By keeping a close eye on subscriber activity,

marketers can identify early signs of disengagement and work towards re-engaging these valuable subscribers.

Segment your lists to more effectively engage your subscribers Take full advantage of your engagement

data to build segments. By analyzing how subscribers interact with each

campaign, you can identify their preferences and group them together

with those who took similar actions. By breaking your list into segments you can build more targeted content and provide

a more personalized experience for your subscribers—and hopefully boost

engagement and ROI.

Don’t wait till subscriber disengages to try to win them back

In our recent study on the subscriber lifecycle, we found that the average

marketer continues sending mail for a full 259 days after a subscriber last engages with their program. Rather than waiting

eight months, try sending a winback campaign or some other enticement

to re-engage while subscribers can still remember why they enjoyed your email

program. In fact, winback emails have an average read rate of 20 percent, which

means you can potentially reactivate one out of every five disengaged subscribers.


https://blog.returnpath.com/category/gdpr/

https://returnpath.com/downloads/lifecycle-metrics-benchmark/?sfdc=7011G000000gWkT




https://returnpath.com/downloads/2018-email-marketing-lookbook/?sfdc=701370000006Rp1


METHODOLOGY

Return Path conducted this study using global consumer data consisting of over 17,000 commercial senders, 2 million consumer panelists, and over 6.9 billion commercial email messages sent to Microsoft, Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL users between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018.

Consumer data is information captured from monitored email accounts controlled by real subscribers to sample user initiated and engagement based filtering decisions by mailbox providers. Consumer data can uncover behavior based factors and thresholds that influence inbox placement at large mailbox providers, and can’t be identified by non-interactive seeds.

Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.



Contact us to discover what your hidden email metrics are saying about you.

Visit our website. There’s no better place to find out about Return Path! Browse our resource library, check out our customer success

stories, and learn more about our products and services at

returnpath.com.

Request a demo. See Return Path’s data powered

solutions in action. Visit returnpath.com/request-a-

demo to get started.

Browse our blog. Every day, we publish new content on

the topics that matter to email marketers and security

professionals. Bookmark blog.returnpath.com, or subscribe to have fresh

content delivered straight to your inbox.

Or give us a call. Visit returnpath.com to contact

the office in your region. US: 1-866-362-4577

AUS: +61 2 8188 8700 UK: +44 (0) 207 479 8800


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THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019A N I N D U S T R Y B E N C H M A R K R E P O R T

What separates high-performing email marketers from the rest of the pack?

Introduction

Executive Summary

Email Marketing Objectives

Email Marketing Challenges

Email Marketing Tactics & Technology

Email Marketing Subscribers

Email Marketing Performance

Analyst Bottom Line and Recommendations

Acknowledgements

Appendix: Survey Background

Table of Contents

24

35

39

14

47

42

46

6

8

4

2019THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING

Introduction


THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 5EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Email remains one of the most important marketing channels. Recent Demand Metric studies confirm that it is one of the most-used channels, and that it ranks high on the list of best ways to reach certain groups, such as sales and marketing and technical audiences. Significant vari-ance, however, exists in the results marketers get from using email.

Demand Metric and Return Path by Validity continue to partner to under-stand which email tactics marketers are using, how well they are working, and what challenges prevent greater success with email.

The most recent edition of this research continues to pursue answers to the key question:

Introduction

What separates high-performing email marketers from the rest of the pack?


Executive Summary



The top email marketing objectives are communicating with customers (74 percent), building brand awareness (64 percent), and communicating with prospects (63 percent).

Over one-third of study participants (37 percent) report that email marketing effectiveness is increasing, down from 44 percent in 2018.

Firms that report increasing email marketing effectiveness are more likely to also report annual revenue growth.

The biggest email marketing challenge is competition for attention in the inbox (45 percent).

Email deliverability ranked third on the list of challenges and saw a 12 percent increase compared to the 2018 study.

Email personalization was the top email marketing tactic in use (72 percent), a slight increase from the 2018 study.

One-third of study participants have no formal subject-line optimization process.

This report shares the results of the 2019 research study, providing insights and data useful for benchmarking, planning, and improving email marketing effectiveness.

Some of the key findings from this study include:

For more detail on the survey and the participants that contributed to the research, please refer to the Appendix.

Executive Summary


FIGURE 1

Communicating with customers, prospects, and building brand awareness are the top email marketing objectives.


Generate revenue

Communicate with

customers

Capture data on

subscribers

Build brand

awareness

Communicate with

prospects

Other objective

20182019

6%

4%

74%

76% 70%

64%

73%

63% 56%

52%

28%

29%

The objectives in place for email marketing show subtle changes from 2018 to 2019, as Figure 1 summarizes.

The top three objectives are unchanged from last year, but in a different rank order:

Communicate with customers

Build brand awareness

Communicate with prospects

These top objectives parallel the overall marketing mission. The 2019 results don’t show a significant shift in objectives, but perhaps reflect a more pragmatic orientation through the increase in the revenue generation objective.


THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 10EMAIL MARKETING OBJECTIVES

FIGURE 2

The order of priorities for email marketing changes based on an organization’s focus.

Email Marketing Objectives by Organization Type

B2B B2C Non-ProfitMixed B2B/B2C

74%

71%

78%

81%

80%

62%

41%

55%

65%

65%

63%

57%

25%

14% 19%

30%

35%

66%

73%

54%

38%

Generate revenue

Communicate with

customers

Capture data on

subscribers

Build brand

awareness

Communicate with

prospects

Other objective

Segmenting the email objective data from Figure 1 allows some differ-ences to emerge based on organization type, which Figure 2 shows.

B2C organizations list revenue generation as the top objective, while B2B firms place communicating with customers at the top of the list.

Non-profits had the highest percentage of the “Other objective” response option, and write-in comments indicate that these objectives include donations, member engagement, retention, and advocacy.

6%

4%

4%

THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 11

FIGURE 3

Fewer participants in the 2019 study report in increase in email effectiveness.

Email Marketing Effectiveness

Significant increase

Slight increase

Holding steady Slight decline

Significant decline

28%

36% 37%

15%

14%

9%

8%

5%

5%

43%

20182019

EMAIL MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Experienced marketers understand that ensuring email effectiveness requires constant vigilance and maintenance. Many, dynamic factors influence email marketing success.

The implication is that rarely is its effectiveness holding steady: for most marketers it is either improving or declining. Study participants share in Figure 3 how they rate the effectiveness of email as a marketing channel.

