Is there anything more important to a marketer than their email list? That data is the love of your working life! You want to keep it healthy and pure, and that means providing the TLC of email list management.
Let’s look at seven email list management tips that will keep your data squeaky clean and help produce a steady stream of leads into your funnel.
Keep a Clean House
Want increased email deliverability and ROI? It’s simple – clean your database!
But remember, it’s not a one-shot deal. Email data can decay naturally at a rate of 22.5 percent (Source: Hubspot) annually, whether you’re using an organic or purchased contact list. So you have to get into a data cleaning routine to ensure long-term deliverability and CAN-SPAM compliance.
Keep in mind, your ESP is not an email list management or cleaning service. If you’re sending to cold contacts, you’ll need email lead generation software that can clean your data upon import and keep your campaigns on the straight and narrow.
Drop the Dead Weight
Take a look at your bounce report. Hard bounces are dead accounts. All they’re good for is hurting your sender reputation.
Opt-outs are no different. For whatever reason, they’ve decided they don’t want to hear from you, so it’s best to move on. Besides, dropping this dead weight as part of email list management helps keep your list targeted and CAN-SPAM compliant.
But don’t fall asleep at the wheel. Not every ESP or marketing automation software removes bounces and opt-outs automatically. You may need to handle that aspect of email list management yourself.
Watch Your Feedback
Let’s face facts. It’s much easier to report a message as spam rather than deal with a variety of unsubscribe options, forms and fields. Monitoring feedback loops as part of email list management is the best way to identify complainers before they make a lot of noise and damage your reputation.
Send the Right Message
Think about your daily interactions. Do you make the same conversation with your mail carrier as you do with your mother? Of course not! They’re different people, and the depth of their relationship to you varies drastically.
Email marketing is no different. If you want to make the right conversation, you have to segment your list and target your message according to well-researched buyer personas.
Know When to Say Goodbye
Sometimes, email list management means having to cut your losses. Wasting resources on a subscriber who isn’t engaging just doesn’t make sense.
But make sure the thrill is gone before you end a relationship! Ask them if they still care about your content.
Recipients sometimes take marketers for granted. They scroll by today’s offering because they know something else will come along tomorrow. By letting them know that’s not necessarily the case, you may rekindle that old flame and give them a reason to immediately engage.
