Pivotal Veracity: The good, the bad and the ugly deliverability rates

It will come as no surprise to any email marketer that the number of emails blocked in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and during the ensuing sales, increased as online retailers crammed last minute delivery and discount offers into consumers' inboxes. But by how much?

by Helen Leggatt

A study released this week by U.S.-based ESP Pivotal Veracity reveals the days when getting email marketing messages to consumers' inboxes was a challenge in itself. It turns out the worst day was December 17, when just short of 14% of messages were blocked.

Things still weren't looking too good six days later on December 22 when 12% of messages were blocked. However, deliverability improved the day after with just 6.4% blocked, mostly due to the majority of retailers cutting off shipping for Christmas at that time and ceasing those particular promotions.

"With marketers sending more email to customers this holiday season than ever before, deliverability became increasingly difficult as Christmas grew closer," said Deirdre Baird, president and CEO of Pivotal Veracity.

"The best days for deliverability were earlier in the month and on weekends - save for the last weekend before Christmas, which saw abnormally high email volume relative to most weekends."

Email marketers didn't take long to get back in the saddle after the festivities. Post-Christmas offers caused another uptick in blocked email messages, rising to just over 13% on December 29.

Earlier in the year, Cyber Monday, Pivotal Veracity recorded that inbox delivery rates plummeted to 76.2%