The effectiveness of email as a marketing channel did not show improve-ment year-to-year in this study. This lack of increased effectiveness, however, did not apply equally to all study participants.


FIGURE 4

Those who are having success with email have more objectives for its use.

Email Marketing Objectives and Effectiveness

Declining Email Effectiveness

Increasing Email Effectiveness

Generate revenue

Communicate with

customers

Capture data on

subscribers

Build brand

awareness

Communicate with

prospects

No specific objective

79% 70%

69%

72%66%

50% 46% 48%

37%

19%

1%

8%


This email marketing effectiveness data lets us segment objectives by effectiveness. This segmentation was presented in the 2018 report, and Figure 4 presents it using the 2019 data.

In all cases, a much higher percentage of organizations that report increasing email effectiveness cite having the email objectives listed in Figure 1.

In fact, the difference between the effectiveness segments for these email objectives averages 18 percent, with the greatest delta resulting from the “Generate revenue” email objective.

In the 2018 study, the average difference between these segments was only 10 percent. This study did not look for the reasons why firms that report increasing email effectiveness have loftier objectives for email than those that report declining effectiveness.

But we can speculate; where email effectiveness is on the rise, it’s likely the result of an investment in time, tools, or acquiring skills to use email effectively.


FIGURE 5

Revenue growth in the past year is related to increased email marketing effectiveness.

Email Marketing Effectiveness and Revenue Growth

Significant increase

Slight increase

Holding steady Slight decline

Significant decline

31%

34%32%

27% 21%

Revenue increase Revenue declineRevenue flat

11% 10%

14% 17%3%

3%

4% 4%

45%

44%

When analyzing this email effectiveness data, an interesting relation-ship came to light between revenue growth and email effectiveness.

Study participants were asked to characterize their organization’s revenue growth during the most recently completed fiscal year, using the following categories:

Figure 5 displays this relationship between revenue growth and email marketing effectiveness.

There are certain cautions to note when looking at correlations in data. Statisticians and marketing research analysts are always quick to point out that “correlation is not causation” and that adage applies here. It is an oversimplification to imply that investing to increase email marketing effectiveness guarantees revenue growth.

Managing an effective email marketing program isn’t a guaranteed cure for all revenue ills, but this data shows it clearly can serve as a component in driving growth. This relationship between email marketing effective-ness and revenue growth should cause marketers to sit up and take notice. Their efforts to curate an effective email marketing program can play a key role in driving revenue growth.


(15%) Significant increase

(53%) Slight increase

(8%) Slight decline

(19%) Flat or no growth

(5%) Significant decline


The study inventoried the challenges of marketing through the email channel, as Figure 6 summarizes.


The top challenge for 2019 remains the same, although at a lower severity than in 2018. Deliverability, however, has surged as a problem, up 12 percent year-over-year.

A new challenge appears as a response option in the 2019 survey: “Lack of tools to optimize or personalize email,” and it ranks fourth in the 2019 list of challenges.

The “Other challenge” response option elicited some insightful write-in comments, which we summarize here:

Lack of engagement, list growth, data quality, email copywriting, technology stack limitations, internal silos.

FIGURE 6

Competing for attention in the inbox remains the top email marketing challenge.


Competition for attention in the inbox

Poorly defined metrics

Staffing/Resource

constraints

Limitation of email service

provider

Email deliverability

Low visibility into email

performance

Lack of tools to optimize

or personalize email

Lack of executive

buy in

Poor email performance

Not experiencing

any challenges

Other challenge

6% 8%

6% 3%

45% 40% 37% 31%

25% 26%26%24%

24% 23% 23% 22% 13%

14%21%41%54%

20182019

THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 16EMAIL MARKETING CHALLENGES

While some debate may exist about the quality of open rate as a metric, the reality is that no other actions can occur that matter to email marketers unless emails are opened.

Figure 7 compares open rates from the 2018 study with 2019 study data.

The greatest change in the 2019 study comes in the middle of the range shown in Figure 7. In 2018, 39 percent of participants reported open rates between 11 and 20 percent.

In 2019 that figure is 46 percent, and the increase comes from both ends of the range: fewer participants reported open rates of 5 percent or less, and fewer also reported open rates of more than 21 percent.

FIGURE 7

The average email open rate for the 2019 study skews higher than in 2018.

Average Email Open Rates for Bulk Sends

11 to 15%More than 25%

6 to 10%21 to 25% 16 to 20% 5% or less

20182019

12% 8%12%

12% 15% 16% 16%

19%

18%

27%

23%

22%


Open rates correlate to email marketing effectiveness, and Figure 8 shows how strong the relationship is between reported effectiveness and open rates.

The relationship between open rates and email marketing effectiveness is intuitive, and Figure 8 shows exactly what logic suggests we should see. Seeing the actual comparison numbers, however, is impactful.

Over half of participants whose email marketing effectiveness is increasing enjoy open rates of 16 percent or more. Barely one-third of those whose email marketing effectiveness is decreasing report the same open rates.

Investing to increase email marketing effectiveness will pay dividends in higher open rates.

FIGURE 8

Study participants that report greater email marketing effectiveness also report higher open rates.

Average Open Rates & Email Effectiveness


6 to 10%21 to 25% 16 to 20% 5% or less

12% 5%

10% 10%

10%15%

17%14% 14%

33%

35%

25%

Declining Email Effectiveness

Increasing Email Effectiveness


Open rates showed a correlation to the type of firm that was using email for marketing. Figure 9 shows this relationship.

B2B and B2C firms have a greater struggle with open rates than do the Non-profit organizations in the study. Using an average open rate of 15 percent or less, the differences are evident:


6 to 10%21 to 25% 16 to 20% 5% or less

FIGURE 9

Average open rates vary significantly based on type of firm.

Average Open Rates by Type of Firm

B2B Non-profitB2C

12%

5%

2%

10% 9%

9%

10%

19%

20%17% 16%

14%

14% 37%

24%

25%

29%

28%

(64%) B2B

(64%) B2C

(33%) Non-profit

It was outside the scope of this study to explore why non-profit organi-zations enjoy higher open rates. What is clear is that B2B organizations see the lowest percentage of their bulk email sends opened.


The objective of an email send may influence the open rate for those sends. The data about open rates and email marketing objectives results in the graph shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10 should encourage marketers to employ less subtlety in crafting their marketing email messages.

