Summary
Understanding average email deliverability rates across various mailbox providers is crucial for optimizing your email marketing strategy. While general benchmarks exist, actual performance can vary significantly based on sender reputation, content, and list hygiene. Data from deliverability tests often highlights that even major providers have varying inbox placement rates, and a portion of emails may end up in spam or go missing entirely.
Key findings
- Varied Inbox Placement: Average deliverability rates can fluctuate widely between different mailbox providers (ISPs), indicating that a uniform sending strategy may not yield consistent results across the board. For example, some sources report average deliverability rates ranging from 80-95%, but with significant variations among specific providers.
- Major Provider Performance: Large providers like Google (Gmail), Microsoft (Outlook/Hotmail), and Yahoo often exhibit different deliverability patterns. Some reports indicate an average deliverability rate of around 86.05% across Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL, while others point to lower rates for specific providers like Apple Mail.
- Promotions Tab Impact: For consumer-facing providers, a significant portion of emails might land in tabs like Gmail's 'Promotions' rather than the primary inbox. One statistic suggests that close to 38% of emails might end up in the promotions tab, affecting visibility and engagement.
- Missing Emails: A notable percentage of emails might not reach the inbox or spam folder at all, effectively being 'missing.' Industry tests reveal that approximately 16.9% of emails might never reach their intended destination.
Key considerations
- Benchmark Limitations: While average deliverability rates provide a general guide, they do not guarantee individual sender performance. Your own rates may differ based on specific sending practices, list quality, and audience engagement, as discussed in our guide on what constitutes a good email deliverability rate.
- Data Source Reliability: It is important to consider the methodology and recency of any deliverability statistics. Different testing services use varying seed lists and reporting methods, which can lead to discrepancies in reported averages. For broader context, refer to reputable email deliverability statistics and reports.
- Holistic View: Deliverability is influenced by numerous factors beyond just the mailbox provider. Sender reputation, content relevance, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and user engagement all play critical roles in how your emails are treated, as outlined in our guide on how email deliverability works.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often look for benchmarks to gauge their performance, but they frequently encounter variability and nuanced issues when comparing their own email deliverability rates to reported averages. Discussions among marketers highlight the complexities of interpreting aggregated data and the importance of understanding the specific filtering mechanisms of different mailbox providers.
Key opinions
- Data Interpretation Challenges: Marketers often find it challenging to interpret aggregate deliverability charts, particularly when distinguishing between providers sending mail and those receiving it. The inclusion of services like Amazon (WorkMail) as a mailbox provider can add to the confusion.
- Authentication Importance: While DMARC is critical for security and brand protection, some marketers express concern about its direct inclusion in 'how to improve inbox placement' recommendations, suggesting it's more about authentication integrity than direct inboxing.
- Industry Benchmarks: Marketers frequently seek industry averages to compare their email performance, looking for whether their results align with, exceed, or fall below the general trends for various ISPs.
- Missing Email Concerns: A 'missing email' rate of 20% is a significant concern for marketers, as these emails neither reach the inbox nor the spam folder, representing a complete loss of communication.
Key considerations
- Specific Audience Data: Rather than relying solely on broad averages, marketers should analyze deliverability specific to their target audience's common mailbox providers. This allows for tailored strategies to address particular filtering challenges, as explored in our article on troubleshooting low Gmail deliverability.
- Authentication Configuration: While DMARC itself doesn't directly put emails in the inbox, its proper configuration along with SPF and DKIM is foundational for trust with ISPs and crucial for improving deliverability over time. Learn more about DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
- Holistic Deliverability Monitoring: Marketers should use a comprehensive approach to monitor deliverability, checking not only overall rates but also specific inbox, spam, and missing rates for key mailbox providers to identify patterns and areas for improvement. Regular monitoring helps to prevent emails from going missing or into spam.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks expresses gratitude for shared insights, indicating the value of community-sourced data for understanding deliverability trends.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks found the chart confusing, questioning whether providers were sending or receiving mail, highlighting a common point of ambiguity in deliverability reports.
What the experts say
Deliverability experts provide deep insights into the nuances of email performance across different providers, often delving into technical details that influence inbox placement. Their perspectives go beyond simple percentages, addressing infrastructure, authentication, and the specific challenges posed by major mailbox providers.
