This article covers how email delivery rates and open rates are measured in Keap™, including how these metrics are defined, how Keap calculates them, and how to use them to evaluate the performance of email campaigns and automations. This article does not cover how to create email campaigns or automations. For help creating an email campaign, see how to create an email broadcast in Keap.

Why Understanding Delivery Rates and Open Rates Helps You Send Better Campaigns

Email marketing statistics such as "99% Delivery Rate" and "Highest Open Rates in the Industry" appear frequently in marketing materials, but these numbers are not always measuring the same thing across different platforms. Understanding what delivery rates and open rates actually measure — and how those measurements differ between providers — helps you interpret your own campaign data accurately and set realistic expectations for email performance. Using open rates and click rates as relative indicators of campaign success within your own account, rather than comparing them against industry claims, gives you the most reliable insight into what is working with your audience.

What Is an Email Delivery Rate?

Email Delivery Rate and Open Rate are not the same metric. The definition of Delivery Rate also varies depending on how it is being measured. In the strictest technical definition, Delivery Rate is the percentage of emails sent from a source that successfully reached the destination network — for example, Gmail or Outlook. When email marketing providers advertise a "99% Delivery Rate," this is the definition being used.

However, this definition does not distinguish between an email that landed in the recipient's inbox versus one that was filtered into a spam, junk, or promotional folder. Most users of email marketing tools understand Delivery Rate to mean the percentage of emails that reached the recipient's inbox specifically — not just the destination network. These are two different measurements and understanding the difference is important when evaluating delivery rate claims.

How Inbox Delivery Rates Are Measured

Measuring whether an email reached the inbox — rather than the destination network — is significantly more difficult. Individual inboxes are not accessible to email marketing providers. To measure inbox placement rates, some providers use third-party companies that operate seed networks — groups of email accounts where users have agreed to share anonymized data about the emails they receive. These third-party companies aggregate this data and provide inbox placement metrics that are statistically significant across a large customer base but are not statistically significant for any individual account.

Because most email marketing providers use the same third-party measurement tools, comparing inbox placement rates between individual accounts across different providers is not meaningful. Inbox placement rates are best used to understand trends across the customer base as a whole rather than to evaluate the performance of a single account.

How Sending Reputation Affects Inbox Delivery

Inbox delivery rates are also affected by the sending reputation of the IP addresses used to send email. Most email marketing providers, including Keap, send email from shared IP address ranges used by many customers. If one sender on a shared IP address sends spam or violates email policies, that IP address can be added to a blacklist. When an IP address is blacklisted, emails sent from that IP address by other senders — even those with good sending practices — may also be affected.

To reduce the impact of shared IP reputation issues, Keap uses filtering systems to identify and block senders whose behavior could negatively affect IP address reputation. Keap also works directly with email providers and blacklist owners to resolve IP address issues quickly when they occur.

How Open Rates Are Measured in Keap

Open rates are measured differently across the email marketing industry, which means open rate figures from different providers cannot be directly compared. Keap uses the following two methods to measure email opens and clicks:

1. Tracking pixel placement — The standard method for detecting an email open is a hidden tracking pixel embedded in the email. When the pixel is downloaded by the recipient's email client, the sending system records the email as opened. Keap places the tracking pixel at the bottom of the email, which means the recipient must scroll through the entire email — or download the full email on a mobile device — for the open to be recorded. If a recipient previews the email without scrolling to the bottom, the open is not recorded. If a recipient clicks any link in the email, the email is recorded as opened regardless of pixel download. Some other email providers place the tracking pixel at the top of the email, which records an open any time the email is previewed or images are downloaded, even if the recipient did not read the email. Keap's bottom-pixel placement is intended to provide a more accurate measure of genuine engagement.

2. Security scanner filtering — Some email security and filtering systems automatically open emails and click links to determine whether the email is safe before delivering it to the recipient. These automated opens and clicks are not genuine engagement from the recipient. Keap attempts to identify and exclude these automated security scanner opens and clicks from open rate and click rate reporting, and prevents them from triggering automations. Some other email providers include security scanner activity in their open and click rate reporting, which can make their reported rates appear higher. Keap's exclusion of security scanner activity is intended to provide more accurate engagement data.

How to Use Open Rates and Click Rates Effectively

Because open rates and click rates are measured differently across email marketing providers, these metrics should not be used to compare performance between different platforms. Open rates and click rates are most valuable when used to compare the relative performance of campaigns and automations within the same Keap account. Comparing one campaign's open rate against another campaign sent through the same account provides meaningful insight into which subject lines, content types, and audiences generate better engagement. Using open rates and click rates as trending indicators within your own account gives you the most reliable data for improving future campaigns.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this article cover?

This article covers how email delivery rates and open rates are measured in Keap, including how these metrics are defined, how Keap calculates them, and how to use them to evaluate the performance of email campaigns and automations. This article does not cover how to create email campaigns or automations. For help creating an email campaign, see how to create an email broadcast in Keap.

What is the difference between Delivery Rate and Open Rate?

Delivery Rate measures the percentage of emails that successfully reached the destination email network. Open Rate measures the percentage of delivered emails that were opened by the recipient. These are two separate metrics. An email can be delivered to the destination network but still be filtered into a spam or promotional folder — in which case the email is counted in the Delivery Rate but may never be seen by the recipient.

Can I see my individual inbox placement rate in Keap?

Inbox placement rates measured through third-party seed network data are statistically significant across the full customer base but are not statistically significant for individual accounts. Keap cannot report on inbox placement rates for individual accounts using this method. Customers on the Keap Dedicated IP Program have access to more specific inbox placement data for their account.

Can I compare my Keap open rates against open rates from other email providers?

No. Open rates are not measured the same way across all email marketing providers. Differences in tracking pixel placement, security scanner filtering, and other measurement methods mean that open rate figures from different providers reflect different things. Open rates are most meaningful when used to compare campaigns within the same Keap account over time.

Will a security scanner opening my email trigger an automation in Keap?

No. Keap identifies automated security scanner opens and clicks and excludes them from triggering automations. Only genuine recipient opens and clicks will trigger email-based automations in your Keap account.