This study’s data shows that when generating revenue is one of the objectives for email marketing, the average open rates are better.

When the objective is communicating with prospects, average open rates are the worst. While just speculation, the absence of a relationship between sender and receiver may underpin the reason for the latter.

FIGURE 10

When one of the email marketing objectives is generating revenue, open rates are better.

Average Open Rates and Objectives

Communicate with prospects

Capture data on subscribers

Communicate with customers

Build brand awareness

Generate revenue

44% 46% 46%

48%

47%

56% 54% 54%

52%

53%

Open rates 15% or less

Open rates 16% or more


As was the case in 2018, staffing and resource constraints pose a chal-lenge to email marketing success. Figure 11 shows a summary of the resources study participants use to support their email marketing efforts.

Firms in the 2019 study showed a marked increase in using outside resources and expertise, either through outsourcing or through blending resources with in-house email marketing efforts.

The resource mix for email marketing showed some major differences based on the B2B or B2C orientation of the firm:

FIGURE 11

There’s a greater tendency to use outside resources to support email marketing efforts in 2019.

Email Marketing Resources in Use

In house only

Outsourced only

Both Other resource

72%

35%59%

26%

5%

2%

1%

20182019

0%

B2B firms: 75% in-house only; 24% both in-house & outsourced

B2C firms: 48% in-house only; 50% both in-house & outsourced

B2C firms are more willing to invest in outside resources to help with their email marketing efforts.

Looking at the use of resources from Figure 9, using the average open rates in Figure 7 revealed no significant difference in which resources were in use. In other words, lower open rates were not associated with heavier reliance on one type of resource over another.

The resource use mix was virtually identical for open rates of 15 percent and below, and for 16 percent and above. Clearly, concerning open rates, other disciplines and best practices come into play.


Third on the list of challenges in this year’s study was email deliverability. Over one-third of the study participants have this challenge, compared to just one-fourth in 2018.

A way that some organizations attempt to address this challenge is by changing their email service provider (ESP) or adding a new, dedi-cated IP address. Figure 12 shows the frequency that study participants resorted to this remedy.

In the 2018 study, the survey simply asked participants a “yes” or “no” question about making a change to their ESP or IP. The 2019 survey made this question more granular to identify the specific type of change.

A comparison is still possible: in 2018, 57 percent changed neither, 24 percent made one or both changes, and 19 percent didn’t know.

The increase in the email deliverability challenge in this year’s study corresponds to an increase in making ESP, IP, or both changes in an effort to deal with this challenge.

Changes to ESP or IPFIGURE 12

Changed ESP & IPI don’t know

Changed IP

Changed ESP

Changed neither

13%30%

8%

60%38%

Almost one-third of the firms in the study made a change.


The reasons study participants gave for making an ESP or IP change are shown in Figure 13.

EMAIL MARKETING CHALLENGES

FIGURE 13

No, single reason for changing dominates the list.

Reasons for Changing ESP or IP

Technical limitations

Lack of custommer support

To get a fresh start

Diminishing email results

Cost Other reasonPoor email deliverability

Substandard user experience

32%

31% 29%

30%

25%

26% 24% 24%

23% 21%

19% 16% 15%

10%40%50%

20182019


Perhaps the most important question to answer regarding changing the ESP, IP, or both is, does this strategy work? Figure 14 shows the relation-ship between these changes and average open rates, which correlated in this study.

Figure 14 suggests that changing ESPs or dedicated IP addresses is a bad idea: the firms in this study that did experienced noticeably lower average email open rates.

However, when considering these results, readers should understand that:

Poor results are a leading cause of making a change in the first place.

The benefits of making a change are not immediately realized.

ESP/IP Changes and Open RatesFIGURE 14

Organizations that made no changes had higher, average open rates.



63%

51% 49%

37%

No change

Changed ESP, IP, or both

The lesson in this data is that marketers should ideally follow email marketing practices that eliminate the necessity to change ESPs or dedicated IP addresses.

When it is necessary, however, some patience is required to allow the changes time to heal the online reputation damage that precipitated the change.

1

2


In the pursuit of increased email marketing effectiveness, marketers use a number of tactics. This study continues to measure the use of known email marketing tactics, and results from this year and the 2018 survey are shown in Figure 15.


FIGURE 15

Almost half of the study’s participants report open rates of 15 percent or less.

Email Marketing Tactics

Email personalization

Email list management

Reactivation campaigns

Artificial intelligence

Subject line optimization

Multivariate testing

Other tacticEmail deliverability optimization

A/B testing

72%

68% 67%

63% 52% 51%

50%

50%

36% 25% 12%

11% 10% 4%

5%9%

36%

39%

20182019

The order of the three most popular tactics remains unchanged year-to-year, while the usage percentage shows slight changes. The big changes from last year come in greater adoption of email deliverability optimi-zation and A/B testing.

THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 26EMAIL MARKETING TACTICS & TECHNOLOGY

Of tremendous interest are the tactics in use by those in the study who enjoy the highest, average open rates for their bulk email sends. Figure 16 shows this view.

It seems obvious that those who enjoy higher average open rates are getting them because they use tactics that boost those rates.

FIGURE 16

Almost every tactic sees greater use by those with higher, average open rates.

Tactics in Use with Highest Average Open Rates

Email personalization

Email list management

Reactivation campaigns

Artificial intelligence

A/B testing Multivariate testing

Other tacticEmail deliverability optimization

Subject line optimization

Average Open Rate of 16% or more2019 Overall

Study participants that reported average open rates of 16 percent or greater also have higher adoption rates of the email marketing tactics, save one: AI, where the difference in usage is negligible.

Of particular note are the tactics that show much higher adoption:

72%

77% 69% 65% 64%

63% 52%

57%

51% 50%

46% 16%

11% 10% 4%

4%9%

36%

(+18%) Email deliverability optimization

(+15%) A/B testing

(+10%) Reactivation campaigns

Email marketers with higher average open rates are doing something different to get those opens, and Figure 16 provides insight into what they are doing differently.


A top tactic in both years of this study was email list management. Figure 17 shows some of the actions study participants take to manage their email lists.

FIGURE 17

Little change is seen year-to-year in list management actions.

Email List Maintenance Actions

Honor “opt out” requests

Use technology to remove

invalid email addresses

Purchase email addresses

Other actionAdd new email addresses organically

We don’t maintain our email

address list

Removed “bounced”

email addresses

Validate email addresses

with software/technology

The one area of noticeable change, and a very healthy one, is lower use of purchasing email addresses as a list management action. Email marketing pundits agree that the risks from adding purchased email addresses to lists far outweigh the benefits.

