How to maintain a clean and healthy email list for a mid-size nonprofit?

Email marketer from Validity suggests actively managing both hard and soft bounces. Remove hard bounces immediately and monitor soft bounces to determine if an address is permanently inactive. They suggest soft bounces can be an indication of a larger deliverability issue.

Email marketer from Mailchimp explains the importance of regular list cleaning, including removing inactive subscribers, correcting typos, and segmenting based on engagement. They also suggest using double opt-in to ensure subscriber quality from the start.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that using double opt-in is an excellent way to ensure the quality of your email list and prevent spam complaints. It also helps you comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.

Email marketer from ZeroBounce explains that using an email validation service can help identify invalid, risky, and spam trap email addresses. They can also help you detect disposable email addresses, improving list quality. This protects you from a higher bounce rate.

Email marketer from Reddit advises setting a threshold for inactivity (e.g., not opening or clicking an email in 6-12 months) and then using a re-engagement campaign to try and win back these subscribers. If they don't respond, they should be removed from the list.

Email marketer from HubSpot advises segmenting your list based on engagement and targeting only those segments that are active. They suggest re-engaging inactive subscribers with targeted campaigns before removing them, giving them a chance to opt back in.

Marketer from Email Geeks mentions that the BCP (Business Continuity Plan) structure is the important piece to put in place, and not just the size of the list.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that the frequency of list cleaning depends on the sending volume and list activity. For a list of 40,000, they recommend cleaning at least every 3-6 months, or more frequently if engagement rates are low.

Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that regularly cleaning your email list helps maintain a good sender reputation and improve deliverability. They recommend removing hard bounces, unsubscribes, and inactive subscribers to ensure you're only emailing engaged contacts.

Email marketer from Lemlist shares that a targeted re-engagement email can revive subscribers on your email list. The email should have a clear call to action or offer an incentive to re-subscribe and to verify their email address is still valid and in use.

Expert from Email Geeks recommends looking into ongoing soft suppression of non-engagers, which involves stopping emails after a certain period but keeping them eligible to receive emails again if they engage.

Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes the importance of permission and consent in email marketing. She explains that acquiring explicit consent from subscribers and making it easy for them to unsubscribe are fundamental aspects of maintaining a healthy list. She also recommends regular list scrubbing to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests running non-responding emails through Kickbox, removing those with a low Sendex score, and manually examining the remaining results in Excel. He mentions revalidating a list of 2-3 million dormant addresses with a Sendex cutoff of .7, resulting in no deliverability impact.

Expert from Spam Resource highlights the importance of avoiding spam traps to maintain a clean and healthy email list. He explains that spam traps are email addresses that are used to identify spammers. Landing in a spam trap can severely damage your sender reputation and deliverability. They recommend using confirmed opt-in and regularly cleaning your list to remove old or inactive subscribers.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests using an ESP (Email Service Provider) that properly handles bounce lists.

Documentation from Google outlines the importance of maintaining a healthy sender reputation and avoiding spam traps. This includes using confirmed opt-in, providing easy unsubscribe options, and regularly cleaning your list to remove inactive or invalid addresses.

Documentation from Campaign Monitor suggests segmenting your list into specific groups based on engagement, demographics, or purchase history. This allows you to send more relevant emails and improve engagement rates, and also makes it easier to see which segments need work or even removal from your email marketing.

Documentation from Litmus share that maintaining a good sender reputation is critical for email deliverability. Cleaning your list regularly is one way to ensure you're only sending emails to engaged subscribers, protecting your reputation from being tarnished by spamtrap addresses and unengaged subscribers.

Documentation from RFC explains that handling SMTP bounce codes correctly is crucial for identifying invalid email addresses. Permanent failures (5xx errors) should be immediately removed from the list, while temporary failures (4xx errors) can be retried a few times before removal.

Documentation from Microsoft shares that following best practices such as using list-unsubscribe headers, honoring unsubscribe requests promptly, and monitoring bounce rates are essential for maintaining a clean list and good deliverability. They also recommend segmenting your list based on engagement to send more targeted emails.