Email list cleaning means removing old or inactive contacts from your email database, be it contacts that are no longer engaging with your emails or dated email addresses that are no longer active and might return bounces, blocks or might have even become spam traps.
Cleaning your email list is really quite simple. Itβs pretty much exactly what is sounds like: looking over your email contact list and updating it as you see fit. That means getting rid of old, outdated contacts. Just like getting rid of those old pens in your desk.
But wait a minute…isnβt it the more contacts on your list, the better chance you have for a higher opening rate? Actually, thatβs not quite true. Removing contacts from your list might seem scary. After all, you put in work to get them there in the first place. But placing your focus in nurturing the contacts who love your brand is the better way to go. Then youβll be able to show them what your brand can really do.
Simply put, because it can impact your deliverability. Thatβs a fancy way of saying βthe number of emails that make their way into your contactsβ inboxes, instead of the Spam folderβ. Why should you care about this? Iβll tell you why.
Three words, four syllables: increase open rates.
The way ISPs (Internet Service Providers) learn is from your statistics. They take a look at your open rates and try to gage from there how interested your contacts are in the content youβre sending them. If your open rates are low, this tells the ISP that your contacts arenβt interested.
You need to clean your email list to ensure that the ISP doesnβt take a look at your low open rates and say βThis is not valuable, send to spam.β (Tip: itβs more fun if you read it in a robotic voice). If this happens, your open rates will decrease even more, fewer people will be reading your emails, and the ISP will continue to mark it as spam. Itβs a vicious cycle, we know.
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By cleaning your email list, youβre ensuring your open rates, which is the ratio between emails sent and emails opened, are better. Now, this wonβt affect the total number of contacts that read your email; if 4 out of 100 open your email, the number will remain the same if 4 out of 50 contacts read it. The potential ROI from this campaign might remain the same, but email list cleaning will affect your reputation with the ISP. And this is key.
You donβt want a bad reputation (despite how cool the song by Joan Jett is). The worse your reputation is with an ISP, the more often your mail will end up in spam. Then, because your emails are ending up in the spam folder instead of the inbox, the number of contacts reading your email will be reduced, along with your ROI and engagement. Email list cleaning is whatβs going to help you avoid this.
Thereβs another reason to clean your list (as if you havenβt been convinced yet). By putting your time and focus into contacts that love your brand, instead of subscribers that never interact, you can build better relationships with your active customers. Focusing on the contacts that love your emails lets you create content that suits their needs and interests, which can lead to better conversion rates. Youβll have better customer satisfaction, and higher revenue. Itβs a win win.
You should always clean your list from blocks, bounces and spam complaints after you send an email, but even if your emails are arriving in your contactsβ inbox, you might still be in need of an email list cleaning.
Basically, the way to figure out if you need to clean your email list is to keep an eye on your open rates. What youβre looking for is an indication that they are starting to go down. If you see that they are decreasing over time, it might be time to clean that list.
Old contacts can be a couple of different things. It could be contacts that are uninterested or disengaged in your brand. These are those people that never open your fantastic emails and donβt know what theyβre missing.
If itβs not them, it could be bad email addresses that your messages bounce back from (the WORST). Take a look over your email list with these two types of contacts in mind and start to scrub that contact list clean. Metaphorically, of course.
Ok, you convinced me, I know why I should clean my contact list and Iβm ready to begin. But where do I start?
Donβt worry, weβve got your back.
To clean your email list, you can use two methods:
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Remove blocks, bounces and unsubscribes after every email campaign.
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Use segmentation to target inactive users.
We promise itβs not as much work as it sounds. After each campaign, take a look over your stats. You’ll want to look for unsubscribes, bounces and spam, and remove them from your contact list before sending another campaign. Diligence is key to cleanliness!
But, what else can you do to optimize your email contact list? Well, Iβm glad you asked.
You can also segment your list based on the engagement of your contacts. Look for the contacts that havenβt opened your email in the past 3 to 6 months, and send them a βwe miss youβ reactivation email.