20182019

82%

82%

67%

67%68%

69% 19%

3% 3%

3%

9%

6%

31% 31%

27% 29%


Segmenting these list maintenance actions by average email open rates reveals some insights, shown in Figure 18.

FIGURE 18

Some email list maintenance actions are associated with higher average open rates.

Email List Maintenance and Average Open Rates

Honor “opt out” requests

Use technology to remove

invalid email addresses

Purchase email addresses

Other actionAdd new email addresses organically

We don’t maintain our email

address list

Removed “bounced”

email addresses

Validate email addresses

with software/technology

Figure 18 confirms the conventional wisdom that marketers have had long exposure to: honoring opt out requests and growing email lists organically are keys to better email marketing performance. These actions are in far greater use by those who enjoy higher average email open rates.

Open rates 15% or lessOpen rates 16% or more

78%

76%89%

66% 60%

71%

12%

4%

2%

5% 4%

3%

32% 32%

29%30%


Another top email marketing tactic in both years of this study is subject line optimization. Various levels of formality around this process exist, which are summarized in Figure 19.

FIGURE 19

One-third of study participants have no formal subject line optimization process.

Subject Line Optimization

Look at past campaign

performance

No subject line optimization

process

Copy what competitors do

Other strategyReview top performing

subject lines by industry

No formal optimization

process

Rely on technology to provide

recommendations

Comparing data across years, it seems that subject line optimization is a lower priority in the 2019 study. Over 40 percent either have no process at all, or no formal process for this critical element of email marketing.

20182019

2% 2%

2%7% 5%

6%

10% 10%

15% 13%36%

33% 33%

26%


Open rates will again serve as a filter to understand the potential impact of subject line optimization practices on open rates. Figure 20 compares low and high average open rates segments in the study.

FIGURE 20

Subject line optimization has a clear impact on average open rates.

Subject Line Optimization and Average Open Rates

Look at past campaign

performance

No subject line optimization

process

Copy what competitors do

Other strategyReview top performing

subject lines by industry

No formal optimization

process

Rely on technology to provide

recommendations

What Figure 20 makes obvious is that having a formal optimization process helps boost average email open rates, and that simply looking at past campaign performance does much to drive open rates in the right direction.

These relatively simple differences in behavior separate the segment with lower average open rates from the segment that enjoys higher rates.


2%

2%

1%8%

8% 8%6%

10%

10%

11%40%

38%28%

28%


Inbox placement technology can provide marketers with an under-standing of where their emails are really going. In this year’s study, 50 percent of the participants report using this technology, up substan-tially from 33 percent in 2018.

Figure 21 uses high and low average email open rate segments to show the impact this technology can have.

The Use of Inbox Placement Technology and

Average Open Rates

FIGURE 21

Inbox placement technology has greater adoption among those with higher average email open rates.

Yes I don’t knowNo

58%

31%45%

23% 19%

24%




FIGURE 22

Organizations with low average open rates have lower Sender Scores, or don’t know their score.

Use of Technology to Monitor Sender Score and

Average Open Rates

95% or greater 80 to 84% 70 to 74% Less than 70% I don’t know85 to 89%90 to 94% 75 to 79%

Sender Score is a measure of reputation for email marketers. It ranges from zero to 100, with higher scores related to better email deliverability. In 2018, just 19 percent of firms in the study were using technology such as Sender Score to determine how mailbox providers rated them. This year, the figure jumps to 45 percent.

Average Sender Score ratings are shown in Figure 22, segmented by high and low average email open rates.

Consistent with other segmentations of this study’s data around average email open rates, the expected outcome appears in Figure 22. The prac-tices that lead to higher Sender Scores have their desired result: higher average email open rates.


EMAIL MARKETING TACTICS & TECHNOLOGY

6% 4% 4% 4%

7% 10%2% 2%

2%

2%43%

62% 18%

15%19%

0%


Blacklist technology is yet another tool available to marketers to help them continuously monitor the IP addresses associated with their email sends. This technology alerts users if a monitored IP address lands on a blacklist, enabling taking action to remedy this problem.

Almost half (46 percent) of the study’s participants say they are using blacklist technology, a 19 percent increase over reported 2018 usage.

As Figure 23 shows, those who use this technology are more likely to enjoy higher average open rates for their bulk email sends.

The reason blacklist technology helps drive average email open rates higher is because it addresses the deliverability issue. Many emails sent from blacklisted IP addresses may never hit the recipients’ inbox, and therefore are never opened.

Using this technology helps ensure emails land in inboxes, where opening them becomes a possibility.

Use of Blacklist Technology and Average Email Open RatesFIGURE 23

Blacklist technology users report higher average email open rates.




51%

32% 25%

15%34%

43%


Better than avoiding having an IP address blacklisted is working to have your company appear on certified whitelists. Less than 30 percent of organizations in this study know if they are on a certified whitelist, roughly the same level reported in the 2018 study.

Figure 24 compares high and low average email open rates for appearing on certified whitelists.

To appear on a certified whitelist is a very good thing for an email marketer. However, this data suggests that it is more important to not be identi-fied as a bad email actor than it is to gain recognition for being a good email citizen by virtue of appearing on a certified whitelist.

Supporting this premise is the fact that over two-thirds of study partici-pants have not taken any email training or certification.

Certified White Lists and Open RateFIGURE 24

The differences in average open rate segments are slight.




48%

46%25%

19%33%

29%


It’s possible for email marketers to know a great deal about their subscribers if they choose to exploit the data that is at their disposal. Figure 25 summarizes what study participants say they know about major subscriber preferences.

The year-to-year differences for known subscriber preferences are negli-gible. Comparing the high and low average email open rate segments reveals two preferences with noticeable differences:


FIGURE 25

Many marketers know a great deal about subscribers.

Known Subscriber Preferences

Which mobile device they use

61%

Which email clients they use 52%

What time emails are opened 60%

Where (geolocation) they open emails 35%

Which browsers they use 55%

26%How long they spend reading emails

19%We don’t know any of the listed preferences

The delta for these two preferences is not coincidental. Time spent reading email is one of the best engagement indicators.

Furthermore, other studies report that most email is now read on a mobile device, and it stands to reason that marketers should want to understand which devices their subscribers use to enable message optimization.

