New here? This is Inbox Hacking, a Free Newsletter for Awesome email marketers eager to boost Awesomeness. Email marketing insights, tools, & tactics sent twice per week. Someone forwarded you our Newsletter? Please join over 14,605 Email Marketers and sign up for your Free subscription. Today: A look at how deliverability is affected by your ESP choice + stats and facts to keep your emails from missing the inbox.
Hopefully, spring has sprung in your neck of the woods and if not, U-Haul is open 7 days a week.
Inbox Hackers, Iâve got bad news. Your ESP could be the culprit thatâs keeping your emails from landing safely in inboxes. Shocking news, I know. So if youâre looking at alternatives to your current email service platform or just starting with email marketing, this deliverability report breakdown will help guide those decisions.
Biggies in the Report
The ESP deliverability report I came across was put out by Email Tool Tester (not sure what those folks do đ).
But theyâve been holding ESPsâ feet to the fire since 2017. Testing their ability to land in inboxes.
What stood out to me (combined last 3 test avg.):
- The 800-pound gorillaâs struggles – MailChimp deliverability rate 87.9%
- Benchmark hit last place with a 43.4% deliverability rate
- HubSpot managed just 72.1%
Even the most recognizable ESPs have flaws. So it may be time to A/B testâ another ESP entirely!
*We use Active Campaign BTW, which ranked #1 (93%) in deliverability during Email Tool Testerâs latest biannual test.
See? Email Deliverability Does Have a Ton of Moving Parts
Itâs not just a cliche.
Your email marketing can get derailed by any number of factors.
Canât spend all your energy on subject lines. Or design options. Or segmenting until your mouse dies.
It takes a multi-pronged strategy. And who would think that your ESP would be unintentionally stabbing your deliverability in the back?
Letâs look closer at the crime scene.
The Long View on Testing Results
To show that any ESP can stumble, get this. Active Campaign saw a dip in September of 2020 with a 73% deliverability rate.
Active Campaign bounced back (no pun intended⊠ok, intended) in March of 2021 with a 91.1% showing.
The lesson? If you donât track email metrics closely, a ton of your emails can end up missing, tossed in with spam, or hidden in the promotions tab.
Itâs not smart to say âweâll get âem in the inbox next month!â Pay attention to deliverability drop-offs to find the source and fix the issue.
ETTâs last 10 tests showed the following average deliverability rates for all tested ESPs:
2017â 83.7%
2018â 84.7%
2019â 79.7% / 83.8% (biannual tests)
2020â 79.6% / 85.2% (biannual tests)
2021â 88.9% / 85.3% (biannual tests)
2022â 84.2%
Jan 2023â 80.9%đ
Deeper View
This report also details various difficulties of ESPs delivery to specific mailboxes (i.e. Convert Kit struggled with Microsoft inboxing but was welcomed by AOL and Yahoo mailboxes).
Will you drive yourself nuts trying to figure out why one mailbox provider blocks your campaigns versus another? Yep, so meditate more or something, because deliverability details have to be addressed if you donât want a ton of your emails to never see the light of day.
And donât assume your ESP is successfully delivering the maximum number of emails simply because itâs one of the most-used email services or has bells and whistles galore.
đ„MailerLite had the best deliverability rate for the combined average of the last 5 testing rounds.
The Bottom Line on Deliverability and ESPs
Broad studies on deliverability can open your eyes to problems even though your subscriber base is unique.
I preach on audience uniqueness a lot, right? But in this case, it doesnât matter if you know your audience like the back of your hand if your ESP canât get past Gmailâs spam filters.
Or⊠even if your click rates are off the charts in Gmail, wouldnât it be nice to get clicks from Yahoo users who have to dig just to find your emails?
Read on for fresh stats, Knowledge Base, & a bottom-line-boosting hack.
Knowledge Base
đKnowledge is power but first, little Zig Ziglarsâ motivation.
Virtual events that donât suck or cause cringe (a how-to).
đ§Craft enhanced Welcome Emails to students.
Email A/B testing for dummies – or brainiacs clueless about A/B testing.
đ§AI may eliminate life on Earth but if you need to fine-tune an AI writer in the meantimeâŠ
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Step 1: Inbox Mailers identifies when your subscribers are checking their inboxđ
Step 2: Inbox Mailers triggers your ESP to send an email while theyâre checking itđ„
This boosts opens, clicks, aaaand⊠sales!
Self Help
Youâd be shocked how much 5 or 6 words of encouragement mean.
Thatâs probably a lie, honestly.
Hard to be shocked when you donât witness the effects of your encouragement.
So youâll just have to trust meâ a little encouragement goes a long way.
Donât take my word for it, think back to when somebody encouraged you.
They mayâve never seen the effects, but you sure as hell felt them.
*Shout-out to Inbox Hacking Subscribers â
đ·đŒââïžDevin at LA Fed (worker rights)
đĄBalthazar at AlphaSights (knowledge on-demand)
Facts and Stats
- A âno-replyâ sender address can appear as spam-like behavior even in transactional emails (Validity)
- 19% of all emails have either gone completely missing or been caught by spam filters (Email Tool Tester)
- Worst-performing industries for inboxing successâ Business Services, Telecoms, & Finance / Insurance (Validity)
Bonus: 88.21% of Email Marketers tip better than trust fund babies and NBAers.
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Marketing Musings
Itâs easy to overthink email marketing.
Subject line night-sweats. Unsubscribe anxiety. Spam trap suspicions.
Sometimes, though, the simplest step can produce higher open rates.
Yahoo agrees with me (smart move đ).
âYahoo advises senders to avoid emailing at the top of the hour. Senders will generally encounter less traffic and reduced server loads if messages are spread out across a broader period.â
Rather give your elevator pitch in an elevator with 7 other marketers at noon or⊠just you and your potential client at 11:37 a.m.?
Get Hacking
Make a list and I donât even care if you check â â it twice.
Write down options for A/B testing your email offers. Examples:
- Free Shipping vs. 20% Off
- Light vs. Aggressive CTA
- BOGO vs. Double Reward Points
- Referral Rewards (costs you $) vs. Referral Gamification (no cost to you)
Make the list today. Youâve got the rest of 2023 to testâ just two at a time.
*Know another brilliant email marketer? Please forward this newsletter to them (thank you).
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