October 17, 2005

According to a new study done by Return Path, overall delivery rates for permission-based emails improved slightly after three years of worsening results.

However, during the first six months of 2005, there are still about 21 percent of permission-based e-mails that didn't get delivered as intended, which represents a large number, when considered that these email recipients are Internet users that originally gave their permission to receive such emails.

This year's non-delivery rate was 21%, better than the 22% registered last year, but worse than the rates in 2002 and 2003. (Return Path defines "non-delivered" as either e-mail that is delivered to the junk mail folder or not delivered at all.)

The small improvement in the delivery rate is probably due to more companies focusing on e-mail deliverability resolution — and the new authentication standards that are being applied by many ISPs.

Across the top 23 ISPs, Return Path found that non-delivery rates varied from a low of 8% at Mac.com to a high of 39% at Gmail and Excite.

How do you lower your non-delivery rates? Return Path recommends that as e-mail standards evolve, delivery will hinge even more your company's e-mail reputation.

Companies that adhere to the strictest accepted standards for e-mailing procedures will be assigned higher reputation scores, and their delivery rates will likely be strong. Companies that try to take short cuts run the risk of being blacklisted — for a long, long time.

Source: eMarketer