Sender reputation has always been important for email marketers, but new data out this week puts a number to the importance. According to Return Path's latest 2018 Sender Score Benchmark Report, high reputation marks give emails a 23% better chance at hitting users' inboxes.
The problem is that, overall, sender reputation marks are down. The research shows that those senders with reputation marks between 91 and 100 have inbox deliverability marks of 91%, but those scoring between 81 and 90 only reach inboxes about 68% of the time.
"Marketers around the world rely on email--and with an average of 38 dollars in revenue for every dollar spent, it's no surprise. But when email fails to reach the inbox, brands lose the opportunity to connect with customers and ultimately make a sale," said Tom Sather, senior director of research at Return Path.
As to what marks influence sender scores, spam complaints top the list. Those senders with the highest reputation marks also have the lowest spam marks, averaging 0.5% spam complaint rates. Those with scores between 81 and 90 saw spam complaint rates of about 2%.
"Year after year, our research shows a clear link between reputation and deliverability--so it's absolutely critical to monitor your sender reputation and maintain it at the highest possible level," said Rather.
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