Email scrubbing can help you keep your mailing list efficient by removing expired addresses or subscribers who are no longer interested in your content. This can negatively impact your email deliverability. By scrubbing your list regularly, you can help ensure that only active, interested users remain on it.
What is email scrubbing?
Email scrubbing is the process of cleaning up your email list. This involves removing invalid or inactive email addresses, as well as any addresses that are known to generate bounced messages.
Scrubbing your email list regularly helps to ensure that your messages are being delivered to valid addresses and that you’re not wasting time and resources sending messages to email addresses that will never be seen.
How do I clean my email list?
To scrub your email list, you’ll first need to gather a few things:
– A list of all the email addresses you want to check
– A way to check if each email address is valid
– A way to remove invalid email addresses from your list
There are a few different ways to do each of these things, but we’ll go over the most popular methods.
To gather your list of email addresses, you can either manually input them into a text document or spreadsheet, or you can export them from your email service provider (ESP). If you’re using a mailing list, you can also export those addresses.
Once you have your list of email addresses, you’ll need to use a tool to check if each one is valid. There are many different tools available for this, but we recommend using either Email Checker or Mailbox Validator.
Once you have your list of invalid email addresses, you can remove them from your list in a few different ways. The most popular method is to use an Email verification service to remove invalid addresses from your list.
With these steps, you can scrub your email list and make sure that all the addresses on it are valid. This will help improve your deliverability and avoid any bounced emails.
Benefits of email Scrubbing
Email scrubbing can be a great way to improve your email marketing results. By removing bad addresses and improving your deliverability, you can ensure that your messages are getting through to the people who matter most. Additionally, by keeping an up-to-date list of subscribers, you can avoid the potential penalties associated with sending to too many invalid addresses
When you send an email that gets ignored or sent to spam, your internet service provider (ISP) takes notice. If this happens too often, the ISP may conclude that you’re not a valuable source of information and either send your emails to spam automatically or block your domain entirely.
Things you should take care of first before a good email scrubbing
Before you start scrubbing your email list, there are a few things you should take care of first:
- Make sure you have a current backup of your email list. This way, if anything goes wrong during the scrubbing process, you can always revert back to your original list.
- If you have any custom fields in your email list, make sure you know what they are and how they should be formatted. This way, you can ensure that all of your data is scrubbed correctly.
- Make sure you have a plan for what you’re going to do with the bounced or invalid emails that you come across during your email scrubbing process. Will you delete them? Mark them as inactive. Keep them on a separate list? Knowing what you’re going to do ahead of time will make the email scrubbing process go much smoother.
- Finally, make sure you have a good understanding of your email service provider’s (ESP) policies regarding bounced and invalid emails. Some ESPs have strict policies that could result in your account being suspended if you don’t adhere to them. Knowing what these policies are before you start scrubbing will help you avoid any problems down the road.
Now that you’ve taken care of the preliminaries, it’s time to start scrubbing your email list!
When should you clean your email list?
Your email marketing statistics can alert you to when you need to clean up your email list. You can see the first warning signs in your email marketing statistics when you log in. You may also want to look at industry benchmarks for open and click rates. If there’s a pattern of decreasing open and click rates from your previous email campaigns, you have a problem.
Look at what has happened over the last few email campaigns to see if there’s a pattern of declining open and click rates. If your open and click rates are way below industry averages, you may need to improve your email marketing practices. Look at our beginner’s guide to email marketing as a resource to help you with that.
You should follow these things with scrubbing
Along with email scrubbing, there are many other things you should follow strongly to reach your goals. We have discussed below 7 points which should be followed.
1. Remove invalid or inactive email addresses
Invalid or inactive email addresses can be one of the most common causes of email problems. You can also use a service like an Email Verifier that will verify the email address’s validity before sending them an email. There are cases where the email addresses are not set up properly and they cannot be used. In this case, you have to remove any invalid or inactive addresses before you proceed with sending emails to them.
2. Avoid wasted time and resources sending bounced messages
Sending a message to an email address that is listed as ‘bounced’ is one of the most common errors that companies make. When a message bounces, it means that the recipient did not respond in some way or failed to open or read it. This can result in significant lost time and resources for your business and it can also affect your reputation.
3. Keep your email list clean and up-to-date
Keeping your email list up-to-date is crucial. If you’re not keeping your email subscribers informed about new products and services, they may unsubscribe. Update your subscribers regularly so they know what’s new and when they can expect it. Remember, a frustrated subscriber is a negative one!
4. Help improve deliverability rates
Email deliverability is an important issue for any online business. It’s important to keep in mind that, while email marketing is free so long as you have an email address, there are other costs associated with sending and managing your email list that can add up quickly.
One of the most effective ways to improve deliverability rates is to have a clear, simple opt-in process. By making it easy for subscribers to sign up for your newsletter and easy for them to click a button to confirm their subscription, you’re more likely to end up with a list of valid subscribers who are actually interested in what you’re offering.
5. Maintain a good sender reputation
Maintaining a good sender reputation is essential for any business. There are many ways in which a sender can damage their reputation. Sending too many emails, failing to deliver an email on time, sending emails from an unknown address, and using poor grammar are just some of the ways that can damage your reputation. By following best practices when sending emails you can prevent these issues from occurring and maintain a good sender reputation.
6. Protect your email list from spammers
Spammers are the most common cause of email account problems. They’re constantly trying to collect your email addresses by sending out unsolicited emails and watering down the quality of their messages in an attempt to catch people who are more likely to click on them. Another way spammers can get your email address is by buying it from third parties. Once they have your email, they are able to send you an endless stream of spam emails for a very long time.
7. Save time and money in the long run
By combining both approaches, you can save time and money in the long run. If you take the long-term approach to save money, you’ll be able to build up your savings over the years. Meanwhile, if you take the short-term approach, you’ll see faster results, but it’s likely that you’ll end up spending more money in the long run.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that your email campaign might be amazing and your offers might be excellent, a lot of people will be uninterested. It is crucial to remove inactive subscribers from your mailing list or else you may negatively impact your campaign in several ways. That is where email cleansing comes in. By regularly cleaning your list, you can eliminate recipients who don’t interact and ensure you only send material to people who are genuinely interested in your business.
