“To inbox, or not to inbox — that is the question.
And deliverability is the answer.”
(maybe Shakespeare)
What is Deliverability? Deliverability, should be renamed Inboxability - the ability for your messages to reach the inbox. Read on…
Why Deliverability Matters?
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UK businesses invest heavily in email marketing, yet up to 21.56% of emails never make it to the inbox—wasting budget and missing revenue. Maximizing deliverability ensures every pound spent drives results.
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Spam placement means lost sales, wasted budget, and missed opportunities. Optimise deliverability to stay visible and ahead of competitors.
B2B senders could be doubly penalised - see section below -
Nearly 1 in 5 emails never reach customers, costing engagement and trust. Improve deliverability to stay connected and retain loyalty.
Deliverability is often wrongly conflated with delivered metrics, but they are not the same thing. Many marketers (and even some CRM/ESP platforms) use “delivered” as a sign of success, but this not providing the a complete picturre. Here’s why:
Deliverabilty: Confused, maybe?
Delivered Rate
Definition
The percentage of emails that didn’t bounce, it is calculated as:
(SENT - BOUNCED) / SENT
Why It’s Misleading?
An email marked as "delivered" can still land in spam or be rejected, making it invisible to the recipient. Metrics in your ESP will not reflect this.
Deliverability
Definition
The ability of an email to reach the actual inbox (also known as Inbox Placement). We prefer to call this Inboxability.
Why It’s Misleading?
Being “delivered” does not mean inbox placement is good. High “delivered” but low engagement rates often indicate spam or reject filtering.
The confusion between Delivered and Deliverability can significantly impact email campaign performance because it leads marketers to misinterpret their email success, ultimately resulting in missed opportunities for optimisation. If your Delivered metric is at 95%, then all that means is for every 100 emails sent, 5 didn’t bounce.
It does not mean 95 placed in the inbox. Remember: Delivered ≠ Inbox Placement; up to 20% of those 95 went to spam or were rejected.
Email | Delivered | Success
Got questions about email deliverability? Need help getting your emails to the inbox instead of the spam folder? Whether you're looking for a full deliverability health check, strategic guidance, or just some expert advice, ClearPath Deliverability is here to help.