How do I set up automated list management techniques in SFMC to keep deliverability high?
Summary
What email marketers say14Marketer opinions
Email marketer from StackExchange explains the importance of regular list cleaning to remove inactive subscribers. Suggests implementing a sunset policy to automatically unsubscribe contacts who haven't engaged in a specific timeframe to improve sender reputation.
Email marketer from Litmus shares the value of implementing a sunset policy to remove unengaged subscribers. Recommends sending a re-engagement campaign before removing subscribers to give them a chance to remain on the list.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains to segment your email list into smaller groups based on demographics, interests, and behaviour. By segmenting your audience, you can send more targeted and relevant emails, which will improve engagement and deliverability rates.
Email marketer from Email Uplers shares the importance of implementing a preference center to allow subscribers to manage their subscription preferences. This allows subscribers to opt-out of certain types of emails rather than unsubscribing entirely, improving engagement and deliverability.
Email marketer from Salesforce Trailblazer Community explains using Automation Studio to create a scheduled automation that refreshes a data extension based on a query. This query selects subscribers who meet specific criteria (e.g., haven't opened an email in X days) and adds them to a suppression list.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that spam complaints result in immediate movement to Held status, preventing future sends. Unsubscribes are also automatically handled.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that SFMC automatically moves hard bounces at trusted domains to 'Held' status after the first bounce. Soft and block bounces follow a 3-bounce rule before being moved to 'Held'.
Email marketer from Reddit recommends using suppression lists in SFMC to exclude subscribers who have unsubscribed, bounced, or marked emails as spam. Automate the process of adding subscribers to these lists based on system events to maintain a clean and engaged list.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains to create an automation to move inactive users to a suppression DE that you would apply against any send.
Email marketer from Salesforce Trailblazer Community shares insights on using Automation Studio to automate the process of unsubscribing inactive users. Use SQL queries to identify subscribers who haven't opened or clicked in a defined period and then update their subscription status accordingly.
Email marketer from HubSpot shares the importance of cleaning your email list. It explains how to remove subscribers who haven't engaged in a long time or who have bounced. It is recommended to clean the list every three to six months, because it will help to improve your deliverability rates and keep your list healthy.
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares how to create a welcome email series for new subscribers. This helps introduce subscribers to your brand and keeps them engaged. These emails tend to have high open rates.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares that double opt-in asks new subscribers to confirm their email address before being added to your list. This helps to ensure that your list is made up of engaged subscribers, which will improve your deliverability rates.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares key list management techniques: avoid buying lists, only email opt-ins or previous purchasers, suppress inactive users (3-6 months inactivity), send engaging content, and avoid over-frequency.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains how monitoring engagement metrics like opens, clicks, and conversions is crucial for maintaining list health. They share that identifying and removing inactive or unengaged subscribers helps improve sender reputation and deliverability.
Expert from Spam Resource emphasizes using confirmed opt-in (double opt-in) to ensure high-quality lists. They explain that confirmed opt-in helps verify email addresses and ensures subscribers genuinely want to receive emails, resulting in higher engagement and improved deliverability.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Salesforce Developer details how to use the SFMC API to automate list management tasks. Describes how to programmatically add, update, or delete subscribers based on external triggers, enabling real-time list hygiene based on website activity or other data sources.
Documentation from Salesforce Help provides insight into managing subscriber statuses (e.g., Active, Unsubscribed, Held) within SFMC. Describes how SFMC automatically updates subscriber status based on email interactions and how to manually update statuses via imports or API calls to enforce list hygiene.
Documentation from SFMC describes that Triggered Sends are messages that are sent to individual subscribers in response to some action the subscriber takes. Use this feature to send personalized messages automatically when a subscriber engages. This allows you to target subscribers and keep them engaged with your brand.
Documentation from Salesforce Help details how SFMC automatically handles bounces. Hard bounces are immediately suppressed, while soft bounces are retried for a specified period. After a set number of soft bounces, the subscriber is automatically unsubscribed to protect deliverability.