Should e-commerce stores implement an email sunset policy for inactive customers?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Quora advises against immediately deleting inactive subscribers. They suggest trying to re-engage them with targeted campaigns. If they remain unresponsive, then sunsetting is a good option for better email health and reduced costs.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests considering a reactivation strategy before sunsetting users and planning a reentry approach if sunsetted users show activity. They also state re-entered users may need fewer touches or customized content, as the current mailing strategy may not resonate with them. Reactivation campaigns can remind them of what they are missing and other benefits.
Marketer from Email Geeks agrees with implementing an email sunset policy for inactive users. They also state customer account data should be deleted at some point to adhere to GDPR, suggesting a 3-year limit as a common practice.
Email marketer from Litmus recommends implementing re-engagement campaigns as a last resort for inactive subscribers before sunsetting them. They suggest offering incentives or asking subscribers to update their preferences to improve engagement.
Email marketer from Email Uplers shares that an email sunset policy helps maintain a healthy email list, improves sender reputation, and reduces costs associated with sending to unengaged subscribers. They also suggest segmenting subscribers based on activity and targeting inactive ones with reactivation campaigns.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign answers that the process for sunsetting subscribers is straightforward: Target customers who have been inactive for a designated time, send a re-engagement email and remove any address that doesn't respond.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that sunsetting inactive email subscribers is beneficial for improving email deliverability and engagement. They recommend defining 'inactive' based on your business and industry, and setting up a sunsetting process with re-engagement campaigns before removing subscribers.
Email marketer from Reddit says that it's generally a good idea to implement a sunset policy for e-commerce stores. It helps clean up your list, improve deliverability, and save money on email sending costs. The Redditor suggests defining 'inactive' based on your store's purchase cycle.
Email marketer from SmartMail answers that inactive subscribers damage email deliverability because of a high spam rate. It's highly recommended that these email addresses get removed if no response has been initiated after a series of emails.
Email marketer from Sendinblue answers that implementing a sunset policy boosts engagement and reduces bounce rates. It's crucial for maintaining a clean and responsive email list. Also, they mention that the practice adheres to email marketing best practices.
Marketer from Email Geeks notes that recency depends on the product type (e.g., a year is not long for a car purchase). They suggest getting feedback on the product experience and using other channels like SMS or phone calls.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks advises to consider customer purchase data vs. their last activity, especially for businesses with a seasonal model.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that list hygiene is an important topic. List hygiene consists of best practice, sending mail people want, and removing people who do not want your mail. People who ignore the mail stream for too long should be removed.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that sending email to people that do not engage decreases your chance to land in the inbox. Actively pruning lists of people that do not engage helps with deliverability.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Klaviyo responds that sunsetting unengaged subscribers helps improve deliverability and ensures that you're only sending emails to people who are likely to open and engage with them. Klaviyo recommends segmenting users based on engagement and using those segments for targeting.
Documentation from Validity shares that maintaining a clean email list through sunsetting policies is a crucial part of email list hygiene. A proper email list hygiene strategy will improve deliverability and protects sender reputation which will ensure emails reach the intended recipients. They elaborate the benefits of identifying and handling unengaged subscribers.
Documentation from Mailchimp explains that regular list maintenance, including sunsetting inactive subscribers, is important for maintaining a healthy email list and improving deliverability. It involves identifying and removing or re-engaging subscribers who haven't interacted with your emails in a while.