ips to Declutter Your Email Marketing List For A Higher ROI
It’s easy to overvalue your subscribers if you put so much effort into growing your list. What good is a high subscriber number if the other numbers aren’t growing?
Numbers such as open rate…click-to-open ratio…ROI.
Email marketing can be a great way for customers and prospects to stay in touch. But only if your contacts are engaged and value your emails.
In this post, we will share 10 tips to help declutter your email marketing lists so that you can achieve the results you desire.
Let’s first dive into the reasons why it is so important.
What are the reasons I should clean up my email marketing lists?
It is a best practice in email marketing that allows you to achieve better metrics, insights and ROI. Here’s how:
- More meaningful communication. Your subscribers are segmented according their interests, occupations, and preferences. This allows you to send personalized messages with targeted messaging.
- Higher engagement. Higher open rates and click to-open rates are associated with personalized communication.
- More optimization. You can get more information about your subscribers through campaigns and A/B testing, such as which topics they are most interested in and which call-to-action phrases resonate the best. This allows you to improve the experience and keep your subscribers’ long-term loyalty.
- Avoid spam filters. High bounce rate, spam complaints and unsubscribes are all indicators that email servers and filters cannot be trusted. This will flag your email as spam and affect your reputation and deliverability.
10 tips to declutter your email marketing list
Litmus reports that email has a $36 average ROI for every $1 spent. This is a higher ROI than any other channel, but it’s not guaranteed. You need an email list that is clean and high-value to achieve this goal. These nine email cleaning tips will help you achieve a better ROI.
1. Removing hard-bounce email addresses
A hard bounce refers to an email that does not reach its sender because of a permanent problem. It could be because the recipient’s address is incorrect or that the domain has blocked mail delivery.
Hard bounce emails are not subject to soft bounce, which is an email that is temporarily unavailable for delivery. There is no way to resolve hard bounce emails.
Spam filters and email servers may flag your hard bounce rate as spam. They will block your IP address and report you to spammers. This can damage your reputation and your ability to deliver your emails. Make sure to check your email list for hard bounce emails and then delete them as soon as possible.
2. Delete duplicate emails
It is possible to find that some users have been subscribed multiple times to your contact list, especially if you import them. This is a huge no-no as recipients will get multiple copies of the exact same email.
Duplicate emails can obstruct accuracy and performance metrics of campaigns. They are often sent straight to the spam folder. They can be so disruptive that users may choose to unsubscribe.
3. Find out who is inactive
Email providers should be able show you metrics about individual subscribers such as click-throughs, email opens, and conversion rates. This information can be used to identify inactive subscribers and target them via reengagement campaigns (more details in a moment).
It is sometimes worth deleting inactive subscribers right away. If a user has never engaged with your brand beyond their initial subscription–especially if it’s been a significant period of time –then it’s probably easier to just delete the address and move on.
4. Imagine your ideal subscriber
Your ideal subscriber will be the one who opens every email and engages with it. But who are they exactly?
You can create subscriber/ customer personas to help you paint a better picture of your ideal subscriber. This will allow you to create hyper-targeted, personalized content . A subscriber persona, which is semi-fictional description of your ideal subscriber, is based on market research.
You can also use subscriber personas to source better-quality leads which results in a higher quality email list. This allows you to spend less time cleaning out your mailbox each month and more time creating email style guides and generating results-generating campaigns.
5. Use a proper list management software
Email automation software makes it easier to manage your email lists. Some of the most popular tools are ActiveCampaign and Moosend. Mailchimp and SendinBlue. These tools can be used to segment your email list based on subscribers’ behavior, interests, and engagement.
You can segment your list to create personalized email marketing campaigns which drive engagement and higher ROI.
Email list management software also offers contact categorization, two-way data sync between apps, and other useful features. These help keep your lists organized and up to date.
It should integrate with other communication tools such as your call centre software and CRM. You might, for example, create triggered emails to send after someone interacts with your chatbot or virtual receptionist.
6. It’s easy to unsubscribe
Your business’ reputation can be damaged if you have a long and complicated unsubscription process. Qualtrics research shows that 33% consumers will tell their friends about bad experiences. Around 15% of people will share negative experiences via social media. This is not good for your reputation.
Sometimes users want to unsubscribe, whether it is because their interests have changed or because they made a mistake while shopping. You can maintain good email hygiene and your positive reputation by giving users an easy way to unsubscribe.
A link in the footer of your email and a fun confirmation message are usually enough!
7. Run a re-engagement campaign for inactive customers
There are three options available after you’ve identified all inactive users. As we mentioned earlier, the first is to delete all addresses from your contact list. The second option is to target them via a reengagement campaign.
Re-engagement campaigns target inactive users by offering incentivizing, hyper-personalized offers. While vouchers and discounts are the most popular, asking questions and showing new features are also great ways to bring in inactive subscribers.
8. Find inactive users and offer them the opportunity to opt out
You can contact your inactive users with an opt out email if you are afraid of removing them prematurely.
One of the three possible actions that will be triggered by opt-out emails is usually to delete their email address. One, the user will opt out gracefully (which means less manual email cleaning), or they will not respond (which is a sure indicator that your address should be deleted); or two, they’ll re-engage, particularly if you add humor and emotion.
9. Opt-down options are available
An email marketing strategy that you could present to your users is the “opt-down” option. Users can opt down to control the frequency and type of emails they receive. This customer-centric approach ensures users only get the information they are interested in.
They may prefer to communicate by phone or . To establish your credibility, ensure you have an 800 number for telephone communications.
10. Let go and practice the art of letting it go
This is more of an psychological email marketing tip . Even though you know why it is so important, it can be difficult to let go of inactive subscribers. Learning to let go can help you be more assertive in managing your email list. You will learn how to prioritize quality and value over subscribers. 100 engaged readers is better than 1000 disengaged.
Start cleaning out your email subscriber list today
Decluttering your email marketing lists is about getting rid of inactive or low-quality subscribers. It’s also about changing your mindset. It doesn’t matter how many subscribers your have, if no one is engaging with your emails, you won’t see a return on investment.
Email is one of the most powerful communication tools. It is not easy to prioritize quality over quantity, but it will lead to engaged and converting subscribers. These are some tips to help you declutter your email list.
- Recognize hard bounce emails
- Delete duplicate emails
- Find out who is inactive
- Use a proper list management software
- Imagine your ideal subscriber
- Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time
- Get in touch your inactive customers
- Find inactive users and offer them the opportunity to opt out
- Let go and practice the art of letting it go
About the author
Grace Lau is Director of Growth Content for Dialpad. This contact center provides service solutions to improve team collaboration and communication. Grace Lau has more than 10 years experience in strategy and content writing. She is currently responsible for leading both editorial and branded content strategies. She also works with the Ops and SEO teams to create and nurture content. Here’s her LinkedIn.
WordStream first published the post 10 Tips for Decluttering Your Email Marketing List to Increase ROI.