How to make your email list dirt-free

A smart, successful online marketer is one, who has sharp eyes to see the tiniest dirt particle in an email list. Email List is one such tool, which demands attention and management than any other tool. Reports say that 45--50 million people change their email addresses every year. Hence, no matter how authentic your list vendor is and how updated the email lists are, it needs to be cleaned up and all junk addresses should be removed.

This article suggests some basic simple ways to make your email lists dirt-free:

Take 1: Spell check

Before you start campaigning, don't forget to check for typos in the email addresses. For example, .con or .cmo instead of .com; .ni for .in; 2 for @; ,com for .com. Correct all these for better results.

Take 2: Remove the hard bounces

It is crucial to keep a check on the bounces once an email campaign has been rolled out. Generate a report on failure deliveries, hard or soft, why it happened, etc. Later, delete all the hard bounces and try another campaign strategy for the soft ones.

Take 3: Keep an eye on open and click-through rates

Keep a track on the open and click-through rates of your email campaigns. If the graph is going downwards, it means your email list is not getting good business. Simply remove the junk addresses.

Take 4: Act fast to Unsubscribe

As per the CAN-SPAM law, an unsubscribe request has to be attended within 10 working days. Email marketers and ESPs have to adhere to it. Remove all prospects that chose to unsubscribe.

Remember that your prospects might get frustrated with your unsolicited mails or they might not recognize you if they subscribed for your mails some 5 months back. Make sure that your email lists are clean and contain only opt-in email addresses.