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One of our <a href="https://convertkit.com/mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">values</a> at ConvertKit is to work in public. We strive for transparency, which is why we share information that is typically kept private, such as our <a href="https://convertkit.baremetrics.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">finances</a>.
One commonly asked question by creators looking for a new email marketing platform is, “How is your email deliverability?”
Here is our monthly deliverability report to answer that question:
If you missed previous Deliverability reports, you can check them out below:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/september-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">September 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/october-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/november-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 2020</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>In December, ConvertKit sent over 1.2 billion messages (1,271,507,313 to be exact).</h2>
When messages are sent, they can be delivered or they can bounce. For more details on how email deliverability operates, check out our blog post <a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/email-deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. But for a little TLDR- The more messages delivered, the better!
It is inevitable for some messages to bounce due to invalid addresses, full mailboxes, etc., but a good delivery rate indicates healthy deliverability for ConvertKit. We consider a system-wide delivery rate of 98% and above to be very healthy.
<h2>In December, our system-wide delivery rate was 99%.</h2>
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-31574 size-full lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fm=png" alt="ConvertKit December 2020 Email Delivery Rate" width="1500" height="1016" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=406&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=694&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=520&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=400&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=240&amp;w=354 354w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1040&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1387&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/vzAXwiaw-DECEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fm=png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" />
This high delivery rate indicates a healthy reputation for ConvertKit, which gives our customers a solid foundation for their email deliverability. To get even more detailed about how well we’re performing, it helps to filter down by mailbox provider.
Here are the top 5 domains ConvertKit sends to in terms of volume:
1. Gmail.com 
Volume: 752 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.61%
2. Yahoo.com 
Volume: 135 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.75%
3. Hotmail.com 
Volume: 95 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.38%
4. AOL.com 
Volume: 30 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.92%
5. Outlook.com 
Volume: 12 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.49%
<h2>The average open rate of all emails sent through ConvertKit was 29%.</h2>
Senders often ask how their open rates stack up to others. Truth is, open rates can vary greatly depending on your industry and audience type (B2B vs. freemail addresses, for example). However, here’s a general scale you can use to measure your performance:
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-26179 size-full lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="ConvertKit Sender Reputation" width="750" height="508" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=406&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=400&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=240&amp;w=354 354w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=694&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1040&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1387&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fm=pjpg 750w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable in <a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/email-deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this article</a>.
<h2>The average click rate across ConvertKit accounts was 5.42%.</h2>
Similarly, the average click-to-open rate was 16.15%. This is calculated by dividing the number of subscribers who clicked a link by the number of subscribers who opened the email.
<h2>Our system-wide complaint rate remained over 10x lower than industry standard</h2>
A complaint is when a subscriber marks a message as spam. An elevated complaint rate is a signal that the sender’s quality of mail isn’t good. We have a team dedicated to ensuring that the mail sent from ConvertKit is wanted by the recipients.
In the email industry, a complaint rate less than 0.1% is seen as healthy. ConvertKit’s complaint rate in December was 0.008%, which speaks to the high quality of mail sent by our customers and the healthy reputation of our infrastructure.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">
<h2>Deliverability tip of the month:</h2>
Keep a close eye on how often you’re emailing your subscribers!
It’s easy to get caught up in creating sequences and broadcasts, forgetting about the experience of the subscribers on your list. I often work with senders who don’t realize they are sending multiple emails per day to their subscribers which leads to an elevated number of spam complaints.
For most senders, it’s best not to send more than one email to any given subscriber per day. On the other hand, it’s important to send frequently enough that your sender reputation can be maintained. Make sure to send at least one message per month to subscribers in order to sustain healthy deliverability.</blockquote>
<h2>Industry news and ConvertKit updates</h2>
<h3>Gmail had an outage on December 14th and 15th</h3>
ConvertKit automatically re-activated subscribers and re-sent emails that were impacted by this outage. To learn more about the outage and how ConvertKit took action, <a href="https://community.convertkit.com/post/update-on-the-gmail-outage-5fdcf347ad5e3f988a326d59" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out our Community post here</a>.
<h3>Feature spotlight: Subscriber scoring</h3>
Have you checked out the Creator Pro plan yet? My favorite feature that’s included in this new ConvertKit plan is hands down subscriber scoring.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-31576 size-full lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fm=png" alt="ConvertKit subscriber scoring" width="2880" height="1086" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=226&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=386&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=290&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=579&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=772&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=724&amp;w=1920 1920w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=222&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=147&amp;w=390 390w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/bVbX9940-engagement-graph.png?fm=png 2880w" sizes="(max-width: 2880px) 100vw, 2880px" />
Each of your subscribers will be given a score from 1 star to 5 stars based on their engagement. The more engaged a subscriber is, the higher their score will be. This feature makes re-engaging and cleaning up your list so much better. You’re able to treat subscribers differently based on their level of engagement, and use the different scoring levels to decide which subscribers should be removed from your list.
<a href="https://help.convertkit.com/en/articles/4368143-creator-pro-subscriber-scoring" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Check out this Knowledge Base article for more details.</a>

ConvertKit’s December 2020 Deliverability Report

Connect with your audience

Alyssa Dulin

ConvertKit’s November 2020 Deliverability Report

Writer David Perell’s approach to getting thousands of new email subscribers