Itβs like checking in on an old friend. You send them a little message to see if you still have anything in common, and if they donβt respondβ¦ all thatβs left is to move on and remove them from your contact list. Because, letβs face it, if they havenβt engaged with you in the past 6 months, the message theyβre sending is pretty clear. Theyβve lost interest in what youβre offering. But the good news is you are freeing up time and effort to focus on catering to the contacts that canβt get enough of you.
A double opt-in means that when a customer signs up for your mailing list, you fire off an email asking them to confirm their subscription by following a link in the email. Setting up a double opt-in system helps you prevent fake email addresses from entering your database. This means that only those that are interested in receiving your content will confirm the subscription, and there will be fewer bounces, blocks, etc. Think of it as a first defense for a cleaner and healthier list.
It can be hard to tell if your contacts are simply not interested in what youβre sending them, or if they love it but just donβt feel like taking further action with it. A way to separate these two audiences is to ask questions. We have a couple ideas for how you can do this. So go on, donβt be shy.
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You can ask your contacts to vote in a poll, with a question about how much they are enjoying your content, or maybe what they would like to see more of. I mean, come on, who doesnβt love a good poll?
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Request some feedback on something youβve sent, a new format youβre trying out, or anything else youβre curious about.
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Ask your contacts to set their own communication preferences directly within the email. You can ask about preferred frequency, topics they might be interested in, etc.
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Offer your contacts the ability to easily make product or feature requests.
Once youβve sent out a round of these emails, filter out the contacts that are still not engaging with your content. Voila! Cleaned.
Remember when we were talking about those βwe miss youβ emails? Thatβs a re-engagement campaign. Low engagement in your content doesnβt necessarily mean that your contacts arenβt interested in your brand, it could just mean they arenβt too interested in the content youβre providing. So before you scrub them from the list completely, see if you can pique their interest a bit. We have a few ideas for you:
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Offer a free gift, or maybe a discount (no one can resist free stuff). But be careful with this one. It has potential, but what you really want is for your contacts to be interested in the content youβre providing, rather than just re-engaging for the freebee.
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Give them a special perk, or maybe access to special content. Everyone loves to feel special every now and then.
Another tip is to take a quick glance at the calendar. Sometimes, people love your content, theyβre just being bombarded by emails because of the time of year. Like during the holiday season when they donβt want to open even one more email. Just make a note to re-engage with these contacts later on.
Itβs never a good idea to hide your unsubscribe link from your customers, or to make the process of unsubscribing difficult, time-consuming or confusing. If they canβt find your unsubscribe link, or donβt want to take the time, they may just mark you as spam. You donβt want that, and we donβt want that for you.
We know it may seem backwards to offer your clients an easy way for them to leave. But, if youβre providing your contacts with quality content (which we know you are), then they wonβt even look at that unsubscribe button. Just make sure to make it worth their time by providing worthwhile content.
Repeat after me: I will not buy email lists. Good. Now say it five times fast.
It may seem like a quick and easy way to build up your sender list, but donβt be fooled. Itβs far better to build up your own list of subscribers that chose to receive your content.
A bought list is usually poor in quality. They arenβt targeted for your brand, so youβre not going to get good value from interacting with them.
They could also have something called spam traps in them. These are email addresses that used to be valid, but will now get your IP address blacklisted for sending to them.
So before you go to buy that list, remember all those annoying emails you got that you rolled your eyes at and sent to the junk folder. Thatβs not where you want your emails to end up.
Manually cleaning your list would be really time-consuming, so we made it easier for you. With just a couple of simple steps, youβre on your way to a sparkling clean list.
The first thing youβre going to want to do is click on the title of the last campaign you sent out. Scroll down until you see βShow me the reportsβ and click on that, too.
Then select the βStatusβ drop down menu, and take your pick. Youβll mostly want to focus on the Unsub, Spam and Bounced options.
Once youβve selected one of those options, click on the button βExport to a listβ at the bottom of the page. When that new box opens up, in the left drop-down menu, youβll want to select the contact list that you want to clean up. In the right drop-down menu, select βRemove contactsβ. Now take a deep breath, and press the βExportβ button.
Thatβs all there is to it. You are now a few contacts lighter. We hope you feel refreshed and organized after cleaning up your email contact list.
If you have a few cleaning tips, whether itβs for email lists or the office, share them with us on Twitter.