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Metrics Definitions

Last updated February 2020

For Enterprise Metrics see Enterprise Metric Definitions.

API Metrics Definitions

The Metrics API endpoint surfaces your account's aggregated and time-series data.  The metrics available are:

MetricAPI SourceDefinition
Targetedcount_targetedNumber of emails requested or relayed to SparkPost. Includes Injected and Rejected.
Injectedcount_injectedNumber of emails successfully generated or relayed through SparkPost.
Sentcount_sentNumber of emails that were attempted to be delivered. Includes Deliveries and Bounces.
Deliveredcount_deliveredNumber of emails that were received by a recipient's mailbox provider.
Acceptedcount_acceptedNumber of emails delivered that didn't subsequently bounce (Out-of-Band).
Delivered 1st Attemptcount_delivered_firstNumber of emails delivered on the first attempt.
Delivered 2+ Attemptscount_delivered_subsequentNumber of emails delivered that required more than one attempt.
1st Attempt Timetotal_delivery_time_firstTotal time taken to deliver on first attempt, in milliseconds.
2nd+ Attempt Timetotal_delivery_time_subsequentTotal time taken to deliver on subsequent attempts, in milliseconds.
Delivered Message Volumetotal_msg_volumeTotal size of delivered emails including attachments, in bytes.
Delayedcount_delayedNumber emails that were temporarily rejected by a recipient's mailbox provider.
Delayed 1st Attemptcount_delayed_firstNumber of emails that were delayed on 1st delivery attempt.
Rejectedcount_rejectedNumber of emails that were rejected by SparkPost. Includes Policy Rejections, Generation Rejections, Generation Faliures.
Policy Rejectionscount_policy_rejectionNumber of emails that were rejected by SparkPost due to policy reasons.
Generation Failurescount_generation_failedNumber of emails that failed generation due to technical reasons.
Generation Rejectionscount_generation_rejectionNumber of emails that failed generation due to policy reasons.
Admin Bouncescount_admin_bounceNumber of emails that were bounced by SparkPost. Not counted in Bounces.
Bouncescount_bounceNumber of bounced emails, not including Admin Bounces. Includes all In-Band and Out-of-Band Bounces.
In-band Bouncescount_inband_bounceNumber of emails that bounced on delivery attempt.
Out-of-Band Bouncescount_outofband_bounceNumber of emails that bounced subsequent to a successful delivery.
Soft Bouncescount_soft_bounceNumber of emails that bounced due to temporary delivery issues.
Hard Bouncescount_hard_bounceNumber of emails that bounced due to permanent delivery issues.
Block Bouncescount_block_bounceNumber of emails that bounced due to a mailbox provider's filtering rules
Undetermined Bouncescount_undetermined_bounceNumber of emails that bounced due to undetermined reasons.
Clickscount_clickedNumber of times that links were clicked across all emails.
Raw Clickscount_raw_clickedNumber of unique link clicks from recipients.
Unique Clickscount_unique_clickedNumber of emails that had at least one link clicked. Approximated with a 5% error threshold.
Unique Confirmed Openscount_unique_confirmed_openedNumber of emails that were displayed or had at a link clicked. Approximated with a 5% error threshold.
Renderedcount_renderedNumber of times emails were displayed, as recorded by bottom open pixels. Applies only to HTML emails.
Unique Renderscount_unique_renderedNumber of emails that were displayed at least once, as recorded by bottom open pixels. Applies only to HTML emails. Approximated with a 5% error threshold.
Initial Renderscount_initial_renderedNumber of times emails were displayed, as recorded by top open pixels. Applies only to HTML emails.
Unique Initial Renderedcount_unique_initial_renderedNumber of emails that were displayed at least once, as recorded by top open pixels. Applies only to HTML emails. Approximated with a 5% error threshold.
Spam Complaintscount_spam_complaintNumber of spam complaints received from mailbox providers.
Unsubscribescount_unsubscribeNumber of times a recipient clicked a tagged unsubscribe link or used the list unsubscribe header.

Report Metrics Definitions

The Signals Analytics section of your account(EU) uses Metrics API data to build graphs and reports to help understand your email activity. Most of the numbers found in these reports are taken straight from the API. Some of numbers in the reports are simple calculations involving 2 of the API metrics. Here are the definitions for each of these calculated metrics, including the formulas used to calculate them:

MetricFormulaDefinition
Accepted RatePercentage (Accepted / Sent)Percentage of Sent emails that were Accepted.
Avg Latency 1st AttemptAverage (1st Attempt Time)Average delivery time in milliseconds (latency) for emails delivered on the first attempt.
Avg Latency 2nd+ AttemptAverage (2nd+ Attempt Time)Average delivery time in milliseconds (latency) for emails delivered that required more than one attempt.
Avg Delivery Message SizeAverage (Delivered Message Size)Average size of delivered emails, including attachments, in bytes.
Delayed RatePercentage (Delayed First Attempt / Accepted)Percentage of Accepted emails that were delayed on the first delivery attempt.
Rejection RatePercentage (Rejected / Targeted)Percentage of Targeted emails that were rejected.
Admin Bounce RatePercentage (Admin Bounces / Targeted)Percentage of Targeted emails that Admin Bounced.
Soft Bounce RatePercentage (Soft Bounces / Sent)Percentage of Sent emails that Soft Bounced.
Hard Bounce RatePercentage (Hard Bounces / Sent)Percentage of Sent emails that Hard Bounced.
Block Bounce RatePercentage (Block Bounces / Sent)Percentage of Sent emails that Block Bounced.
Undetermined Bounce RatePercentage (Undetermined Bounces / Sent)Percentage of Sent emails that Undertermined Bounced.
Click-through RatePercentage (Unique Clicks / Accepted)Approximate percentage of Accepted emails that had at least one link selected.
Open RatePercentage (Unique Confirmed Opens / Accepted)Approximate Percentage of Accepted emails that were either rendered or had at least one link selected.
Spam Complaint RatePercentage (Spam Complaints / Accepted)Percentage of Spam Complaints.
Unsubscribe RatePercentage (Unsubscribes / Accepted)Percentage of Accepted emails that resulted in unsubscribes.
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