Email Deliverability Master Series Part 6: Maintaining Email List Hygiene - Keep It Clean and Keep Delivering
Bonus points if you caught the rhyme in the title 😜
If you've made it this far, you're in the top 10% of email marketers who really know their email deliverability! Congrats!
Today, in part six of our series, we're moving further into the realm of email list management. Specifically, we're focusing on email list hygiene – a crucial element to avoid spam traps and enhance your deliverability.
Imagine your email list as a beautifully crafted ship. If you don't keep it clean and remove the barnacles (undeliverable or unengaged emails), eventually, the ship will slow down or, worse, sink. In email terms, poor list hygiene can lead to spam traps, reduced deliverability, and a tarnished sender reputation.
Let's go through the best practices for keeping your email list shipshape:
1. Regularly Purge Inactive Subscribers
As much as we'd love everyone to stay engaged forever, that's not always the case. Subscribers who haven't opened your emails in a while are like dormant barnacles. It's best to remove them to keep your list healthy and engaged.
2. Validate Email Addresses
Bogus email addresses are holes in your ship's hull. They lead to hard bounces and signal to ISPs that your list quality is low. Regularly validating your email addresses ensures you're sending to real people who can actually receive your message.
3. Promptly Address Soft Bounces
A soft bounce is usually a temporary issue – a full inbox, server downtime, etc. But if an address consistently soft bounces, it's time to remove it. It's like a loose plank on your ship. You can ignore it for a while, but eventually, it'll cause a problem.
4. Beware of Spam Traps
ISPs and email watchdogs use spam traps to catch spammers. They're like hidden rocks in your sailing path. Regular cleaning and validation can help you avoid them.
5. Allow Easy Unsubscribing
An unengaged subscriber is more likely to mark you as spam than go through a difficult unsubscribe process. Make sure your unsubscribe button is clearly visible and easy to use.
With Super Send, we're here to help maintain your email list hygiene. From bounce monitoring and automatic list cleaning to offering an easy unsubscribe feature, we ensure your email list stays as sleek and powerful as a well-kept ship.
In our next part, we'll learn how to steer clear of the dreaded spam folder. You won't want to miss it!
Until then, remember – a clean list is a happy list. Keep it clean, keep it engaged, and keep sailing towards inbox success.
Happy Sending!