Delivery Rate
The delivery rate is the share of messages that actually reach the recipient's device, measured against all messages sent. It is the basic condition for any success in messaging: a message that is not delivered cannot be read.
What is the delivery rate?
The delivery rate tells you how many of the messages you send actually reach the recipient. The formula is simple: delivered messages divided by sent messages, times 100. If 980 of 1,000 messages arrive, the delivery rate is 98 percent.
Do not confuse the delivery rate with the open rate. Delivered only means the message has arrived. Whether it was read is a second metric. On WhatsApp, two grey ticks show delivery and two blue ticks show that the message has been read. Our entry on read rate vs. open rate covers that second step.
A high delivery rate is the foundation of every campaign. A brilliant message achieves nothing if it disappears because the number was invalid or the sender has been penalised.
What affects the delivery rate
Three levers decide whether delivery runs smoothly:
- Quality of consent. Sending without a clean opt-in risks blocks and spam reports. Both push the delivery rate down and damage the sender’s reputation.
- Number validation. Typos, outdated numbers and numbers that never existed cause failed deliveries. A well-kept contact list is half the battle.
- Quality rating. On WhatsApp, Meta rates the quality of your sender. Frequent blocks lower the quality rating, and a poor rating can restrict how many business-initiated conversations you may start.
The channel plays a part too. WhatsApp and SMS land directly on the phone, while in email marketing spam filters and bounces noticeably pull the figure down.
Example: a bike shop
A bike shop in Bristol sends a WhatsApp message to 500 regular customers who opted in, announcing its spring service week. Six numbers are out of date and two customers had blocked the shop. 492 messages are delivered, a delivery rate of 98.4 percent.
The shop checks the eight failed deliveries, corrects four numbers and removes the rest from the list. On the next send the rate rises, and the sender’s quality rating benefits as well.
Keeping an eye on delivery rates with SendSeven
SendSeven is a unified messaging platform for WhatsApp, SMS, email, Instagram, Messenger, live chat, Telegram and browser push. Campaign reports show how many messages were sent and delivered, and per message you see whether it was delivered, read where the channel reports it, or failed.
That way you spot dead numbers and delivery problems early and keep your contact list clean. Opt-in management, central contact management and a unified inbox help your messages arrive. GDPR-compliant and hosted in the EU (Frankfurt).