List managers are constantly on the search for ways to improve deliverability. I continually get asked, “how do I inbox AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail...?” There is no simple answer to that question because there are many aspects to deliverability, but one aspect is to continually maintain good list hygiene.
When I talk about good list hygiene, I don’t mean simply removing your unsubs or just deleting dead addresses. I am talking about developing an ongoing list hygiene program that will be implemented on a regular basis. Without proper hygiene you will inevitably damage your sender reputation, lose your customer base or risk having emails blocked from the ISPs. You invest time, effort and money to build your database so take the steps and make the effort to keep them clean. This will minimize bounces, increase customer retention, improve open and click through rates and minimize the chance of getting blacklisted.
A few simple steps that will keep your list clean and up to date:
Identify “dead addys” – Addresses that are no longer deliverable are an obvious place to start. If they are dead remove them. Always review your list activities by watching the open rates. If you notice an address that has not opened in six months consider moving these to an inactive consumer list. Use this list and initiate a campaign to target these customers to start opening again.
Correct Bad Domains - Simple typos like misspelled domains (alo.com, yaho.com, hotmial.com) can easily be corrected. These are addresses you must promptly remove from your active database. If you continue to send to them, the ISP will likely flag you as a spammer. Determine how these got on the list and see if they were a data capture problem.
Identify and Remove Distribution Accounts - Accounts like all@work.com, sales@home.com or test@aol.com should be removed. These customer addresses will likely get flagged by ISPs as well. If you send emails to people who are not responding or not interested, the chances are that some of those will eventually report you as spam. Keeping these off your list will help keep you from being blacklisted. An easy way to pull these out is to add addresses with “all”, “sales” and “test” to your suppression list. Also, be sure to watch for any addys with the word “spam” in them because these could be associated with spam traps and it is better to remove them than to risk being blacklisted.
Remove Duplicates - You would be surprised how many duplicates I get in my seed accounts. This is a simple process to remove them and helps keep your list clean.
Correct Data Mistakes - When collecting your email addys watch for data errors. One common mistake is a customer using “!” symbol for “@”. Cut those out at the time of acquiring the addy with data checkers. In order to make sure subscribers enter their email addresses correctly, include a script that checks for syntax errors upon submission. Consider asking subscribers to reenter their addresses in a second box. Verifying the data in the initial capture will save time and money later.
Although list hygiene is just one aspect of deliverability, it is essential for list managers to maintain an ongoing list hygiene program. A few simple steps like these can protect your reputation as a sender, improve your deliverability rates and maintain a good relationship with your customer. After all the cost, time and effort to maintain a clean list is significantly lower than the cost of acquiring a new customer.
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