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<p>One of our <a href="https://kit.com/mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">values</a> 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 <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://kit.com/resources/blog/july-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">July 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://kit.com/resources/blog/august-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">August 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://kit.com/resources/blog/september-2020-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">September 2020</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>In October, Kit sent over 1.3 billion messages (1,331,275,741 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://kit.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 Kit. We consider a system-wide delivery rate of 98% and above to be very healthy.</p>
<h2>In October, our system-wide delivery rate was <span style="color: #339966;">99%.</span></h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-29599 lazy" data-src="https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fm=png" alt="October delivery rate was 99%." width="1500" height="1016" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=406&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=694&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=520&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=400&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=240&amp;w=354 354w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1040&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1387&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/sKNWYClS-SEPTEMBER-delivery-rate-2020.png?fm=png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Here are the top 5 domains Kit sends to in terms of volume:</p>
<p><strong>1. Gmail.com</strong><br />
Volume: 783 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #339966;">99.6%</span></p>
<p><strong>2. Yahoo.com</strong><br />
Volume: 131 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #339966;">99.8%</span></p>
<p><strong>3. Hotmail.com</strong><br />
Volume: 119 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #339966;">99.86%</span></p>
<p><strong>4. AOL.com</strong><br />
Volume: 30 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #339966;">99.85%</span></p>
<p><strong>5. Outlook.com</strong><br />
Volume: 15 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #339966;">99.83%</span></p>
<h2>The average open rate of all emails sent through Kit was <span style="color: #339966;">28%.</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 class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26174 lazy" data-src="https://media.kit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fm=png" alt="Open Rates" width="1238" height="674" /><br />
I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable <a href="https://kit.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 Kit is wanted by the recipients.</p>
<p>In the email industry, a complaint rate less than 0.1% is seen as healthy. <strong>Kit&#8217;s complaint rate in October 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>It’s the busiest email time of the year, which means your subscribers’ inboxes are likely bursting at the seams. Now is a good time to be picky about the emails you send, and make sure you aren’t just adding more noise to your subscribers’ inboxes.</p>
<p>Before sending an email, make sure it is going to provide value to your subscribers. Because of the email fatigue many people experience this time of year, it’s normal to see your open rates slightly decline until the holidays are over.</p></blockquote>
<h2>Industry news and Kit updates</h2>
<h3>Deliverability Defined Podcast</h3>
<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" /></p>
<p>In October, we wrapped up season 1 of the Deliverability Defined Podcast. We had so much fun diving deep into the details to help you reach your subscribers’ inbox!</p>
<p>Get caught upon all the podcast episodes we released in October below, and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!</p>
<p><strong>We’ll be back February 2021.</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://kit.com/resources/blog/deliverability-tips-grow-your-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Episode 19: Do’s and don’ts of growing your audience</a></li>
<li><a href="https://kit.com/resources/blog/season-1-takeaways-ddpod" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Episode 20: Top 4 takeaways from season 1</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Follow us on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/deliverabilitydefined/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@DeliverabilityDefined</a> for weekly deliverability education and tips</h3>
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Kit’s October 2020 Deliverability Report

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Alyssa Dulin

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