E-mail Traffic Comprises 97% Junk

Return Path, an Internet monitoring company, has made public its statistics concerning the e-mail traffic analyzed from in excess of 20 million IP addresses. In this regard the company has stated that a staggering 97% of all e-mail traffic should be subjected to blockage as it is comprised of spam, phishing scams, error reports, or contains some form of malware. Based on reputation metrics, Return Path attributed a Sender Score to each of the monitored IP addresses.

Score values range from 1 to 100, the Sender Score Reputation Monitor taking into account several parameters including complaints statistics, e-mail volume and infrastructure, user rates and subscription practices. In this context e-mails with scores bigger than 70 will find their way into the destination inbox, while a score inferior to 30 would lead to an invariable blockage. A middle range score, varying from 30 to 70 doesn't guarantee delivery as it could be stopped by e-mail filters. In the company's statistics a mass of 96.7% of all IP addresses have received a score below 30, certifying them for blockage. A mere 2.4% of senders scored between 30 and 70, and just 0.9% of all the 20 million IP addresses monitored have actually the necessary genuine reputation that would allow any e-mails they generate to be delivered.

"Email reputation scores matter in that they drive inbox delivery rates. Email receivers use reputation data to vet incoming email, making blocking and filtering decisions based primarily on a sender's historical reputation. With 20 percent of legitimate commercial email getting blocked and filtered at ISPs, and upward of 25 percent by corporate filtering packages, non-delivery remains a large issue for marketers. Focusing on email reputation metrics to improve program results is the best way to increase delivery rates. Return Path's Sender Score Reputation Monitor updates scores daily for 20 million IP addresses sending traceable volumes of email. Scores reported in the system are comparative to other senders," stated Return Path in a press release.