Social Network Emails Fall Foul of Spam Filters

Author:

Graham Charlton

Source:

Emails from social networks are marked as spam 100% more often then those from other sectors, and in the case of Friends Reunited, one in four of its emails failed to reach the inbox. 
 
According to Return Path, the deliverability issue is partly a result of spam complaints from recipients, which suggests that social networks need to take a closer look at the issue. 
 
Friends Reunited sends around 30m emails per month, and found that almost 33% were not reaching subscribers' inboxes. While 5.7% ended up in recipients' spam folders, 27% were blocked at ISP level. 
 
Return Path managed to improve this deliverability rate from 67.1% in May to 92.5% in June 2010, but the fact that ISPs are blocking such a high percentage of social network emails suggest that others may need to look at their email strategies. 
 
I suspect the sheer volume of emails from Facebook, Twitter and others is a big part of the problem, and perhaps these sites need to send fewer emails, or bundle news into a daily update. 
 
With emails telling you that someone has commented on your photo, or that you have a new follower, the number of emails soon mounts up, and for people who have become disinterested, its often easier to hit the spam button than the unsubscribe link....