The Inbox Index
The Q3 2026 quarter has not closed. The panel is still receiving mail, so every figure on this page — scores, bands and rankings included — will change before publication, and some brands will move between bands. Nothing here should be cited as a result yet. The final Q3 2026 Retail Edition, covering the complete quarter, publishes on Oct 1.
The table
Three dimensions, 0 to 4 each: Restraint (how much they send), Urgency (how often they tell you to hurry) and Sale permanence (whether the regular price is real). The grade is the Siftbox Score, out of 12.
| Brand | Welcome week | Restraint emails / week | Urgency deadlines / 30d | Sale permanence days on sale | Siftbox Score out of 12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zara Apparel & Accessories | 2 | 1.9/wk | 0 | 0% | 11 Subscriber-first |
| 2 | Under Armour Apparel & Accessories | 2 | 1.9/wk | 1 | 10% | 10 Attention-first |
| 3 | Simons Apparel & Accessories | 7 | 2.8/wk | 1 | 10% | 10 Attention-first |
| 4 | Dynamite Apparel & Accessories | 7 | 4.3/wk | 1 | 3% | 9 Attention-first |
| 5 | Sport Chek Sporting Goods | 6 | 3.3/wk | 0 | 37% | 8 Compliance-first |
| 6 | Canada Computers & Electronics Newsletter Electronics | 2 | 5/wk | 0 | 33% | 8 Compliance-first |
| 7 | Home Depot Hardware | 4 | 3.2/wk | 1.9 | 16% | 7 Compliance-first |
| 8 | Shoppers Drug Mart Health & Beauty | 4 | 3.9/wk | 1.2 | 20% | 7 Compliance-first |
| 9 | Old Navy Canada Apparel & Accessories | 9 | 5/wk | 0 | 71% | 7 Compliance-first |
| 10 | Glossier Health & Beauty | 11 | 5.2/wk | 1 | 42% | 7 Compliance-first |
| 11 | The Body Shop Health & Beauty | 9 | 5.4/wk | 0 | 71% | 7 Compliance-first |
| 12 | West Elm Home & Garden | 11 | 8.9/wk | 0 | 37% | 7 Compliance-first |
| 13 | Rexall Drugstore Health & Beauty | 6 | 3.6/wk | 1.2 | 40% | 6 Compliance-first |
| 14 | Roots Apparel & Accessories | 5 | 4.2/wk | 0 | 75% | 6 Compliance-first |
| 15 | Best Buy Electronics | 6 | 4.2/wk | 1 | 53% | 6 Compliance-first |
| 16 | PUMA Apparel & Accessories | 8 | 5.7/wk | 0 | 77% | 6 Compliance-first |
| 17 | MEC Sporting Goods | 9 | 8.4/wk | 1 | 35% | 6 Compliance-first |
| 18 | Leon's Furniture Furniture | 8 | 5.8/wk | 1.2 | 67% | 5 Compliance-first |
| 19 | RONA Hardware | 6 | 6.5/wk | 0 | 81% | 5 Compliance-first |
| 20 | Wayfair Home & Garden | 15 | 10.7/wk | 0 | 78% | 4 Volume-first |
| 21 | Gap Apparel & Accessories | 15 | 10.9/wk | 0 | 92% | 4 Volume-first |
| 22 | Crate & Barrel Home & Garden | 10 | 11/wk | 0 | 90% | 4 Volume-first |
| 23 | Bath & Body Works Canada Health & Beauty | 11 | 11.1/wk | 2.9 | 45% | 4 Volume-first |
| 24 | UNIQLO Apparel & Accessories | 14 | 19.6/wk | 9.7 | 26% | 3 Volume-first |
| 25 | CB2 Home & Garden | 12 | 10.4/wk | 4.8 | 100% | 1 Volume-first |
Welcome week counts the emails sent in the seven days after a subscription's first one — the burst the rate calculation sets aside, published rather than hidden. A ▲ marks a welcome week at least half again the edition median of 8. Emails per week is per subscriber, measured over days actually subscribed with the welcome week set aside.
The quiet tier
These brands sent too little mail for the full rubric, which is the point: requiring twelve emails before scoring would eject exactly the brands behaving best. They are scored on Restraint alone and graduate to the full table at twelve emails in a window.
| Brand | Welcome week | Emails | Restraint emails / week | Weeks observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reebok Canada Apparel & Accessories | 3 | 2 | 0.3/wk | ~4 |
| J.Crew Apparel & Accessories | 4 | 4 | 0.5/wk | ~4 |
| Arc'teryx Apparel & Accessories | 3 | 2 | 0.6/wk | ~3 |
| Columbia Sportswear Apparel & Accessories | 5 | 5 | 0.6/wk | ~4 |
| Air Transat Travel & Tourism | 1 | 3 | 0.8/wk | ~4 |
| Sonos Electronics | 2 | 3 | 0.8/wk | ~4 |
| Well.ca Health & Beauty | 3 | 4 | 1/wk | ~4 |
| Amazon News Department Stores | 1 | 3 | 1/wk | ~3 |
| Structube Furniture | 1 | 5 | 1.2/wk | ~4 |
| VIA Rail Travel & Tourism | 2 | 4 | 1.2/wk | ~3 |
| A&W Canada Food, Beverages & Tobacco | 3 | 4 | 1.3/wk | ~3 |
| Dyson Electronics | 2 | 5 | 1.4/wk | ~4 |
| HomeSense Home & Garden | 1 | 6 | 1.8/wk | ~3 |
| Sobeys Food, Beverages & Tobacco | 3 | 7 | 1.9/wk | ~4 |
| Pet Valu Animals & Pet Supplies | 5 | 7 | 2/wk | ~3 |
| Bose Electronics | 3 | 11 | 2.5/wk | ~4 |
| Mastermind Toys Toys & Games | 6 | 9 | 2.6/wk | ~3 |
| Article Home & Garden | 3 | 9 | 2.6/wk | ~3 |
How the index is made
Siftbox sells a solution to the problem this index measures.
The index is free, brands are never contacted before publication, and no brand is ever offered a way to change a score. Scores compare within an edition, not across editions: the Publisher Edition measures different dimensions on the same scale. Past editions are never restated.
The panel. Siftbox operates a panel of subscriber inboxes that sign up the way any customer would: an email form on the brand's own site, no account created, no terms assented to. Every claim traces to a specific email the panel received.
Eligibility. One uniform window for every brand. Restraint is scored from any live subscription with enough steady-state runway; the other two dimensions additionally require twelve received emails, since a thin sample genuinely misleads. Scoring begins seven days after each subscription's first email, so no brand is judged on its welcome series.