Controlling the parameters that influence the deliverability of our emails is crucial to assess the success of our delivery and to be able to improve each future delivery, but in this sense we are not only referring to the most essential data of Email Marketing, such as opening rate or conversion rate. The data derived from the interaction of our audience with the program we use to carry out the delivery will also give us positive or negative points with email providers, such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc.
As we already know, email providers play an essential role in the deliverability of our campaigns , so the parameters they have “in their sights” and on which they reference to define whether our emails are valid, must be thoroughly controlled by marketing professionals.
Therefore, today we will define what these parameters are and why they are so important to evaluate.
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SPAM delivery rate
Open or read rate
Read-before-deletion rate
Forwarding rate
Non-spam rate
Yes spam rate
SPAM delivery rate
Calculation formula: number of messages delivered to the spam folder in relation to the total number of messages sent.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that when an email marketing campaign is poorly received, it is simply because users have not opened our messages, because of poor management of the time selected for sending, or any other reason that we can find as a justification. However, we must keep one element in mind: the SPAM folder . When an email reaches a recipient's spam folder, the chances of it being read later are much lower.
Therefore, we must keep in mali business email list mind that the spam delivery rate is a very useful parameter to understand how mail providers are classifying our mailings.
Open or read rate
Calculation formula: number of messages marked as read in relation to the total number of messages sent.
As we have already mentioned on several occasions , a key factor in determining whether a user chooses to open (or not) an email from a brand to which they are subscribed is, essentially, the subject line and how attractive it is . That is why, in our articles, we always try to put special emphasis on this. However, there are also other key factors in a user's first reading, which, in most cases, is the only opportunity we have for the user to choose to open our message. Afterwards, even if they see our message again, underlined and highlighted as "unread", it will no longer capture their attention in the same way. That is why, in addition to the subject line, the time selected, the preview line, etc. are key to achieving the greatest number of readings possible.
If our opening rates are regularly low, email providers will understand that our messages are not attractive to our users, and they will start considering delivering our messages to the SPAM folder.
Read-before-deletion rate
Calculation formula: number of messages deleted without first being opened in relation to the total number of messages sent.
Without a doubt, when a user systematically sends our emails to the trash without even giving us the opportunity to show them what we want to tell them, something is wrong.
For email providers, this may be a sign that the permissions granted by the user have not been completed correctly, the subscription has not been unsubscribed as requested, or simply that the user is not satisfied with our content. And this becomes one more reason for service providers to give us the red card and automatically send our messages to the SPAM folder.
Forwarding rate
Calculation formula: number of messages received by the user and forwarded to others in relation to the total number of messages sent.
The forwarding rate is, without a doubt, a highly positive indicator that we are doing something right when it comes to sharing our content with our target audience. If a user forwards our content to a contact of their own, who does not even have to be a subscriber of our brand, they do so (without a doubt) because they find our content highly attractive.
Furthermore, it will have a very positive impact on us (as a brand) since we are reaching new audiences through word-of-mouth, and, regardless of whether this new user is within our target and meets the characteristics of a target audience, it is undoubtedly a very good metric.
Here, email providers will value our content positively, and we will be able to count on more positive points that will keep us away from the dreaded inbox.
Non-spam rate
Calculation formula: number of messages marked as “this is not SPAM” in relation to the total number of SPAM messages.
This rate, which we don't usually talk about much, refers to those occasions when we mark an email that has arrived in our SPAM folder as "not SPAM". That is, we value its content and we don't want it to continue to end up in the spam folder.
In terms of the reaction of email providers to this, such a situation will indicate to them that, for our users, the content we are sending them is so valuable that they even have to go to their SPAM folder to rescue it.
Yes spam rate
Calculation formula: number of messages marked as “this is SPAM” in relation to the total number of messages sent.
When we mention this rate we are referring to exactly the opposite of the previous point.
This is when users mark the email they are receiving in their inbox as a message that should be in their SPAM or junk mail folder because it does not generate any value for them, and may even “annoy” them in their inbox.
As we can deduce, this is a negative indicator for email providers, who will once again show us the red card in this parameter.
In short, what we are looking for in this article is that, in view of the next Email Marketing campaigns that you plan to carry out, you observe the points above very carefully, and not only be guided by the conversion rate, since there is much more behind it all. By analyzing the above metrics in depth, you will be able to try to improve as much as possible, and -thus- give fewer reasons to email providers to send your content to that dreaded place we call SPAM, and which normally greatly harms the results of our campaigns.