Does Email Delivered mean in the Inbox?

[kcowell22]

If an email is delivered does that mean in the inbox, or could that also include spam/junk folders? Is there a way to tell it made it to a person's inbox?

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

Email Delivered means one thing only: the recipient’s first-hop mailserver (MX) returned a success response when Marketo transmitted the email.

The MX may not even have any mailboxes on it — those are usually on a second hop. So Email Delivered can never directly correspond to what we call “inboxing.” In fact, it can’t even guarantee the email arrived in a visible folder at all, although of course it’s far more likely than if the email actually Bounced!

The Email Opened activity, when supported, means the email was in a visible folder, though that doesn’t mean the Inbox, it could be in Spam. However, not all mail clients support Email Opened for privacy reasons.

[tusharwagh1]

The status 'email delivered' will be received once we send out an email, and it hits the person's mailbox. It might not necessarily land in the inbox; it could end up in spam or junk folders. To ensure that our emails hit the inbox, we should focus on recipient engagement, such as opens and clicks.

[SanfordWhiteman]

This is false. Email Delivered has nothing to do with end user mailboxes. Please see my answer and vet your responses for technical accuracy before posting.