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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/resources/blog/july-2021-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 2021</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/august-2021-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August 2021</a></li>
<li><a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/september-2021-deliverability-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">September 2021</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>In October, ConvertKit sent over 1.46 billion messages (1,468,588,019 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">here</a>. But for a little TLDR—the more messages delivered, the better!</p>
<p>It’s 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 October, our system-wide delivery rate was <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.8%.</span></h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-38372 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="october delivery rate" width="1500" height="1016" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=406&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=694&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=520&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=400&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=240&amp;w=354 354w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1040&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1387&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/FIs3dfxB-OCTOBER-21-systemwide-delivery-rate.jpg?fm=pjpg 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 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 />
887 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.9%</span></p>
<p><strong>2. Yahoo.com</strong><br />
148 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.9%</span></p>
<p><strong>3. Hotmail.com</strong><br />
108 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.9%</span></p>
<p><strong>4. AOL.com</strong><br />
34 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.9%</span></p>
<p><strong>5. Outlook.com</strong><br />
15 million messages<br />
Delivery rate: <span style="color: #99cc00;">99.9%</span></p>
<h2>The average open rate of all emails sent through ConvertKit was <span style="color: #99cc00;">32.15%.</span></h2>
<p>Senders often ask how their open rates stack up to others. The 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.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fm=png" alt="Open Rates" width="1238" height="674" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=327&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=557&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=418&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=321&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=212&amp;w=390 390w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=836&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fit=scale&amp;fm=png&amp;h=1115&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/tp0dK1cd-Screen-Shot-2020-06-22-at-10.18.23-PM.png?fm=png 1238w" sizes="(max-width: 1238px) 100vw, 1238px" /></p>
<p>I talk more about open rates and why they aren’t always reliable in <a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/email-deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this article</a>.</p>
<h2>The average click rate across ConvertKit accounts was <span style="color: #99cc00;">5.1%.</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>13.81%</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 the industry standard</h2>
<p>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 recipients want the mail sent from ConvertKit.</p>
<p>In the email industry, a complaint rate of less than 0.1% is seen as healthy. <strong>ConvertKit’s complaint rate in August was 0.001%</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">
<h2>Deliverability tip of the month:</h2>
<p>Make sure to send emails from your own domain for the best results. Although it might be easy to get set up quickly with a Gmail, Hotmail, or other free email address, these addresses can often cause deliverability trouble.</p>
<p>To learn more about why you need your own domain for the best deliverability results, <a href="https://help.convertkit.com/en/articles/2502505-why-do-i-need-my-own-domain-to-send-email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out our Knowledge Base article here</a>.</p></blockquote>
<p>Follow us on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/deliverabilitydefined/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@DeliverabilityDefined</a> for weekly deliverability education and tips.</p>
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ConvertKit’s October 2021 Deliverability Report

Alyssa Dulin

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