It’s a fairly typical thing in the email marketing world to clean your list regularly… and toss out the trash emails that aren’t wanted.
It’s not a bad thing. For two reasons…
1) People sometimes stop using their email addresses.
And these regularly get taken over by email providers to use as “spam traps.”
So if you send email to them you end up with a black mark against you.
It can SLAUGHTER your email deliverablity.
And…
2) When people signed up using a single opt-in process.
If you didn’t go with a double opt-in… where people have to confirm their email address when signing up… then chances are there’s junk email on the list.
From a person mistyping their own email address.
Or when bots come slithering along and fill in your form automatically.
I do this sort of list cleaning with my ecommerce clients.
They need it because they have single opt-in lists. And a lot of people can come and go quickly.
I don’t need to clean my own email list to the same degree. Because I use a double opt-in.
And BerserkerMail (the email platform I use) has built-in bot protection. And other features to avoid junk emails getting onto the list.
While they’re busy taking out the trash…
Email list owners have picked up this NASTY HABIT of cleaning people off their list if they haven’t “engaged” or bought anything within a certain timeframe.
This has even become an email marketing “best practice.”
Perhaps there’s some logic behind it. With not wanting to pay for people who aren’t paying you.
I find there’s a certain stench lingering about it.
Because it treats people more like economic units. Only being valuable for the $$ they can ring up on the cash register.
I can see why it’s in favor with the get-rich-quick crowd.
But it’s INCREDIBLY short-sighted.
Why boot people off your email list because they haven’t “engaged” in the past 6 months? Or year? Or bought something from you yet?
Do you REALLY know what it takes for people to make that decision to buy from you?
Could that email you sent after dumping them from your list have been the last piece needed in the puzzle before they went all-in with you?
You know… it’s not unheard of for people to be on lists for one, two, or more years… and not buy a thing.
But then the right offer. Or the right time in their lives comes. And they become a customer. Even becoming a die-hard fan.
I’ve heard this story from other email marketers time and again.
Better to let them stay on your list as long as they want.
(Assuming they’re playing nice. And NOT being a nuisance to you).
And the thing is…
The whole idea of finding out if someone is actively engaged is SO unreliable noawadays.
What with email open rates being practically useless, due to Apple’s fiddling. And there’s privacy-blocking measures on various platforms.
Click-rate statistics are going the same way.
So… it might be worth us worrying LESS about taking out the trash.
And MORE about using our time to send AWESOME emails on a regular basis (daily, of course š).
Using a double opt-on process can help keep bad email addresses off your list from the get-go.
I love that people have come and gone on my email list.
And that people have come and stayed.
Either way is OK.
Because it’s a two-way relationship. And it’s gotta be the right fit for both of us.
Of course you have to be able to cope with this middle-aged dude from New Zealand emailing you all sorts of nonsense every day. š
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Chris Milham