In the digital age, email remains one of the most effective channels for communication and marketing. However, the success of your email campaigns heavily relies on the quality of your email list. Maintaining email hygiene is not just about keeping your list free from invalid addresses; it's about ensuring that your subscribers are engaged and that your messages are welcomed. Here's why email hygiene matters and how you can maintain a clean list.
Why Email Hygiene Matters
Protecting Your Sender Reputation
Email providers like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have increasingly stringent policies to protect their users from unwanted emails. These providers monitor engagement metrics such as open rates and clicks to determine whether your emails should land in the inbox or the spam folder. Sending emails to inactive subscribers who don't engage can harm your sender reputation.
As Liz Wilcox emphasized:
"The Internet gods don't care about your timeline and your maybes. This is now law, OK? They don't want to see emails sent out to people that aren't opening."
[The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox]
Improving Deliverability Rates
High bounce rates and low engagement can lead email service providers (ESPs) to mark your emails as spam. This doesn't just affect disengaged subscribers; it impacts your entire list. Maintaining a clean email list ensures higher deliverability rates, meaning your emails reach the intended recipients.
Kylie Kelly from "The Email Growth Show" points out:
"When you keep people on your list who are no longer interested, you're diluting the value of your efforts. A smaller, more engaged list is way more powerful than a large disengaged one."
[The Email Growth Show]
Compliance with Regulations
Laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act, GDPR, and CASL require businesses to maintain certain standards when emailing subscribers. Non-compliance can result in hefty fines and legal issues. Regularly cleaning your list helps ensure that you're only contacting those who have given proper consent.
How to Maintain a Clean Email List
Regularly Scrub Your List
Set a routine to review your email list, identifying inactive subscribers who haven't engaged with your emails over a certain period (e.g., 90 days). Remove or segment these subscribers to focus on those who are interested in your content.
Liz Wilcox urges:
"It used to be a best practice. But now, it's the law, right? Big email providers... do not want you sending emails to people that are not opening."
[The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox]
Implement Re-Engagement Campaigns
Before removing inactive subscribers, attempt to re-engage them with targeted campaigns. Send a series of emails reminding them of the value you offer, and encourage them to remain subscribed.
Kylie Kelly suggests:
"Create a simple three-part re-engagement sequence. The first email can be a reminder of why they joined your list. The second could offer a free resource or a discount, and the third could be a last chance message asking them if they still want to stay on the list."
[The Email Growth Show]
Offer Preference Centers
Allow subscribers to control how often they hear from you and what type of content they receive. This can reduce unsubscribes and spam complaints, as it tailors the experience to their preferences.
Alison Gootee from Braze mentions:
"I think senders should get very creative and granular about the types of things that they're offering recipients control over... offering recipients that control over their own experience, even if they don't take you up on that offer because any information is still valuable."
[Email After Hours: The Podcast for Email Senders]
Monitor Your Metrics
Keep an eye on key performance indicators such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribes. These metrics can help you identify patterns and take corrective actions promptly.
Engage with Valuable Content
Consistently provide content that is relevant and valuable to your subscribers. Engagement is a two-way street; offering high-quality content encourages subscribers to interact with your emails.
Conclusion
Email hygiene is crucial for the success of your email marketing efforts. By maintaining a clean list, you protect your sender reputation, ensure higher deliverability rates, comply with legal regulations, and foster better relationships with your subscribers. Regularly scrub your list, implement re-engagement campaigns, offer preferences, monitor your metrics, and provide valuable content. These practices not only keep your list clean but also enhance the effectiveness of your email marketing strategies.
