Having an email list is a vital part of running a successful business. It helps you connect and communicate with both current and potential customers. However, over time, the list may become cluttered with inactive or invalid email addresses. This can result in decreased email open rates, higher bounce rates, and an increased likelihood of emails being marked as spam.
Benefits of email list cleaning
Cleaning your email list regularly has numerous benefits for your business. It improves your sender reputation, enhances email deliverability, and reduces the risk of emails being marked as spam. Removing old, invalid, or bounced addresses increases the likelihood of your emails reaching the recipient's inbox.
Maintaining a clean email list also ensures that your emails are reaching active and interested subscribers, which enhances the success of your email campaigns. Regular updates to your email list also save time and money by avoiding sending emails to inactive recipients.
How to clean your email list
Step 1: Identify contacts to be cleaned
To get your email list in tip-top shape, it's crucial to pinpoint the contacts that need cleaning. This may include:
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Spam bots
Spam bots, also known as spam or fake accounts, are automated computer programs that can mimic human behavior. They can sign up for your email list, interact with your website, and even open your emails. The problem with bots is that they are not genuine users and can negatively impact your email deliverability. It is important to identify them and remove them from your email list to maintain the integrity of your data and improve your overall email marketing performance.
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Contacts that have bounced
Bounced contacts refer to email addresses that are returned or "bounced" back to the sender as undeliverable. This can happen for several reasons such as a full inbox, invalid email address, inactive account, or a technical issue with the recipient's email server. Bounced contacts are important to keep track of as they can negatively impact the sender's sending reputation and may need to be removed from email lists to maintain good email deliverability.
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Inactive contacts
Inactive contacts are those who have not had any interaction or engagement with your emails over a specified period. This could be due to a change in personal or business circumstances or simply a lack of interest.
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Unengaged contacts
Unengaged contacts are those who have never shown any interaction with your emails. They have not taken any action, such as opening, clicking, or replying to your emails. This may be due to a lack of relevance, or interest, or simply because they never received the emails.
Step 2: Try to re-engage
Once you have identified inactive contacts, it's time to take action and attempt to re-engage them.
The first step in re-engaging lost contacts is to send them a re-engagement email. This email should be short, concise, and to the point, asking the recipient if they are still interested in receiving emails from your business.
This email should include a clear call to action, such as a button to confirm their subscription or a link to your website. The subject line should also be attention-grabbing and compelling, encouraging the recipient to open the email.
In some cases, a simple re-engagement email may not be enough. To increase your chances of success, you may want to consider offering incentives such as exclusive discounts or early access to new products.
To effectively send a re-engagement email:
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Segment your contacts
Start by identifying and grouping together contacts who have bounced, are inactive, or have not engaged with your previous communications. You can use the pre-made segment templates in Amplified (Inactive email subscribers, Unengaged Subscribers, Customers that need nurturing, Likely to chur) to get started.
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Craft a re-engagement email
Once you have segmented your contacts, create a targeted email that aims to re-engage them with your brand or product.
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Monitor the results
After sending the re-engagement email, monitor the results of your re-engagement email and identify any contacts that continue to bounce or remain inactive or unengaged.
Step 3: Remove inactive or unengaged subscribers
If you have tried to re-engage your inactive contacts and they have not responded, it is time to remove them from your email list. Keeping inactive and unengaged contacts on your email list will only lower your open rates and negatively impact your email marketing efforts.
