More Business and Marketing Emails are Hitting Recipients’ Inboxes, Avoiding Spam Filters

Many business marketers turn to email marketing to reach out to their target audiences, and new statistics show that their efforts may be paying off as time goes on.

Return Path recently conducted the “2019 Hidden Metrics of Email Deliverability” report and discovered that the average spam placement rate for business and marketing emails in 2018 was 14 percent. This is a slight decrease for from 15 percent recorded in 2017, indicating that more marketing emails are hitting recipients’ inboxes and avoiding the spam filter.

In terms of read rate, the average rate in 2018 for business and marketing emails was 17 percent. This is also a slight increase from 15 percent, suggesting that more emails are being read rather than immediately discarded.

Marketing Emails and Customer Relationships

As more marketing email recipients read their messages, previous research suggests that they are maintaining a closer relationship with senders and companies than before.

Return Path conducted the “Lifecycle Benchmark: Insights on New Subscriber Engagement Throughout the First Year” report and found that marketers are typically able to maintain a 32 percent read rate with new subscribers over the first year of their relationship.

Additionally, the average complaint rate usually drops one percent over the first year. This is likely due to the fact that subscribers who complain early on are removed from marketers’ subscription lists. Ultimately, this results in fewer complaints.