1

2

How long subscribers spend reading emails: a 14-point delta.

20 percent for open rates of 15 percent or lower

34 percent for open rates of 16 percent or higher

Which mobile device subscribers use to read emails: a 11-point delta

56 percent for open rates of 15 percent or lower

67 percent for open rates of 16 percent or higher


Using Technology to Preview Emails Prior to SendingFIGURE 26

Using preview technology is associated with higher average email open rates.



EMAIL MARKETING SUBSCRIBERS

Marketers that wish to create a great customer experience must focus on every single touchpoint that customers have with brands, and that includes email.

Just over 70 percent of study participants use technology to preview email campaign sends across various devices and clients before sending, a slight increase from 2018.

Figure 26 displays the differences between average email open segments.

Generating previews is yet another example from this study of tech-nology that is available to help email marketers improve campaigns. Plenty of technology advantages are available to marketers who choose to use them.

A comprehensive email marketing plan includes having more advanced intelligence about the subscriber base:

Which competing brands are also emailing subscribers

Which days of the week are busiest for subscribers

What competitor email campaign metrics are

Over half (53 percent) of the participants in this year’s study have no visi-bility into these items, down from two-thirds in 2018.


79%

63% 26%

12%

11%

9%


Competitive Email Monitoring and Average Open RatesFIGURE 27

Those who practice competitor monitoring also enjoy higher average email open rates.



No monitoring of competitor’s efforts

Monitoring of competitor’s efforts

EMAIL MARKETING SUBSCRIBERS

Monitoring competitor email activity is an in-depth aspect of monitors that, in 2018, 57 percent of study participants failed to do.

The percentage is lower in the current survey year, with barely half who monitor competitor email activity. There are several forms that such monitoring might take:

Subscribe to their lists using an alias

Subscribe to their lists under a true identity

Use 3rd party software or technology to monitor

Monitor through cooperative partners or customers

Figure 27 shows the difference in average email open rates based on competitor monitoring.

Assuming that marketers exploit the insights that come from monitoring competitor activity, doing so appears to impact average open rates.

61%

50% 50%

39%


It’s possible for email marketers to know a great deal about their subscribers if they choose to.

As this and many of the graphs in this report show, many factors influ-ence average email open rates. Open rates are an important metric because the actions that marketers hope for from a bulk email send require that recipients open messages.

However, the act of opening an email isn’t the end game–a conversion is, and that conversion is quite often a click.

A strong correlation exists between open and click rates, and Figure 28 shows this relationship using the now familiar high and low average email open rates.

The relationship between open and click rates is not as intuitive as some may conclude. A message with a compelling subject line, sent from a company on a certified whitelist, may fail to generate clicks due to poorly written email body copy.

Conversely, a brilliant email message is easily foiled through a bad subject line or failure to test.

This relationship between open and click rates suggests, more than anything, that marketers that follow best practices to ensure email opens apply that same level of care to crafting messages that generate conversions.


FIGURE 28

Higher open rates lead to higher click rates.

Relationship Between Open and Click Rates

6 to 8%15% or more 3 to 5%12 to 14% 9 to 11% Less than 3%

1% 2%

11% 11%

11%

16% 16%

18%

23% 23%

35% 33%



THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 41EMAIL MARKETING PERFORMANCE

Certified Whitelist Appearance and Revenue GrowthFIGURE 29

Organizations that appear on certified whitelists are more likely to experience revenue growth.

Increase in revenue growth

Decline in revenue growth

Flat revenue

No/ I don’t know

Yes

One final correlation will bring this report to a conclusion. The pres-ence of an organization on a certified whitelist (Figure 24) correlates to revenue growth. Figure 29 summarizes this relationship.

What the data from Figure 29 affirms is that where email marketing is concerned, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The characteristics of organizations that are intentional about ensuring that their email marketing practices earn them a place on a certified whitelist are the same characteristics that lead to revenue growth.

Perhaps this is obvious, much like saying that a person who goes to the gym regularly is in better physical shape. But the relationship between email marketing and revenue growth (Figure 5) emerged in the 2018 study, and appears again in this year’s study.

75%

69% 25%

10%

6%

15%


Analyst Bottom Line and Recommendations



Marketers should strive to achieve high levels of email marketing effectiveness.

The cost of email is low relative to other channels, and when compared to the potential return on email marketing, the ROIs are often high.

Despite the volume of data this report shares, the email marketing strategy is simple:

Analyst Bottom Line

1 Ensure that emails have the highest possible inbox placement rate

2 Craft subject lines and use tactics that generate the highest possible open rate

3 Construct messages and use tactics that generate as many clicks (conversions) as possible


Set bold objectives.

Like any initiative, email marketing needs direction. Setting bold objectives for an email marketing program helps drive the action and attention to detail that lead to greater effectiveness.

In this study, participants with the highest average email open rates were more likely to have revenue generation as one of their email objectives.

1 Maintain your list.

It’s far too easy to forget about maintaining your subscriber list, but failing to do so steadily erodes open rates.

This study shows that honoring “opt out” requests, adding new email addresses organically, and removing bounced email addresses are the maintenance actions that have the greatest influence on open rates.

3

Use the right tactics.

Figure 16 lists a number of email tactics, and the use of any of them is associated with higher average open rates. Specifically, email deliverability optimization, A/B testing, and reactivation campaigns were particularly strong at driving more opens.

2 Optimize your subject lines.

Perhaps no other aspect of an email message has more to do with generating an open than the subject line. Yet, creating a subject line is often a last-minute task to which little thought is given.

Where subject lines are concerned, simply looking at past campaign performance and learning from it was the single practice having the biggest impact on open rates.

4

Recommendations

A number of recommendations come out of this study to help marketers execute this strategy at the highest level of effectiveness:

THE STATE OF EMAIL MARKETING 2019 45RECOMMENDATIONS

What’s important for marketers to understand about achieving greater email marketing effectiveness is that the study identifies no single “game changing” practice that yields exponentially better results.

Instead, it is through the adoption of all the recommended practices and technologies that in aggregate will help marketers attain the highest possible performance from their email marketing efforts.

Leverage technology.

This study references a number of technologies, and the use of any of them – inbox placement, Sender Score, blacklist, preview, and certified whitelist technology – relate to higher average open rates.

5

Know your subscribers.

Failing to learn subscriber preferences compromises the effectiveness of email marketing efforts. The study found that two preferences in particular relate to higher average open rates: knowing how long subscribers spend reading emails, and knowing which mobile device subscribers use to read emails.

