Many people often mistake the terms email deliverability and email delivery. They are used interchangeably when in fact they are two different terms. This confusion of terms then causes problems when analyzing their reports and they tell their boss, "We have 95% email deliverability", when in fact they are reporting email delivery. Why does this matter? To begin, let’s review the definitions of the two terms.

Email Delivery: The number of messages that have been accepted by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) servers. Total number of messages sent minus the number that were bounced or rejected.

Email Deliverability: The IAB defines it as: “the ability of an email marketer to deliver email to a recipient's inbox with all of the functionality the recipient expects (i.e. HTML or text) as stated in his or her preferences” (http://www.seochat.com/c/a/Website-Marketing-Help/IAB-Releases-Guidelines-for-Email-Deliverability/).

The main difference is that "email deliverability" refers to actual inbox delivery, while "email delivery" refers to email accepted into the system without concern about the final destination of the message (i.e. inbox, junk folder, nowhere). Why does this matter to you as a marketer? If your message isn’t making it into the inbox, then most likely your message is not being read, which means a decreased return on investment (ROI). Even worse, what if the ISP is discarding your message as soon as it enters their system?

So, if you think you have a 95% email deliverability rate, but you are getting that number from a email delivery rate provided by your email service provider (ESP) report, you are miscalculating your ROI and you probably think that there are no improvements to be made to your program. However, if you knew you had a 75% email deliverability rate even though your ESP report shows 95% delivered, then you would know you are leaving money on the table and you would make adjustments to your program.

Do you want to put your head in the sand and believe that everything is great, or do you want to see the real numbers? If you want the real numbers, you will need to do an audit of your emailing with the help of an Email Deliverability Service Provider (DSP), like EmailAdvisor. 

About The Author

Valerie Jones-Harvey is a senior technical program manager for Lyris, and she has previously worked in product management, recruiting and sales. Valerie also enjoys playing with her new electronic gadgets and video games in her spare time.

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