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<p>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>.</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/resources/blog/february-2020-deliverabilty-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">February 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/march-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">March 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/april-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">April 2020</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>In May, ConvertKit sent over 1 billion messages (1,091,267,528 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/resources/blog/email-deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>. But for a little TLDR- The more messages delivered, the better!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>In May, our system-wide delivery rate was 98.9%</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-24475 lazy" data-src="https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fm=png" alt="May-20 System wide deliverability rate for ConvertKit" width="1500" height="1016" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=406&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=694&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=520&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=400&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=240&amp;w=354 354w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1040&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1387&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/SFnZFlTp-MARCH-20-systemwide-delivery-rate.png?fm=png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></p>
<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: 614 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: 99.55%</p>
<p><strong>2. Yahoo.com</strong><br />
Volume: 115 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: 99.87%</p>
<p><strong>3. Hotmail.com</strong><br />
Volume: 99 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: 99.85%</p>
<p><strong>4. AOL.com</strong><br />
Volume: 12 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: 99.86%</p>
<p><strong>5. Outlook.com</strong><br />
Volume: 12 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: 99.87%</p>
<h2>The average open rate of all emails sent through ConvertKit was 32%.</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 class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26179 lazy" data-src="https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="Sender Reputation" width="750" height="508" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=406&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=400&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=240&amp;w=354 354w, https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=694&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1040&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1387&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/XKO97B2M-DEC-19-Sender-Reputation-1.jpg?fm=pjpg 750w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><br />
I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable <a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/email-deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in this article</a>.</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 May was 0.008%</strong>, which speaks to the high quality of mail sent by our customers and the healthy reputation of our infrastructure.</p>
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">
<h3>Deliverability tip of the month:</h3>
<p>Be sure to keep your sending volume and frequency consistent. Mailbox providers are able to establish a solid sender reputation for you when your email sending patterns are predictable. However, if you suddenly send to a larger list than normal, or if you take a couple weeks or more off of sending to your list, this can cause deliverability problems. Sudden changes in volume and/or frequency can raise a red flag for mailbox providers and cause them to send more messages to spam, or bounce your messages.</p>
<p><strong>Best practice:</strong> Avoid any sudden changes to the number of subscribers you email or the amount of time you go between sending emails. Keep your sending consistent for best deliverability results.</p></blockquote>
<h2>Industry news and ConvertKit updates</h2>
<h3>We’re working on our inclusive language</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve officially changed &#8220;Blacklist&#8221; to &#8220;Blocklist&#8221; and &#8220;Whitelist&#8221; to &#8220;Allowlist&#8221; at ConvertKit. Blacklist and Whitelist are email industry-standard terms that need to change.</p>
<p>We’ll continue to think critically about the language we use, and will work to ensure our terminology is inclusive and not rooted in racism.</p>
<h2>The Deliverability Defined podcast is live!</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26175 lazy" data-src="https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fm=png" alt="deliverability defined podcast" width="1252" height="702" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=336&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=574&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=431&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=331&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=219&amp;w=390 390w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=861&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1148&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/G8JSmbjJ-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.21.54-PM.png?fm=png 1252w" sizes="(max-width: 1252px) 100vw, 1252px" /></p>
<p>Want to stay up-to-date with the information you need to reach the inbox of your subscribers? Be sure to subscribe to the Deliverability Defined podcast! For more information on where you can listen, or to submit a topic suggestion, head over to <a href="https://convertkit.com/deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">convertkit.com/deliverability</a>.</p>
<h2>Quick tip: Sender reputation and how it impacts deliverability</h2>
<p><center><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cOfPXK6nUdE" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center></p>


ConvertKit’s May 2020 Deliverability Report

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