What are the best practices for sunsetting inactive email subscribers according to ISPs and GDPR?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit explains that GDPR requires a defined data retention period. It is legitimate to use the date of last open or click to determine whether you should stop sending emails to certain contacts or if you should archive/delete them.
Email marketer from Spam Resource explains that the goal of sunsetting is to improve email deliverability by removing unengaged users from your list, thus reducing spam complaints and improving sender reputation.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares Google's recommendation to periodically confirm subscriptions and consider unsubscribing recipients who don't open or read messages.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that in the context of GDPR, a data retention time limit must be determined based on the purpose of processing the stored information and that it is legitimate to use the date of last open or click to determine whether you should stop sending emails to certain contacts or if you should archive/delete them. Tracking clicks and opens is crucial for complying with the legislation.
Email marketer from Email Karma provides guidance on building a sunsetting policy, including identifying inactive subscribers based on engagement metrics and creating a process to remove them from the active list, which can improve deliverability.
Email marketer from Litmus advocates for sunsetting inactive subscribers as a key strategy for improving email deliverability and engagement, suggesting that it helps maintain a clean and responsive list.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign Blog emphasizes the importance of email engagement for email deliverability and recommends having a sunsetting policy to remove unengaged subscribers, ultimately boosting deliverability.
Email marketer from Mailjet details how pruning your email list enhances your sender reputation by decreasing bounce rates, and thereby increasing the chances of your email being delivered in subscriber inboxes.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares Apple's encouragement for bulk email senders to manage subscriber lists, suggesting to periodically suppress inactive or disengaged subscribers, remove bouncing addresses, and honor unsubscribe requests.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares Yahoo's suggestion: "Sending email to users who are not reading them, or who report them as spam, will harm your delivery metrics and reputation. Monitor hard and soft bounces as well as inactive recipients." from Yahoo's best practices.
Expert from Word to the Wise details the impact of the laws and requirements within CAN-SPAM and GDPR and explains that one approach is to get permission to keep contacting subscribers. Then if the subscriber doesn't agree, honor that and stop sending.
Expert from Email Geeks argues that suppressing/sunsetting data is good for privacy and suggests that deletion might be advisable at some point, as one of the tenets of good privacy management is to get rid of what you don't need or are not using.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that you should decide on a period of inactivity that triggers the sunsetting process, taking into account sending frequency and typical customer behavior. They recommend defining 'inactive' based on opens, clicks, purchases, or website visits.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Apple Support encourages bulk email senders to manage the subscribers list so that only engaged subscribers keep receiving emails, suggesting to periodically suppress inactive or disengaged subscribers from the mailing list, remove addresses that bounce consistently, and honor unsubscribe requests as soon as possible.
Documentation from Yahoo Postmaster advises that sending email to users who are not reading them, or who report them as spam, will harm your delivery metrics and reputation. It also recommends monitoring hard and soft bounces as well as inactive recipients.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help recommends periodically sending messages to confirm that recipients want to stay subscribed and considering unsubscribing recipients who don’t open or read your messages to maintain a healthy email list.
Documentation from GDPR.EU answers that organisations should only keep personal data for as long as is necessary for the purpose it was collected for, and provides information about the individual's rights, including the right to erasure.