Figures per issue and branch
Addressed, delivered, bounced. Every branch sees its own figures.
Guide · How-to
Delivery rate and bounces. Did the member magazine arrive?
After the member magazine goes out, often only one figure is known: this many messages were sent. Whether they arrived, which addresses are no longer valid and whether anyone read the issue remains unclear. This guide shows which figures a delivery report needs.
By Paul Czichos, consulting and project support at czichos.net GmbH · Updated
The figures that matter
Delivery rate, bounces and open rate. Sent is not delivered.
Between “sent” and “read” there are several stages, each with its own figure:
- Addressed: how many addresses were on the list.
- Delivered: how many messages the recipients’ servers accepted. That may also be the spam folder.
- Hard bounces: addresses that don’t exist. They need checking and should not be written to again.
- Soft bounces: temporary errors such as a full mailbox. Only three in a row are a problem.
- Downloads or clicks: how often the issue was actually opened or downloaded.
The open rate is deliberately missing: it has been unreliable since 2021. Apple Mail preloads images at the user’s request, triggering every tracking pixel, while other programs load no images at all. Tracking pixels without consent are also contentious under data protection law.
What belongs in the report
What belongs in a newsletter delivery report. Five things a good delivery report shows.
A branch should understand the report without asking and know what to do.
Errors by type, in plain words
“This address no longer exists” instead of “550 5.1.1”, plus what to do about it.
The links in circulation
Which link points to which issue? That way a wrong link shows up on the day of sending.
Downloads, cleaned up
How often the issue was downloaded, without double clicks, search engines and other bots.
Addresses that need attention
The failed addresses, visible for a limited time, so they can be sorted out in the membership records.
From report to clean records
Handling bounces and cleaning your list. A report only helps if someone acts on it.
Hard bounces are the most important part of the report. Anyone who keeps writing to addresses that don’t exist loses reputation with the large mail providers. Eventually delivery to all other recipients suffers.
So after every issue, sort out the hard bounces in your membership records: ask, correct or remove the email address. Watch soft bounces over several issues. The guide to deliverability explains why messages end up in spam.
If bounces suddenly pile up at a single provider, your mail server is often on a blocklist. The guide to checking blocklists shows how to find out. How to set up the sending itself is covered in the guide to member mailings from your own domain.
Do it yourself or have it done
Measuring the delivery rate yourself? You already have many of the figures.
Every newsletter service provides statistics, and for an association with one list they are enough. It gets harder when many branches need their own figures.
Analyse it yourself
If you have one list and one sending service
- Your sending service’s statisticsDelivery and bounces are usually there already. Turn off open tracking if you don’t need it.
- A bounce mailboxIf you send yourself, route error messages into a dedicated mailbox and check it after every issue.
- Privacy-friendly web analyticsFor downloads, self-hosted analytics such as Matomo or an analysis of the server logs is enough.
Have it reported
If many offices need their own figures
- Large circulation, many branchesEvery branch wants to see what arrived on its side without digging through the overall statistics.
- Questions land with one personWhoever pulls the figures from logs by hand answers every request individually.
- Spotting errors earlyA wrong link or many bounces should show up on the day of sending.
On our own behalf: we earn money from the second column. If your association sends one list through a newsletter service, its statistics are enough, as long as someone deals with the bounces after every issue.
Common questions
Delivery rate and bounces FAQ. What associations ask.
What is the difference between hard and soft bounces?
A hard bounce means the address is permanently undeliverable, for instance because it does not exist. A soft bounce is temporary, such as a full mailbox. Deal with hard bounces straight away and watch soft bounces over several mailings.
Why are open rates unreliable?
Since 2021, Apple Mail has preloaded images at the user’s request, triggering the tracking pixel even if nobody opens the message. Other programs block images entirely. So the figure is sometimes too high, sometimes too low.
May we measure who reads the magazine?
Personal open and click tracking is widely considered to require consent. Figures without personal reference, such as the downloads of an issue, are less problematic. If in doubt, ask your data protection adviser.
How high may the bounce rate be?
There is no fixed limit. As a rule of thumb: if hard bounces stay above one or two per cent, the list needs cleaning, and the large mail providers start paying attention.
Delivery reports with secReport
secReport shows per issue and branch how many addresses were written to, which bounces occurred and what they mean. It also shows the links in circulation and how often the accessible edition was downloaded, without double counting and without bots. Read-only, and without tracking readers.
Sending a member magazine? Let’s talk figures.
Tell us how your magazine is sent today and who needs which figures. We will tell you whether secReport fits or your sending service’s statistics are enough.
No obligation and no contract. We usually reply within one working day and are happy to show you the tool in a short call.
Prefer to reach us directly? Send an email · call 030 994048000