Even if you're diligent about scrubbing undeliverable addresses, your email database can still accumulate a big chunk of deliverable-but-risky addresses that drive no value for your email program.

Email service providers (ESPs) have become smarter and more attuned to what recipients want to receive in their inbox. This means a clean list is a must when it comes to getting your emails delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes. ESPs are digging in deep to the emails you’re sending and the engagement recipients are having with those messages.

Beyond monitoring spam complaints, ESPs are calculating opens, clicks, unsubscribes, inactivity and more into the algorithms that decide inbox placement. Once a recipient opts into your content, it is extremely important for you to monitor and track behaviour over time. Permission to send emails does not last forever, even the most engaged subscribers can lose interest as time passes, which can mean they become more of a liability than an asset.

5 Benefits of email list cleaning

1. Cleaning email lists improves deliverability.

Removing them is a move that eventually will increase your sender reputation and your deliverability because you can show an ISP that you’re a reliable sender.

2. A clean email list protects your data.

It’s not just your list of email addresses. It’s also all the customer information you have about each address in your database. The email address is rapidly becoming a more trusted source for identifying customers across different channels , so it’s essential to keep your database up to date.

3. Helps you improve your email metrics.

Mailing list cleanup can impact your campaign metrics. Your delivery rate – the percentage of your emails that reach the inbox only, not including the spam folder – is one measure of list quality. Others are opens, clicks, conversions, unsubscribes and complaints, as well as campaign-specific metrics like new orders, average order value and revenue per email.

4. Improves your working partnership with your email service provider.

Your ESP should be a vested partner in your email success. If you’re struggling, your ESP might refer you to an email verification service to help you clean up your act – that is, your email list.

5. Keep you connected with the right customers.

Even if you’re diligent about scrubbing undeliverable addresses, your email database can still accumulate a big chunk of deliverable-but-risky addresses that drive no value for your email program. A manual scan or simple MX check won’t track them down, either.

Source Kickbox 2022