Email List Cleaning: When You Should Delete Your Subscribers

Email list cleaning, it's something we all know we should be doing, but most of us have never actually knuckled down and got it done. Just think about those open rate statistics, and then think about all those disengaged subscribers who just aren't opening your emails anymore… do you really need them on your list?

We hear a lot of people talk about firing customers, but how many times have you heard someone talk about firing subscribers?

That’s right, in this episode we’re talking about cleaning up your email list and actually removing your subscribers. It sounds terrifying, but stick with us, it has SO many benefits!

Email List Cleaning

Episode Content

(2:23) Why would you want to delete your email subscribers?
(3:50) What are the main reasons that people wouldn’t be opening and engaging with your emails?
(4:42) The financial and tactical costs to you and your business of keeping disengaged subscribers.
(6:25) How your email marketing platform responds to a disengaged list (hint: they don’t like it).
(6:55) How to start tracking who is engaging with your emails and who is dropping off, and when you should delete them from your list.
(8:18) Let’s talk about deliverability, and what it REALLY means.
(9:20) How to instantly increase your email open rates and click-through rates.
(10:04) The strategy to help you decide which of your subscribers you should delete.
(12:50) Exceptions to the rule – people you definitely should not delete!
(15:05) It’s not goodbye forever. Backing up data and the possibility of re-engaging.

Sometimes you can’t help sending an email to a cold audience, is there any way for your emails to be more successful and less likely to be ignored?

Sarah McDowell – LikeMind Media

Kennedy: One of the most important things, when we do any kind of cold email, is to move people very quickly from cold to permission-based email. In that very first email, you have to acknowledge the fact that this is a new relationship and ask if they would like to hear more from you. All you’re doing is asking for permission. Be as specific and personal as you possibly can so that you get that reply and permission to continue emailing them with updates and information.

Rob: If you could get a physical mailing address for the people on this cold email list then you can actually pop a simple letter in the post to them (nice right?) and leverage that to actually get them to go to a web page and opt-in, and join your list that way. For us, this whole thing is about getting permission.