6

Know your competitors.

The study shows that monitoring competitor email activity, either as a subscriber or using third-party technology, relates to higher average open rates.

7


Demand Metric is grateful to ReturnPath for sponsoring this research, and for those who took the time to complete the study survey.

Acknowledgements

Demand Metric is a global research and advisory firm that supports marketing professionals with primary research and benchmark reports, technology research and advice, consulting services, training, and software.

Demand Metric’s core focus is to help B2B marketing organizations grow revenue by operationalizing the best practices discovered in our research.

To learn more about Demand Metric, sign up for a free membership at www.demandmetric.com

Validity is the most trusted name in customer data quality. Tens of thou-sands of organizations rely on Validity solutions – including Demand-Tools, BriteVerify, Trust Assessments, Return Path and GridBuddy – to target, contact, engage, and retain customers effectively.

Marketing, sales, and customer success teams worldwide trust Validity solutions to help them create smarter campaigns, generate leads, drive response, and increase revenue. Validity is headquartered in Boston’s Back Bay and has offices in Tampa, Denver, Sao Paulo, Sydney and London.

www.validity.com

http://www.demandmetric.com

http://www.validity.com


This 2019 Email Marketing Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of June 27 through July 19, 2019. During this period, 315 responses were collected, 293 of which were qualified and complete enough for inclusion in the analysis. Only valid or correlated findings are shared in this report.

Appendix: Survey Background

The representativeness of this study’s results depends on the similarity of the sample to environments in which this survey data is used for comparison or guidance.

Summarized below is the basic categorization data collected about respondents to enable filtering and analysis of the data:

TYPE OF BUSINESS/MARKET FOCUS

Mostly B2B

Significant

increase

Modest increaseMixed B2B/B2C

Flat

Mostly B2C

Modest decrease

Non-profit Significant decrease

30%15%

54%40%

18%22%

8%8% 5%

REVENUE GROWTH ENVIRONMENT IN MOST RECENT FISCAL YEAR

© Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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2019 SENDER SCORE BENCHMARK

22019 Sender Score Benchmark returnpath.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page 3 Introduction

Page 4 Percentage of Send Volume by Sender Score Band

Page 5 Average Complaint Rate by Sender Score Band

Page 6 Average Unkown User Rate by Sender Score Band

Page 7 Average Spam Trap Count by Sender Score Band

Page 8 Average Delivered Rate by Sender Score Band

Pages 9-10 Inbox Placement Rate by Sender Score at the Top Four Mailbox Providers

Page 11 Average Sender Score and Inbox Placement Rate by Industry

Page 12 Building and Maintaining a Strong Reputation

Page 13 Methodology

© 2019 Return Path, Inc.. All Rights Reserved. Return Path, and the Return Path logo are registered trademarks of Return Path, Inc. These materials may not be reproduced or distributed in any way without the written permission of Return Path, Inc.



INTRODUCTION

Reaching the inbox is always a challenge. While marketers might feel that mailbox providers are being unreasonably strict, there is a reason for this. There is a lot of bad email being sent. Last year alone saw over 600 billion emails from spammers.

Mailbox providers have these strict protocols in place not to block legitimate senders, but to keep spammers and harmful content out of their users’ inboxes. To identify the “good” from the “bad,” mailbox providers judge an incoming sender’s reputation when determining what email to allow or block from their inboxes. A sender’s reputation is calculated using a variety of metrics, and each mailbox provider has its own formula to judge whether or not to accept incoming mail and where to filter it.

Marketers who are aiming for the inbox use Return Path’s Sender Score to discover and track their sender reputation and learn how mailbox providers perceive their messages. Similar to a credit score, Sender Score is an evaluation of your sending practices compared to other senders to determine the quality of your messages and your email program. A marketer’s Sender Score is expressed as a number between 0 and 100. Sender Score uses data points and reputation formulas similar to what mailbox providers use to give a relatively accurate representation of how mailbox providers view your email.

In this report, we will discuss some of the factors that go into both Sender Score and mailbox providers’ reputation calculations. In addition, we’ll take a look at the impact these elements on your sending reputation, and how your reputation affects your deliverability.

To get the most out of this report, look up your Sender Score and use it to understand how mailbox providers are viewing your program.


https://www.senderscore.org/?sfdc=701000000006edB


THE STATE OF EMAIL REPUTATION

The quality of email programs has improved dramatically since our first Sender Score Benchmark in 2012 when botnets ruled and spammed the world. At that time, a staggering 60 percent of messages sent came from IP addresses with a Sender Score below 11. Today, only 16 percent of email scored below 11. While the drop in spam over the last eight years can mostly be attributed to the takedown of botnets, email marketers are also more aware of reputational risks and have more tools and solutions at their disposal to monitor and solve reputation issues.

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

5%8%

12%

42%

3%

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

2%1%

10%

16%

2018 Send Volume Breakdown

SENDER SCORE BAND

PERC

ENTA

GE

OF

TOTA

L VO

LUM

E SE

NT

PERCENTAGE OF SEND VOLUMEBY SENDER SCORE BAND

0%

1%



METRICS THAT INFLUENCE SENDER REPUTATION

While each mailbox provider has its own formula which assigns different weights and values to various components of sender reputation, the factors they include are generally the same. Three key metrics that factor into sender reputation are complaint rate, unknown user rate, and spam trap count.

These metrics are included in reputation calculations because they provide insight into a sender’s mailing practices. Those with low complaint and unknown rates and few spam trap hits are seen as reputable senders and receive a higher reputation score. As a result, inbox placement tends to be higher for these senders.

COMPLAINTS

A complaint is generated when a mailbox user marks a message as junk or spam. A high complaint rate signals to mailbox providers that users perceive the message as spam or abuse, and helps the mailbox provider to automatically detect similar spam or abuse messages in the future.

Senders with a Sender Score above 90 were the only ones who managed to maintain a complaint rate below one percent. Those with a Sender Score between zero to 90 had a sharp increase in average complaint rate, ranging from 4.6 percent to 6.3 percent.

Average complaint rates more than doubled from last year for senders scoring between 11 and 100. Complaints can originate from various sources for a variety of reasons.

Read the Marketer’s Guide to Subscriber Complaints to understand

where complaints are coming from and why.

