Delivered
How many messages actually reached an inbox — the denominator under every rate here.
What it means
Delivered is the count of messages a receiving mail server accepted: everything you sent, minus bounces and blocks. Accepted isn't read, and it isn't necessarily the main inbox — a message filed straight to spam still counts here. It's the denominator under every rate on the same row, so when it moves, all of them move with it.
Show the math
Formula and a worked example
Delivered = messages sent − bounced.
Bounced covers hard bounces (the address doesn't exist), soft bounces (a full or unavailable mailbox) and blocks (the receiving server refused you).
Worked example. A campaign goes to 10,000 profiles. 280 hard-bounce, 90 soft-bounce and 30 are blocked. Delivered = 10,000 − 400 = 9,600. The send earned €4,800, which is €0.50 for every message that landed.
Because spam-foldered mail counts as delivered, this number can hold perfectly steady while every rate beneath it falls.
It answers the question
How many people did this send actually reach? Every percentage on the row is measured against this count, so it sets your ceiling as well as your denominator.
Why it matters
This is footfall for a shop you own. Rates tell you how well a send performed; this tells you how many people walked past the window at all. A 3% Click RateClick RateHigher is better; it shows stronger engagement. on 2,000 delivered is 60 visits, and the same 3% on 40,000 is 1,200.
It moves for two very different reasons. A sharp drop after a segment change is a decision you made; a slow drift down is bounces and suppressions eating the list from underneath. Only the second one is a problem.
What good looks like
This is a count, so there's no benchmark — a good number depends entirely on how big your list is and how often you send. Judge it against your own trend: rising steadily while the rates below it hold is healthy growth, and falling while signups continue means bounces and suppressions are outrunning the new names. Compare like sends with like, since a full-list campaign and a welcome flow have nothing useful to say to each other.
How to improve it
| Lever | What you do | Expect | How long | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Validate addresses at signup | Turn on double opt-in, or verify addresses before they enter the list | Bounces down, so more of each send lands | 1–2 weeks | Noticeably fewer people finish signing up, so list growth slows and the signup numbers you report get worse. |
| Fast Kill the form that's feeding you junk | Find the signup source with the worst bounce rate and add validation or switch it off | Bounces down within a send or two | 2 weeks | Whatever volume that source contributed goes with it, and it's usually the cheapest one you have. |
| Slow Authenticate and warm a sending domain | Set up DKIM, SPF and DMARC on a dedicated subdomain, then ramp volume starting with your most engaged | More messages accepted rather than blocked, across every send | 6–8 weeks | The ramp caps how much you can send for weeks. Reach and revenue fall before they recover. |
| Slow Grow the list from the shop, not from giveaways | Collect at checkout, on back-in-stock alerts and after purchase | Steady growth in names that stay reachable and engaged | 1 quarter | Far slower than a competition. Headline signup numbers look worse for months before the quality shows up in revenue. |
Every lever costs something somewhere. The last column is the one to read twice.
Read it with
Reach on its own is a vanity number. Beside engagement, it tells you whether the list is growing or just getting bigger.
Bigger and keener
The list is growing with people who want to hear from you. Rare, and worth protecting from the next growth campaign.
Growth diluting the list
You added addresses faster than interest. Prize draws and competitions produce this shape almost every time.
Trimmed on purpose
You're mailing a tighter segment, so the rates flatter. Fine as a decision, worrying if nobody made it.
The list is decaying
Fewer messages accepted and fewer of them opened is the shape of a deliverability problem, not a content one.
Reach multiplied by hit rate is the revenue. Halve Delivered and double the rate and you're exactly where you started, so this pair tells you which half of the equation actually changed.
One counts who you can still reach, the other who you lose each send. Together they say whether the list compounds or drains: Delivered climbing on a rising unsubscribe rate means you're refilling a leaking bucket, and acquisition spend is buying replacements rather than growth.
Common misreads
It means a mail server accepted it, and the spam folder counts as delivered. A high count sitting under a collapsing Open RateOpen RateHigher is better; it signals a stronger subject line and send time. is very often exactly that.
Check what you sent to first. Excluding 180-day non-openers cuts this number on purpose, and that's a healthy decision rather than a fault. Look at the bounce count, not the total.
Mailing people who never engage drags down every rate on the row and teaches inbox providers to filter you. Reach you can't convert quietly costs you the reach you can.
Also called
Messages delivered · deliveries · sends delivered
See yoursYour Delivered count for every campaign and flow in the period, beside the rates that are measured against it.
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