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<p>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>.</p>
<p>One commonly asked question by creators looking for a new email marketing platform is, <em>“How is your email deliverability?”</em></p>
<p>Here is our monthly deliverability report to answer that question:</p>
<p>If you missed previous Deliverability reports, you can check them out below:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/november-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/december-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">December 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/january-2021-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 2021</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>In February, ConvertKit sent over 1.2 billion messages (1,283,581,265 to be exact).</h2>
<p>When messages are sent, they can be <strong>delivered</strong> or they can <strong>bounce</strong>. For more details on how email deliverability operates, check out our blog post <a href="https://convertkit.com/sender-reputation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. But for a little TLDR- The more messages delivered, the better!</p>
<p>It is inevitable for <em>some </em>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.</p>
<h2>In February, our system-wide delivery rate was <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.63%.</span><img decoding="async" loading="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33280 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/Ez2g1Irf-MARCH-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="March deliverability report" width="1500" height="1016" /></h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Here are the top 5 domains ConvertKit sends to in terms of volume:</p>
<p><strong>1. Gmail.com</strong><br />
Volume: 775 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.91%</span></p>
<p><strong>2. Yahoo.com</strong><br />
Volume: 121 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.87%</span></p>
<p><strong>3. Hotmail.com</strong><br />
Volume: 104 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.86%</span></p>
<p><strong>4. AOL.com</strong><br />
Volume: 29 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.92%</span></p>
<p><strong>5. Outlook.com</strong><br />
Volume: 14 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.88%</span></p>
<h2>The average open rate of all emails sent through ConvertKit was <span style="color: #99cc00;">30%.</span></h2>
<p>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:</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26174 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fm=png" alt="Open Rates" width="1238" height="674" /></p>
<p>I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable in <a href="https://convertkit.com/sender-reputation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this article</a>.</p>
<h2>The average click rate across ConvertKit accounts was <span style="color: #99cc00;">5.83%.</span></h2>
<p>We calculate click rate by dividing the number of subscribers who clicked a link by the total number of subscribers who <em>received</em> the email.</p>
<p>Similarly, the average click-to-open rate was <strong>16.79%</strong>. This is calculated by dividing the number of subscribers who clicked a link by the number of subscribers who opened the email.</p>
<h2>Our system-wide complaint rate remained over 10x lower than industry standard</h2>
<p>A <strong>complaint</strong> 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.</p>
<p>In the email industry, a complaint rate less than 0.1% is seen as healthy. <strong>ConvertKit’s complaint rate in February was 0.006%</strong>, which speaks to the high quality of mail sent by our customers and the healthy reputation of our infrastructure.</p>
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<h2>Deliverability tip of the month:</h2>
<p>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 ConvertKit, this causes confusion for mailbox providers and can cause them to place your messages in spam, or show a warning about your links.</p>
<p>First, it’s important to know that all links in emails sent through ConvertKit (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 ConvertKit is convertkit-mail.com.</p>
<p>For example, let’s say you want to send subscribers to youtube.com/convertkit. If you paste that URL directly into your email, the link is displayed as youtube.com/convertkit but it actually goes to a tracking link like convertkit-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.</p>
<p>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 “<a href="http://youtube.com/convertkit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here</a> to watch ConvertKit’s YouTube channel” than to say “Click here to watch ConvertKit’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/convertkit”</p></blockquote>
<h2>Industry news and ConvertKit updates</h2>
<h3>The <em>Deliverability Defined</em> Podcast is back!</h3>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26175 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fm=png" alt="deliverability defined podcast" width="1252" height="702" /></p>
<p>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! <a href="https://share.transistor.fm/s/83843805" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Listen + Subscribe</a></p>
<h3>Follow us on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/deliverabilitydefined/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@DeliverabilityDefined</a> for weekly deliverability education and tips.</h3>
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<h3>Kickbox Blog: The Battle of the Opt-In Methods</h3>
<p>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. <a href="https://blog.kickbox.com/the-battle-of-the-opt-in-methods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the post here</a>.</p>


ConvertKit’s February 2021 Deliverability Report

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