2.0%

3.0%

0.0%

6.0%

8.0%

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

2018 Average Complaint Rate

SENDER SCORE BAND

2017 Average Complaint Rate

CO

MPL

AIN

T RA

TE

6.3%5.6%

4.7%

0.9%

5.4%

4.7%4.6%4.6%

5.3%

6.3%

AVERAGE COMPLAINT RATEBY SENDER SCORE BAND


https://returnpath.com/downloads/email-subscriber-complaints-ebook/?sfdc=7011G000000cIoS

https://returnpath.com/thanks/secrets-of-best-in-class-senders/

https://returnpath.com/downloads/email-subscriber-complaints-ebook/?sfdc=7011G000000cIoS


UNKNOWN USERS

An unknown user is a type of bounced message indicating that an email address doesn’t exist at the receiving mailbox provider. Mailbox providers return a hard bounce code (5xx) indicating when email is sent to an unknown user. Senders who not only retain unknown users but send to a high percentage of them are perceived by mailbox providers as suspicious or having poor list hygiene practices. A high unknown user rate can cause your messages to be throttled, delivered to the spam folder, or blocked.

Senders with Sender Scores above 90 tend to keep relatively clean lists, with average unknown user rates of one percent. The next highest band (81-90) saw an average of three percent, with the rest (zero-80) maintaining an average between six and eight percent.

In most cases, marketers should immediately remove addresses that return a 5xx hard bounce code. To learn about the different types of bounces and how

to process them, read the Email Marketer’s Guide to Bounce Processing.

4%

6%

2%

0%

10%

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

2018 Average Unknown User Rate

SENDER SCORE BAND

2017 Average Unknown User Rate

8%

AVERAGE UNKNOWN USER RATEBY SENDER SCORE BAND

AVER

AGE

UN

KNO

WN

USE

R RA

TE

7.2%

6.1%

3.2%

0.9%

7.2%

6.2%

7.5%8.2%

5.5%

6.3%

METRICS THAT INFLUENCE SENDER REPUTATION continued


https://returnpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The_Email_Marketers_Guide_to_Bounce_Processing.pdf?sfdc=701000000006edB





METRICS THAT INFLUENCE SENDER REPUTATION continued

SPAM TRAPS

Spam traps are decoy email addresses used to identify spammers. There are two types of spam traps:

• Pristine spam traps are decoy accounts that aren’t owned by a real person and therefore never subscribe to mailing lists. Mail received at these accounts indicates the email address was acquired without permission, and may also indicate it was acquired through illegal methods such as harvesting.

• Recycled traps are addresses that were once held by a user, but have been abandoned and converted into spam traps.

Senders with a Sender Score above 90 were the most successful at keeping their lists clean with an average of 0.41 spam traps. Senders scoring 50 and below saw an average of around one or more spam trap hits, with those scoring below 11 seeing an average of 3.09 spam traps.

2

0

6

4

8

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

2018 Average Spam Trap Count

SENDER SCORE BAND

2017 Average Spam Trap Count

AVER

AGE

SPA

M T

RAP

CO

UN

T

AVERAGE SPAM TRAP COUNTBY SENDER SCORE BAND

0.49

1.220.57 0.410.60

0.98

2.162.071.89

3.09

To keep your program safe, make sure you understand the different types of spam traps and how to identify and remove them. Also, consider investing in a list validation service to help you identify and remove traps on your list and

avoid acquiring new ones.






https://blog.returnpath.com/its-a-trap-avoiding-and-removing-spam-traps/

https://blog.returnpath.com/its-a-trap-avoiding-and-removing-spam-traps/

https://returnpath.com/solutions/email-deliverability-optimization/real-time-email-validation/


A sender’s delivered rate measures the percentage of messages that aren’t bounced or rejected by mailbox providers’ gateway filters. The delivered rate does not show which folder the messages were then delivered to—primarily the inbox or the spam folder—but it does factor out any messages that have no hope of being seen by subscribers.

In 2018, senders scoring above 90 had an average delivered rate of 91 percent. Those who fell one band below (81-90) saw less mail delivered, with an average of 71 percent. The remaining senders—those scoring between zero and 80—saw more than half of their messages rejected at the gateway. Those scoring above 60 also saw a slight year-over-year increase in delivered rates.

DEL

IVER

ED R

ATE

25%

50%

75%

100%

2018 Average Delivered Rate 2017 Average Delivered Rate

0%

SENDER SCORE BAND

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

AVERAGE DELIVERED RATEBY SENDER SCORE BAND

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

28%

44%

71%

91%

15%8%8%8%

3%1%

AVERAGE DELIVERED RATE BY SENDER SCORE BRAND



After passing the gateway (the delivered rate shown on the previous page), emails are then subjected to additional filters. These filters—including both reputation-based filtering and engagement-based filtering—determine which folder each message is finally delivered to.

As discussed previously, each mailbox provider has its own unique formula for evaluating reputation. Although, the factors that weigh into this analysis are generally the same. As a result of the different formulas, senders may experience different inbox placement rates at different mailbox providers.

In the graph on the right, you can see the impact these different filtering formulas have on inbox placement rates at Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL. It’s worth noting that each mailbox provider’s inbox acceptance generally increases with a higher Sender Score and better sending practices.

50%

25%

100%

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

AOL2018

SENDER SCORE BAND

Gmail2018

Microso�2018

Yahoo2018

AOL2017

Gmail2017

Microso�2017

Yahoo2017

75%

INBOX PLACEMENT RATE BY SENDER SCOREAT TOP FOUR MAILBOX PROVIDERS

INBO

X PL

ACEM

ENT

RATE

INBOX PLACEMENT AT THE TOP FOUR MAILBOX PROVIDERS


https://returnpath.com/downloads/the-2019-hidden-metrics-of-email-deliverability/?sfdc=7011G000000gZpy



Microsoft remained the hardest mailbox to reach in 2018 with even the best senders only reaching the inbox 72 percent of the time. Senders did see a slight increase in deliverability compared to the previous year with most bands seeing an increase in inbox placement rates.

Senders saw slightly higher inbox placement at Gmail, with the top senders managing an average inbox placement rate of 88 percent. Senders were more successful in reaching Gmail inboxes compared to the previous year, with increases ranging from seven to 27 percentage points.

At Yahoo, the top senders had an average inbox placement rate of 88 percent. However, most senders found reaching Yahoo inboxes harder compared to the prior year with decreases ranging between one and five percentage points.

