E-mail deliverability 'a challenge' for most marketers

WM Circle Logo

By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on April 18, 2006

Only 10% of e-mail marketers think that improving e-mail deliverability is a top priority for 2006, despite the fact that most (82%) agree that deliverability is a challenge for them, according to the latest e-mail 'Deliverability Survey' from EmailLabs.

The survey was conducted to better understand the challenges, practices and attitudes of marketers toward e-mail deliverability issues. Almost half of the marketers surveyed by EmailLabs said that internet service providers (ISPs) and corporate e-mail filtering are the main reasons for e-mails not being delivered to the intended recipient.

In the survey sent to EmailLabs' Intevation Report newsletter subscribers and ClickZ Network's E-Mail Delivery column readers, one-quarter (25%) said that their organisation lacks the expertise or resources needed to address such e-mail deliverability issues.

Belief vs. reality
More than half (54%) of respondents said that controllable issues (such as permission practices, and e-mail content and coding) have the greatest impact on deliverability.

However, EmailLabs' director of deliverability, Kirill Popov, explained: "There is a real disconnect for marketers between what they perceive is the impact on delivery and what ISPs actually do when deciding to block or not block an e-mail. While aggressive content may get your message filtered, a high number of complaints or bounced e-mails will get you blocked completely."

While 31% of marketers cite deliverability as a significant challenge, only 10% of respondents will make delivery their top email priority in 2006. Additionally, marketers tend to focus on deliverability actions within their control, with 50% modifying their email templates but only 17% switching to dedicated IP addresses and 6% utilizing a third-party accreditation service.

Long-term action
While marketers have recognised that they have to address e-mail delivery challenges, they are not yet allocating the necessary resources or taking the longer-term steps needed to minimise e-mail blocking and filtering.

According to Loren McDonald, vice president of marketing for EmailLabs, "The 24% of marketers who have adopted authentication technologies is encouraging, but actively managing their e-mail reputation and using third-party accreditation services has yet to become mainstream."

The full survey results have been made available online - click here.

More Info: 

http://www.emaillabs.com