How long should I keep inactive email addresses on my marketing list?

Email marketer from Litmus explains that the size of the list is not as important as the quality of the list. It recommends removing subscribers who haven't engaged in 6-12 months.

Email marketer from SuperOffice states that after 6 months of inactivity, you should run a re-engagement campaign.

Email marketer from HubSpot Blog advises segmenting inactive subscribers (those who haven't engaged in a while) into a graymail list and reducing email frequency to them. If they still don't engage, remove them to improve deliverability and sender reputation.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests a possible hard cutoff for email list expiration at 24 months, while acknowledging it depends.

Email marketer from Reddit states that you should clean your email lists every 3-6 months to maintain a good sender reputation and improve deliverability.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor suggests you should send re-engagement emails if subscribers are inactive for three to six months.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests the optimal time to remove inactive emails from a marketing list depends on the frequency of the emails being sent. If sending several times a week, emails should be removed after 3 months. If sending monthly, the inactive period can be extended to around 6 months.

Email marketer from Reddit mentions that email engagement rates are crucial, and lists should be purged regularly based on metrics like opens and clicks. They recommend assessing engagement at least quarterly and removing consistently unengaged contacts.

Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog recommends purging inactive contacts after a re-engagement campaign has failed. They highlight that sending emails to unengaged subscribers negatively impacts deliverability, and maintaining a clean list leads to better results.

Email marketer from MailerLite Blog suggests running a re-engagement campaign for inactive subscribers. This involves sending a series of emails to encourage them to interact, and if they don't, consider removing them from the active list.

Expert from Word to the Wise recommends purging inactive email addresses to avoid hitting recycled spam traps. They suggest considering purging addresses that haven't engaged in 12-24 months, depending on the mailing frequency and industry.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that a reasonable timeframe for email list expiration is between 90 days and 2 years, depending on the purchase cycle and delivery issues.

Expert from Spamresource says that older email lists have more deliverability problems. They recommend scrubbing email lists frequently and reducing the risk from stale and disinterested addresses.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that list expiration depends heavily on the type of email (newsletter vs marketing) and whether the email addresses are free or not. Also mentions that Yahoo and Microsoft bounce inactive emails, reducing the need to purge. Sending to abandoned addresses on Google is detrimental to deliverability.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools recommends actively managing bounced emails and suppressing inactive users. Google can interpret consistently sending to inactive users as spamming behaviour.

Documentation from MessageBird emphasises that sending to invalid email addresses, especially spam traps, can severely damage your sender reputation. It's better to err on the side of caution and remove addresses that haven't engaged in a while.

Documentation from Microsoft advises that you should remove invalid recipients from your lists as soon as possible. Microsoft also states that they may start directing emails from senders who send high amounts of email to invalid recipients to spam or block them entirely.

Documentation from Validity explains that maintaining good list hygiene by removing inactive addresses is vital to protect sender reputation. High complaint rates from users opening but not clicking, spam traps, and low engagement rates all negatively impact the ability of future emails to reach inboxes.