U.S. trails Europe in e-mail deliverability rates, study says

The inbox deliverability rate for U.S.-based ISPs and e-mail service providers was 82% in the first quarter of this year, compared to 94% in Europe, according to a study by Lyris Technologies, a provider of e-mail marketing services and a unit of J.L. Halsey Corp.

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One of the problems affecting inbox deliverability rates is the inaccurate identification legitimate e-mail as spam in spam filters, Lyris said. False-positives occurred at a rate of 7.7% of valid e-mail messages in the U.S., compared to 3.5% in Europe, it said.

“Deliverability rates can be affected by a sender’s content, mailing history, list hygiene and other factors,” said Dave Dabbah, director of sales and marketing at Lyris. “No matter how professional your e-mail marketing efforts are, some things just aren’t under your control. E-mail deliverability at Internet service providers is at the top of that list.”