A bigger email list isn’t always a better email list. Over time, contacts can become inactive, emails can bounce, and your engagement can take a hit. That’s why regular email list cleaning/email list scrubbing is crucial to maintaining the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. But you want to do it carefully—you don’t want to lose good contacts in the process.
Signs It’s Time to Clean Your List
Here are three signs you should clean your email list:
- High bounce rates – Bounce rate is the percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered. There are numerous causes for a high bounce rate in emails, but one of the easiest ways to keep a low bounce rate is to update your email contact list.
- Low open rates – While email marketing is one of the best ways to reach your customers, email fatigue is a thing. Open rates are falling because users can be overwhelmed with the number of emails they receive in their inbox. A poor email list can contribute to a low open rate, whether it’s new or potential customers not familiar with your brand or the list is too old.
- Spam complaints – Spam is a persistent problem for everyone with an email address. Emails can get filtered as spam by accident if they deem the email as irrelevant or unsolicited. Getting flagged as “spam” can affect your brand’s credibility and skew your marketing campaigns.
How to Clean Up Your Email List
It’s important to review your email contacts to ensure your email marketing campaigns are healthy and thriving.
Remove Hard Bounces
Emails that are invalid or undeliverable need to be removed first. Email addresses that no longer exist will affect your metrics, and you don’t want your emails going to outdated contacts.
Send a Re-Engagement Campaign
Create a campaign that says, “Hey, we miss you!” and asks subscribers if they want to stay on your list. From here, you will update your email list with contacts who still want to engage with you. If a contact chooses to opt-out, you need to make it easy for them to unsubscribe.
Segment Before Deleting
Before scrubbing contacts, segment your list into engaged and inactive groups. Sometimes, a well-timed promo can win back the “sleepers.” Segmenting is also important if you purchase email lists to differentiate between contacts and update lists for data refreshes. Your products or services could also be seasonal, such as those offered by a gardening company or ski resort, so be sure to account for seasonal fluctuations.
Use Email List Management Tools
Platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and HubSpot offer easy tools to help you manage and clean your list safely.
Not sure where to start with your list cleanup? Contact Byers and Beyond Marketing today for help auditing your email database! You can also learn more about marketing through my email newsletter: Bloom and Brief. Sign up below!
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