Reading Time: 4 minutes
We often think “the more, the merrier,” right? Well, not so much when it comes to email lists. Yes, you want to reach new people, but you also want to do effective marketing. Several factors impact email deliverability, opens, clicks, and conversions, so it’s important to keep a clean email list. A clean email list will help your engagement remain high and your unsubscribe and spam rates low.
Just like every other aspect of marketing, email marketing is constantly changing as well. While email usage remains high, consumer preferences are evolving. How can you guarantee that your email will successfully reach a consumer?
The Benefits of Cleaning Your Email List
-
Lower unsubscribe rate
- It’s inevitable that the more people you have on the list, the more people there are who will lose interest in your emails. Review your email analytics to determine if a person has shown any interest with an open or a link click. If they haven’t interacted, it’s ok to remove them before they hit the unsubscribe button.
-
Reduce bounce rate
- Just because you send an email doesn’t mean that it will successfully reach the recipient’s inbox. This could be happening for two reasons. A hard bounce happens when the recipient’s email address is invalid. A soft bounce happens when the recipient’s inbox is full. We don’t recommend buying email lists because you’ll likely get lots of fake emails and have a high bounce rate. The goal of a clean email list is who include people who want to receive your emails.
-
Improve reputation
- Whether you realize it or not, your email activity is being monitored. Email service providers, like Gmail or Outlook, are signaled when there’s suspicious activity happening on your account. Sending bulk emails is a sign of spam. If you’re sending bulk emails that aren’t getting interacted with that will hurt your sender reputation. If you’re sending large batches of emails, we recommend that you check out an email marketing service and scheduling system.
-
Increase email deliverability
- The more engagement that your emails get, the less likely you’ll be labeled as spam. It’s a good sign when you’re reaching inboxes and people are opening your emails. This will improve your reach and ensure that you’re getting in front of the right contacts.
-
Encourage engagement
- Cleaning up your email list will only improve your overall engagement. Cutting out the subscribers who don’t open or interact with you will only target your audience more and create a better-engaged list. This will allow you to focus on the customers who truly are interested in what you have to offer!
How to Clean Your Email List
It may seem hard to see customers go, but it is good to sift through your list every now and then. If you use an email platform like Campaign Monitor or MailChimp, they’ll provide you with analytics that highlight opens, clicks, etc. Check out the analytics on each of those areas and base your clean-up on those.
-
Pinpoint disengaged subscribers
- You’ll have to create your own criteria for what a “disengaged” subscriber is. Have they opened your email in the last six months? Or one year? Have they clicked on any links recently? Once you decide on your criteria, put these subscribers in a separate list and try to use a last-ditch effort to pique their interest. Offer a discount, a personal subject line, etc., if they don’t interact, you can mark the subscriber as inactive and remove them from your list once and for all.
-
Investigate bounces
- Is the bounce issue permanent? As we mentioned, a hard bounce is different from a soft bounce. If it’s a hard bounce, then cut your losses. But if it’s a soft bounce, it’s most likely a temporary issue and will be resolved when the user cleans out their inbox.
-
Review spam filters
- Subscribers can mark your emails as spam. You want to avoid this at all costs because it hurts your reputation and deliverability. If you see a user regularly marking your email as spam, it’s best to part ways and remove them from your list.
-
Clear out inactive subscribers
- If emails are no longer active, it’s beneficial to you to remove them. It will positively impact both your engagement rates and deliverability.
Closing Thoughts
Email isn’t going out of style. It’s a great way to reach a customer with undivided attention when they like what you have to offer. At Transformation Marketing, we can help assist you with creating email lists, setting up email campaigns, and monitoring the results. For more information regarding the services we offer at our marketing agency, please reach out to us at 402-788-2896.