The 2025 Deliverability Crisis
Cold email deliverability has reached a crisis point. Industry-wide inbox placement rates have dropped to historic lows, with many campaigns achieving less than 30% primary inbox delivery. What's causing this dramatic decline?
The answer lies in infrastructure choices that most businesses don't even realize they're making.
The Stark Reality
Average Deliverability Rates (2025):
- Primary inbox: 28% (down from 45% in 2023)
- Promotions/Other: 31% (down from 35% in 2023)
- Spam folder: 41% (up from 20% in 2023)
Performance by Infrastructure Type:
- Shared platforms: 15-25% primary inbox delivery
- Isolated infrastructure: 65-85% primary inbox delivery
- Enterprise dedicated: 75-90% primary inbox delivery
The gap between infrastructure types has never been wider. Companies using shared cold email platforms are seeing their messages buried in spam folders, while those with isolated infrastructure maintain strong deliverability rates.
This isn't just a technical issue—it's a business crisis. When 70% of your carefully crafted messages never reach their intended recipients, your entire outreach strategy fails before it begins.
The Root Cause: Infrastructure Contamination
The primary driver of poor deliverability is infrastructure contamination—when your sending reputation is damaged by the actions of other users sharing the same infrastructure.
How Infrastructure Contamination Happens:
- Shared IP pools where one bad actor affects everyone
- Shared domain reputation across multiple users
- Collective spam complaints impacting all users
- Bulk flagging by ISPs detecting patterns
- Reputation inheritance from previous users
The Compounding Effect:
- Poor senders join shared platforms → reputation declines
- Good senders see deliverability drop → some switch to spam tactics
- Platform reputation deteriorates further → more legitimate senders affected
- Death spiral continues until platform becomes unusable
According to Return Path's 2024 Deliverability Benchmark Report, 67% of companies using shared cold email infrastructure report deliverability rates below 40%, compared to only 12% of companies using isolated infrastructure.
Ready to fix your deliverability? Book a deliverability audit to understand your current performance and improvement opportunities.
Want to see isolated infrastructure in action? Learn more about why infrastructure matters more than content for cold email success.
Don't let infrastructure contamination destroy your outreach results. Join the companies that have already made the switch to isolated infrastructure and are achieving consistently high deliverability rates.
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