One of our values at Kit is to work in public. We strive for transparency, which is why we share information that is typically kept private, such as our finances.
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:
In February, Kit sent over 1.2 billion messages (1,283,581,265 to be exact).
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 here. 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 Kit. We consider a system-wide delivery rate of 98% and above to be very healthy.
In February, our system-wide delivery rate was 99.63%.
This high delivery rate indicates a healthy reputation for Kit, 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 Kit sends to in terms of volume:
1. Gmail.com
Volume: 775 million messages
Delivery rate: 99.91%
2. Yahoo.com
Volume: 121 million messages
Delivery rate: 99.87%
3. Hotmail.com
Volume: 104 million messages
Delivery rate: 99.86%
4. AOL.com
Volume: 29 million messages
Delivery rate: 99.92%
5. Outlook.com
Volume: 14 million messages
Delivery rate: 99.88%
The average open rate of all emails sent through Kit was 30%.
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:
I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable in this article.
The average click rate across Kit accounts was 5.83%.
We calculate click rate by dividing the number of subscribers who clicked a link by the total number of subscribers who received the email.
Similarly, the average click-to-open rate was 16.79%. This is calculated by dividing the number of subscribers who clicked a link by the number of subscribers who opened the email.
Our system-wide complaint rate remained over 10x lower than industry standard
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 Kit is wanted by the recipients.
In the email industry, a complaint rate less than 0.1% is seen as healthy. Kit’s complaint rate in February was 0.006%, which speaks to the high quality of mail sent by our customers and the healthy reputation of our infrastructure.
Deliverability tip of the month:
Not all URLs in emails are treated equally! One common mistake that senders make is to paste a link URL directly into their email. However, when using an ESP like Kit, this causes confusion for mailbox providers and can cause them to place your messages in spam, or show a warning about your links.
First, it’s important to know that all links in emails sent through Kit (and most ESPs) are going to be tracking links that reroute to the URL you’re linking to. This allows us to track your link clicks and display the data in your account. An example link tracker at Kit is kit-mail.com.
For example, let’s say you want to send subscribers to youtube.com/@kit-hq. If you paste that URL directly into your email, the link is displayed as youtube.com/@kit-hq but it actually goes to a tracking link like kit-mail.com. This will make spam filters think you are trying to be malicious and mask the true URL that you’re linking subscribers to.
The best way to add links in your emails is to add links to buttons or text. For example, when writing your emails, it’s better to say “ Click here to watch Kit’s YouTube channel” than to say “Click here to watch Kit’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/@kit-hq”
Industry news and Kit updates
The Deliverability Defined Podcast is back!
In episode 1 of our second season, Melissa and I dive into audience building for creators. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to hear new episodes every Tuesday! Listen + Subscribe
Follow us on Instagram at @DeliverabilityDefined for weekly deliverability education and tips.
Kickbox Blog: The Battle of the Opt-In Methods
I contributed to this month’s Kickbox blog post alongside many other deliverability experts. In it, we break down the types of opt-in methods and which method(s) be believe are best for deliverability. Read the post here.
Connect with other creators
Our mission is to reach creators beyond Kit to create a network where you can discover like-minds, teach, and inspire each other to reach your goals.
Alyssa is a Deliverability Lead located in Nashville, TN. She loves helping senders reach the inbox of their subscribers. Outside of work, Alyssa enjoys traveling, indoor cycling, and spending time with family. (Read more by Alyssa)
