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One of our <a href="https://convertkit.com/mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">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 noreferrer">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: 
<a href="https://convertkit.com/january-2020-deliverabilty-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">January 2020</a> 
<a href="https://convertkit.com/february-2020-deliverabilty-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">February 2020</a> 
<a href="https://convertkit.com/march-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">March 2020</a>
<h2>In April, ConvertKit sent over 1 billion messages (1,076,866,639 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/sender-reputation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">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 April, our system-wide delivery rate was 98.9%</h2>
<img decoding="async" loading="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-24475 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fm=png" alt="April-20 System wide deliverability rate for ConvertKit" width="1500" height="1016" />
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: 602 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.55%
2. Yahoo.com 
Volume: 110 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.89%
3. Hotmail.com 
Volume: 104 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.87%
4. AOL.com 
Volume: 27 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.92%
5. Outlook.com 
Volume: 12 million messages 
Delivery rate: 99.87%
<h2>The average open rate of all emails sent through ConvertKit was 32.3%.</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 decoding="async" loading="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-22483 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/1agZhVrD-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="April 20 Sender Reputation" width="750" height="508" />
I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable<a href="https://convertkit.com/sender-reputation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> in this article</a>.
<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 April was 0.009%, which speaks to the high quality of mail sent by our customers and the healthy reputation of our infrastructure.
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<h2>Deliverability tip of the month:</h2>
In order to keep your sender reputation healthy, be sure you are protected from listbombing. To learn more about what listbombing is, how it impacts deliverability, how to prevent it, and how to identify bot signups,<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4QMxd5jz3o" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> check out this quick video</a>.
<img decoding="async" loading="" class="size-full wp-image-25201 aligncenter lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/mWefjEb3-Tuesday-Tips-Preventin-bots-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="Tuesday Tips Preventin bots" width="2560" height="1440" /></blockquote>
<h2>Industry news and ConvertKit updates</h2>
<h3>We’re launching a deliverability podcast!</h3>
<img decoding="async" loading="" class="size-full wp-image-25200 aligncenter lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/YGyWavp2-Deliverability-Defined-podcast.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="Deliverability Defined podcast" width="1400" height="1400" />
Coming June 16th, I’ll be hosting a deliverability podcast along with my co-host, Melissa Lambert. Each week, we’ll dive deep into topics such as sender reputation, spam traps, and more. This podcast will help equip you with the knowledge you need to land in the inbox of your subscribers, leading to more successful email marketing.
Want to receive an email notification when the podcast is live? <a href="https://deliverability-defined.ck.page/d1d644385c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up here.</a>
<h3>Tabs might be coming to Outlook and Hotmail</h3>
You’re probably very familiar with Gmail’s Promotions, Social, and Updates tabs. It appears that Microsoft might be working on rolling out a similar feature within Hotmail and Outlook.
Some Hotmail and Outlook users have reported that they have the option to turn on Promotions, Social, and Newsletters tabs. Microsoft will still have a Focused tab that operates like the Primary tab in Gmail.
For senders, this means it’s even more important to stand out in the Promotions tab by sending engaging, relevant emails. If your emails land in the Promotions tab but they are not promotional emails, you can ask your subscribers to drag your message to the Primary or Focused tabs to help Gmail and Microsoft’s algorithms learn where to place your messages.

ConvertKit’s April 2020 Deliverability Report

Alyssa Dulin

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