AOL remained the easiest mailbox provider to reach, with the best senders achieving an average of 93 percent inbox placement--although deliverability at AOL changed dramatically year over the year. AOL, which was acquired by Verizon Media Group, migrated its email filtering to Yahoo (also owned by Verizon Media Group) over the summer and fall of 2018. With a new filtering system in place, inbox placement rates at AOL decreased by four to 56 percentage points.

The chart on the right shows that sender reputation filtering is still important in spam filtering algorithms. However, a high Sender Score on its own doesn’t translate to higher inbox placement rates. Subscriber engagement, a mailbox provider’s own reputation calculations, and the content in the incoming message—none of which are included in Sender Score calculations—all factor into each mailbox provider’s final filtering determinations.

INBOX PLACEMENT AT THE TOP FOUR MAILBOX PROVIDERS continued

INBOX PLACEMENT RATE BY SENDER SCOREAT TOP FOUR MAILBOX PROVIDERS

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

Microsoft 2017

Yahoo 2017

AOL 2017

Gmail 2017

87% 90% 92% 95% 97%84%80%84%83%75%

31% 46% 67% 69% 81%22%22%26%18%8%

38% 53% 69% 66% 72%25%26%27%21%17%

45% 63% 76% 81% 91%38%36%33%32%21%

43% 68% 79% 85% 93%37%34%34%28%26%

54% 73% 79% 80% 88%44%47%46%41%26%

45% 63% 70% 64% 72%37%34%34%26%19%

43% 62% 72% 76% 88%36%39%36%31%22%

51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-10041-5031-4021-3011-201-10

Microsoft 2018

Yahoo 2018

AOL 2018

SENDER SCOREBAND

Gmail 2018




AVERAGE SENDER SCORE ANDINBOX PLACEMENT RATE BY INDUSTRY

BANKING & FINANCE 91% 93 92 1

GENERAL MERCHANDISE 91% 95 93 2

DEALS & REWARDS 86% 96 94 2

HEALTH & BEAUTY 81% 88 90 -2

DISTRIBUTION & MANUFACTURING 89% 92 90 2

SERVICE 89% 94 93 1

SPORTING GOODS 84% 96 95 1

COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS 89% 94 94 0

FLOWERS & GIFTS 83% 95 95 0

REAL ESTATE 84% 94 93 1

AUTOMOTIVE 86% 94 94 0

INSURANCE 91% 96 94 2

JOBS 83% 93 93 0

MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT 85% 92 92 0

SOCIAL & DATING 83% 95 92 3

TECHNOLOGY/SOFTWARE/INTERNET 87% 93 91 2

TELECOMMUNICATION 79% 75 81 -6

BUSINESS & MARKETING 82% 95 93 2

EDUCATION/NONPROFIT/GOVERNMENT 81% 93 93 0

FOOD & DRUG 88% 95 94 1

APPAREL & ACCESSORIES 87% 95 95 0

HOUSEHOLD & HOME IMPROVEMENT 87% 95 94 1

KIDS & BABIES 86% 95 95 0

OFFICE SUPPLIES 87% 93 93 0

PETS 87% 96 94 2

TOYS/HOBBIES/CRAFTS 82% 84 89 -5

TRAVEL 89% 94 93 1

INDUSTRY

2017AVERAGESENDERSCORE

2018AVERAGESENDERSCORE

DIFFERENCE

2018AVERAGE

INBOXPLACEMENT

RATE

To help marketers evaluate their own email program against their peers, we dug into Sender Score performance by industry. The chart on this page shows the average Sender Score and inbox placement rate for more than 17,000 commercial senders, broken out by industry. As only legitimate commercial senders are included, these numbers provide a relatively accurate reflection of how each industry is performing.

In 2018, most industries had average Sender Scores above 90, with deals and rewards, insurance, and pets achieving the highest average at 96. Telecommunication companies struggled with reputation, posting the lowest average Sender Score at 76.

Most industries saw either no change or a slight increase in average Sender Score year over year. Health & beauty, telecommunication, and toys/hobbies/gifts were the only industries to have a decline in Sender Score, with telecommunications seeing the greatest decrease of six points.

AVERAGE SENDER SCORE AND INBOX PLACEMENT RATE BY INDUSTRY

Find more information about how to reach inboxes at the top mailbox providers in the Marketers Guide to Gmail, Outlook.com, and Yahoo.


https://returnpath.com/downloads/email-marketing-field-guide/?sfdc=70137000000EVr4






As you can see, your reputation is a strong factor in your ability to reach the inbox. However, many elements can cause your reputation, and (as a result) your deliverability, to decline.

To build and maintain a strong reputation, focus on the following:

Keep your list clean The quality of your list is a big factor for your reputation. Make sure you are routinely checking your list for unengaged users who may be spam traps in disguise. Run your list through a list validation service to make sure all your emails are owned by real people and check every new email you add to your list.

Know all the blacklists and make sure you are not listed Blacklisting is another factor to mailbox providers filtering formulas and each mailbox provider uses different ones to different degrees. Make sure you know which blacklists are available and how to get delisted. And routinely check that your IP address is not listed anywhere.

Sign up for feedback loops Feedback loops help marketers identify when subscribers complain about their messages, allowing them to resolve the complaint and avoid future ones from the same user. Most mailbox providers offer their own feedback loop services. You can learn more about the different types of feedback loops and how to set them up here.

Check Sender Score Before you send a campaign, check your Sender Score. Your Sender Score can fluctuate based on the results of your recent activity. Rather than find out after you send your campaign that you have a problem, check your latest reputation score and resolve any issues. Once your Sender Score has improved, your messages are more likely to reach subscribers.

BUILDING AND MAINTAINING A STRONG REPUTATION


https://returnpath.com/downloads/blacklisted-black-friday/

https://www.senderscore.org/blocklistlookup/

https://blog.returnpath.com/what-is-a-feedback-loop/


To conduct this study, Return Path analyzed more than 4 trillion messages sent during 2018 from IP addresses whose Sender Score was calculated, and whose subscriber engagement and inbox placement data were available for analysis. In addition to Sender Score data, this report used data from the Return Path Reputation Network to track inbox placement rates across mailbox providers, and the Return Path Consumer Network to identify the Sender Score and inbox placement rates of more than 17,000 commercial senders. Data used for this report is aggregated and anonymized, and is not limited to Return Path clients. Sender Score is a free reputation calculation service and is available at senderscore.org.

METHODOLOGY


http://www.senderscore.org/?sfdc=701000000006edB


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