Key opinions
- Amazon WorkMail's Footprint: Experts acknowledge Amazon WorkMail as a mailbox provider, though they note it does not currently have a large market footprint compared to other major players like Google or Microsoft. Its presence, however small, still contributes to the overall deliverability landscape.
- DMARC Messaging: While acknowledging the importance of DMARC for authentication, experts critique its direct positioning as a primary method for improving inbox placement, arguing that authentication is a prerequisite for deliverability, not a direct driver of inboxing.
- MX Record Analysis: Experts utilize MX record analysis to understand how domains route email, identifying patterns such as the usage of G Suite, Office 365, Proofpoint, or AWS WorkMail, which helps in categorizing target recipient filters.
- SES Default Behaviors: They identify challenging aspects of Amazon SES, such as the default usage of a @amazonses.com 'From' address and the need to configure custom MailFrom for each individual email address to achieve DMARC alignment.
Key considerations
- Infrastructure Nuances: Delving into the underlying infrastructure of mailbox providers, such as whether Amazon WorkMail is a rebadged Exchange, helps experts understand potential filtering behaviors and deliverability outcomes. This technical understanding is critical for boosting email deliverability rates.
- Dynamic Filtering: Experts focus on identifying which filters (e.g., related to specific MX records or email authentication setups) pose the most significant challenges for deliverability, especially when analyzing client mailing lists. This dynamic approach helps avoid emails going to spam.
- Market Share vs. Impact: It is important to differentiate between the market share of a mailbox provider and its impact on your specific deliverability. Smaller providers, even with a limited footprint, can still present unique challenges that require attention. Resources like the ultimate guide to email deliverability often provide insights into these dynamics.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks notes that GlockApps does not use seed lists for mailbox providers, suggesting that their deliverability reports likely reflect receiving behavior, which clarifies how their data should be interpreted.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks confirms that Amazon is now a mailbox provider with WorkMail, though acknowledging its relatively small footprint in the overall email ecosystem.
What the documentation says
Technical documentation and reports from deliverability platforms often provide detailed statistics and guidance on optimizing email performance. These resources typically emphasize the importance of data-driven insights to compare individual sender performance against broader trends, highlighting key authentication measures and potential pitfalls.
Key findings
- Comparative Analysis: Deliverability reports collect vast amounts of data across different mailbox providers, allowing senders to compare their own inbox placement results with global averages for each provider. This helps identify areas where performance can be improved or where it already excels.
- Comprehensive Authentication: Documentation consistently recommends authenticating emails with all three primary records: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This complete authentication suite is presented as a foundational step for reliable email delivery.
- Monitoring Inbox, Spam, Missing: Reports break down deliverability into three key categories: inbox, spam, and missing. This granular view helps identify specific issues, such as emails being filtered to spam or outright rejected by the mailbox provider without a bounce message.
- Domain Verification: For services like Amazon WorkMail, domain verification through TXT and MX records is a documented requirement to ensure proper email routing and functionality, indicating standard practices for adopting new email services.
Key considerations
- Actionable Insights: While data provides averages, the true value lies in using these benchmarks to inform actionable strategies. If your deliverability is below average for a specific provider, technical documentation often offers solutions to address common issues.
- Authentication Gaps: Even with authentication configured at a domain level, some services (like Amazon SES for WorkMail) may require individual email address authentication to achieve full DMARC alignment, which is critical for consistent deliverability. This is why understanding DMARC reports is important.
- Market Share Measurement: Measuring the precise market share of certain mailbox providers can be complex, as their MX records might overlap with other services (e.g., SES inbound service for AWS), making direct comparisons challenging. For general insights, consult the latest mail deliverability rates and statistics.
Technical article
Documentation from GlockApps details how their platform runs thousands of daily email deliverability tests, collecting extensive data on performance across various mailbox providers. Their monthly reports allow users to compare their inbox placement results against the average for each provider.
Technical article
Documentation from GlockApps states that their data helps users determine if their email performance matches, could be improved from, or is higher than the average, providing actionable insights for deliverability optimization.
Related resources
7 resources
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