Difference between "Sent" and "Delivered" email?

[CharlieTG]

What is the difference between "Sent" and "Delivered" email? Is my Sent email just floating around in cyberspace? Caught by their spam filter but not a true bounce?  I am assuming all my mail is sent unless I get a bounce notification. Do I need to create a notice setting for "Sent" to see what emails did not get delivered? Thanks!

[CharlieTG]

Thanks! At least that lets me know how the emails are seen by my customers.

[CharlieTG]

Hi, thanks, but I still wonder why a single email sent by me on Nov 18 still shows as "sent" on Dec 2, while a bulk marketing email that went out on Nov 30 shows as Delivered (as in the example above). So my first email has not yet been delivered (or accepted by their server) in a timely fashion after I left a voice mail stating I would be sending an email. They only receieved one email almost two weeks after the fact. By the definitions I have been presented, Sent email means they have not yet gotten the email. Am I understanding that correctly?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @CharlieTG,

Are you referring to two marketing emails sent to the same recipient, one sent, the other delivered? Then yes, you are understanding this correctly.

For sales emails, email tracking is based on an invisible one-pixel image in the email, see here: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/connected-email/understand-hubspot-sales-email-open-and-click-tracking – as long as that pixel isn't loaded, HubSpot can't tell exactly what has happened to that email.

In any case, this is somewhat out of your hands. HubSpot does not have any control over the receiving email service provider, it's simply providing you with the message that the receiving server is sharing or the closest conclusion when nothing is shared. It's mysterious, yes, but very hard to investigate. You could work with the IT department of the recipient but that is usually unrealistic as we're talking about a potential customer or customer which we don't want to bother.

Best regards!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @CharlieTG,

"Sent" refers to all contacts on your selected recipient lists minus blocked recipients (exclusion lists) – essentially these are all the emails that are starting their journey, but necessarily arriving at the destination. That's what "Delivered" is referring to, these are all contacts whose email server sent HubSpot a response stating that the email was delivered, see also here.

Under this link you'll also find a "Not sent" section and it's always a good idea to review this section. These "Not sent" emails can have multiple reasons, I've outlined the most common ones here.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions!

[webdew]

Hi @CharlieTG ,

Email sent activity confirms that the email which you have sent has been dispatched from Marketo to be delivered
Whereas
Email delivered activity is recorded when the recipient email server responds that the email has been accepted for delivery.
It is not necessary that your email is just floating around in cyberspace. Sometimes servers are busy, sometimes the recipient is in some geographical area that he/she can’t be reached out to. There could be multiple reasons

If your GDPR settings are correct and you are allowed to send the emails to your recipient then your emails will not go to their spam and even if it goes to the spam. It will be considered as sent and delivered because it has eventually reached to their servers

There’s no such need to create a notification as it is always reflected in your system about the status of the email deliverability.

Hope this helps!

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Thanks and Regards.