E-Mail List Hygiene 101: Clean Those Files
Deleting inactive addresses from a house file may be the last thing most traditional direct marketers would do, but it’s becoming a necessity in e-mail.
For one thing, Internet service providers like AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! use subscriber complaint rates as the standard to determine whether to block incoming e-mail.
So the trick is to eliminate the addresses of complainers and potential complainers. But how?
Some people will hit the “this is spam” button as a convenient way to opt out. In fact, 41% of consumers surveyed by e-mail deliverability company Return Path recently said they sometimes do just that.
As a result, inactive e-mail addresses can be dangerous, and it’s imperative that marketers strive to eliminate them. When should an address be removed from a marketer’s file? The answer to that question will vary from company to company.
For example, a company that mails frequently will need to remove inactive addresses more frequently than a company that mails, say, once per month. — KEN MAGILL
