Deliverability Rates are FallingLearn the Reasons Why and How to Prevent ItTom Sather, Sr. Director, Research, Return Path

The inbox is the center of most consumers’ digital lives.

Your inbox knows a lot about you

Email Marketing is Alive and Well

72% of consumers say that email is

their favored communication with companies they do

business with

Email marketers in 2015 report an

average ROI of 222% on their email

investment

66% of consumers have made a

purchase online as a direct result of an email marketing

message

The Path to the Inbox

Deliverability Defined

Deliverabilityde·liver·a·bili·ty n.To bring or transport to the proper place or recipient. distribute: deliver groceries; deliver the mail.

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Undeliverable as Addressed

Email Deliverability Defined

The ability to deliver email to a subscriber’s inbox.

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Monitor Your Inbox Placement Rate, Not Delivered

#50EmailTips 11

Delivered Rate= (Total Sent – Bounces) / Total Sent

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Inbox Placement Rate

= ((Total Sent – Bounces) – Spam) / Total Sent

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2016 Deliverability Benchmarks

Global Inbox Placement Rates

Source: 2016 Deliverability Benchmark

USA Inbox Placement Rates

Source: 2016 Deliverability Benchmark

Canada Inbox Placement Rates

Source: 2016 Deliverability Benchmark

UK Inbox Placement Rates

Source: 2016 Deliverability Benchmark

Australia Inbox Placement Rates

Source: 2016 Deliverability Benchmark

How Marketers Can Improve Deliverability

Understand the basics of deliverability

and how to measure

Build and improve sending reputation

Acquire and maintain quality lists

Focus on subscriber engagement

The Challenge of Measuring Email Deliverability

Bounce Logs

Personal Inbox

Direct Data

Seeds

Pros:• Can pre-test campaigns• Accurate, real-time

results• View of Inbox, Spam and

Missing/Blocked campaigns

• 100+ Inbox Coverage• Convenience

Cons:• Engagement filtering may

not be factored

Measuring Deliverability from Seeds

Subscriber Panel

Pros:• Larger, more accurate

sample size• Subscriber behavior• No set up required

Cons:• Only available for

Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and AOL domains

• Doesn’t account for blocked or missing campaigns

• Cannot pre-test campaigns

Measuring Deliverability from a Subscriber Panel

The Best Way to Measure Deliverability

Seeds + Subscriber Panel

Understand the basics of reputation

Your Reputation Defines Your Deliverability

ComplaintsQuality of Subscriber File

Email Infrastructure

Engagement Sending History Message Quality

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Find out your reputation

www.senderscore.org

High Sender Score = High Inbox Placement Rate

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Source: Return Path 2016 Sender Score Benchmark Report

Subscriber Complaints Cause Major Reputation Issues

How Unknown Users Impact Reputation

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Spam Trap Reputation Impact

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Authenticate

Failing authentication can cause deliverability issues

#50EmailTips 39

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Top Spam Filter Reasons: Content vs. Quality

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Acquiring and Maintaining Quality Lists

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What are your most important list goals?

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Email List Strategy Survey/Business-to-Consumer

ChannelPublished April 2016 by Return Path in

Partnership with Ascend2

How are list sizes changing?

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Email List Strategy Survey/Business-to-Consumer ChannelPublished April 2016 by Return Path in Partnership with Ascend2

List Quality is Increasing

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Email List Strategy Survey/Business-to-Consumer ChannelPublished April 2016 by Return Path in Partnership with Ascend2

What are the most effective, difficult ways to grow email lists?

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Email List Strategy Survey/Business-to-Consumer Channel

Published April 2016 by Return Path in Partnership with Ascend2

Issue Frequency

Low read rate 26%

High subscriber complaints 21%

High number of inactive users 19%

Sending to spam traps 7%

Content fingerprinted as spam

4%

83%

17%

79%

21%

Deliverability Tied to List Quality

Focus on Enagagement

Inbox Engagement vs. Email Engagement

Inbox Engagement• Regularly logs-in• Reads and sends email• Files email• TIS/TINS

Email Engagement• Opens• Clicks• Shares• Purchases

Important Engagement Metrics

“This is Not Spam” – Rarely used, But Highly Trusted

“This is Not Spam” and Deliverability

Source: Return Path “This is Not Spam” Report

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My email campaign went to spam. Sad!

Opens Decline as Spam Increases

Grow a quality list

Don’t fear higher frequencies

Keep complaints to a minimum

Emails and Texts from Hillary

1. Can we grab your number?2. Want to get texts from

Hillary?3. The official text message

list4. Want to stay in the loop

with Team Hillary? Sign up for texts:

Can we grab your number?

Lessons Learned from the Candidates1. Establish a sending

history and reputation

2. Be cautious of acquiring or renting email lists

3. Don’t ignore list quality

4. Leverage live events5. Keep it simple and to

the point6. Earned media can be

your best friend and your worst enemy

1. Grow a large, quality list

2. Test, test, test3. Segment your list4. Keep negative

engagement measures down

5. Optimize for reach and action

returnpath.com/emailforpresident

Let’s Connect

Tom SatherSenior Director, Research

Tom.sather@returnpath.com303.999.3116@tom_sather@returnpathhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tsather

http://blog.returnpath.com