Email List Cleaning for a Competitive Edge

Email marketing today is critical for acquiring and retaining customers, and deliverability is critical to the success of email marketing programs. However, with churn rates causing about 30% of emails to become undeliverable at any given time, the erosion of email lists is a battle marketers must continually fight to keep their programs on track. One of the most effective ways marketers can win the battle and gain a competitive edge is by making email list cleaning part of a regular list maintenance program.

A dirty list will hamper your ability to deliver email, and, as Mark Brownlow of eMail Marketing Reports notes, “Email deliverability is a tough topic to stay on top of.”

The deliverability battle is compounded by the shifting and tightening rules ISPs and email providers are using to determine deliverability. As Brownlow reports, “Those managing incoming email (ISPs, webmail services, software manufacturers etc.) are constantly modifying how they sort those messages so that bad email is kept out of each user’s inbox.”

The cleaner you keep your email list, the higher your delivery rate will be, which in turn will strengthen your reputation.

As Brownlow advises, “The new email marketer tackles their reputation with ISPs directly, by keeping lists clean of dead addresses etc. And indirectly by improving their reputation with recipients.”

In pursuing an email list cleaning solution, marketers should be aware that not all email hygiene services are equally effective. The best email list cleaning service will provide a three-pronged approach that includes email validation, email correction, and email change of address (ECOA) services. Moreover, the databases, algorithms, and methodologies used in providing these elements will be of a higher degree.

With deliverability so closely tied to reputation, maintaining a high reputation is key to the success of your entire email marketing operation.

As Brownlow relates, “Your sender reputation is your ticket to the ball. It’s the stamp of approval that helps you get through the ISP gates and into the inbox.”

A regular regimen of email list cleaning is among the most effective means of boosting your reputation and deliverability, which will keep you ahead of the game and give your marketing a competitive edge.

As Ken Mahar, CEO of Email Broacast advises, “Maintain list hygiene at all times.”