Your marketing team has been working very hard on the new email campaign, but as you’re completing the final touches you realize you haven’t updated your email lists in a long time. So what do you do now? Do you send out your marketing campaign to an older list you haven’t touched in some time?
The most common question being asked during this situation is…
Can I use my old email list to send my email campaign?
The truth is it’s probably not a good idea. Although it is good to have a large list, it is only useful for you if the subscribers are interested in your products and services. If they haven’t heard from you in some time, they probably don’t remember you or are wondering why they ended up on your list in the first place. Which means they are more likely to complain or mark your emails as spam.
You should also look out for contact information and email addresses that may have changed. Some people on your list are no longer interested in your products or services. Some email addresses are inactive due to abandonment, moves or death. So sending to a list that is even 4 to 6 months old opens you up to considerable risks, including spam traps, disposable domains, and missing the inbox completely. If you send an email campaign to lists every once in a while, this could lead to not only being listed as spam but cause a shut down to your account.
Consider the following to help bring your old List- Up- to- Date
Identify risky old emails– Just because a prospect or customer provided an email address to you in the past doesn’t mean they could be still interested. Over time email address can become spam traps and disposable domains. Sending to these threats can negatively affect your deliverability and sender reputation. In the worst-case scenario, you could end up on one or more blacklists, losing your ability to send emails altogether. The way to identify and eliminate threats is to use a hygiene provider. While you might think about cleaning your list in house, keep in mind that spam traps don’t bounce, trackers can open your email, and robots can click links. That means monitoring your typical in-house email metrics won’t necessarily reveal the threats on your list. Only a professional provider can compare your list to active threats unknown to most.
Verify deliverability– Email hygiene is the first and most skipped step to good email list management habits, but its only part of the process of updating your data. You also need to verify that the addresses on your list are free of typos and bounces. Eliminating these low-quality email addresses can protect your sender reputation to improve campaign metrics, and drive ROI.
Identify the best email addresses– Through a process called social media authentication, data providers can match the email addresses in your database with active social media accounts. This is important because up to 70% of emails are opened on a mobile device, and emails associated with social accounts are very likely connected to mobile devices. It’s also important because when you match an email address to a social media account, you also gain insights into the individual- about their lifestyle, political leanings, online habits. Demographics and more. This data allows you to craft a precise, relevant email and mobile ad campaigns that drive opens, clicks, and revenues.
Segment and enhance your list– You can further improve campaign relevancy and revenues by segmenting your list and tweaking your messages for each group. You might segment based on purchase history, geography, household composition or income, interest group, and many more categories. Using a process called Data Enhancement you can add information or validate existing information to further improve your campaign results. Data enhancement might include adding or appending email addresses, contact information, demographics, interests, automotive information and more.
Email use is only becoming more popular within business communication, so it is imperative to make sure that the emails on your list are real people who want to hear from you.
Webbula emailHygiene offers the industry-leading, bundled approach of verification and hygiene to safeguard your brand reputation and email resources. While it is important to validate if an email is deliverable through verification, it is equally important to recognize dangerous hidden threats that can only be identified with email hygiene. So before you click the send button, call Webbula for your email hygiene needs.
Check out these Intelligence Reports:
• What’s Creeping In Your Email Lists?
• Filling In The Missing Pieces
