New York—Overall worldwide email delivery to inboxes declined in the second half of 2011, falling to a record low 76.5%, down almost six percentage points from the first six months of last year, according to email deliverability company Return Path.
According to the company's “Global Email Deliverability Benchmark Report,” the drop is being caused by more stringent filtering and blocking by Internet service providers; the deterioration of some marketers' sender reputations; and recipient impatience with email overload, leading to their hitting the junk buttons.
Email deliverability was best in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), at 85%, with North American deliverability at 79%.