Is Your List Clean?

If you are in ANY type of business you should be building a list of prospects with contact information, i.e.: First Name, Email Address, Phone Number. These details are invaluable to your business and future growth. Here’s why….

When you are in business you need to maintain a steady flow of communication with your current customers/clients and past customers/clients, along with those who are “interested” in what you do or have to offer. The only way to keep that communication flowing is to have the minimum amount of contact information, and that is Name & Email. It would be GREAT if you gather phone numbers as well. In the long run, you should also collect mailing addresses, but starting with Name and Email is a perfect place to begin.

While building your list, be sure to collect “good information” from your leads along with obtaining their permission to add them to your list so they can receive future messages from you.

There are a couple of ways to do this.

Some business owners send a form giving them permission to contact people. There’s a checkbox at the bottom and they require the box to be checked before the form can be submitted. Others include a statement on their forms: “By submitting this form you are agreeing to receiving email messages from (company name/your name).” The checkbox is a better safety net BUT both are acceptable. In reality, whether or not clients/customers agreed to be on your list they could report you for spam at any given time.  

While collecting information, if your email/crm system has the ability to send a “double opt-in” confirmation I suggest using it. Some systems allow you to send a double opt-in confirmation and still continue to email them even if your contact has not granted the double opt-in confirmation. Others require your leads to confirm their email addresses and do the double opt-in before you can email them.

HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR EMAIL MARKETING LIST (CLEAN YOUR LIST)?

• Send a re-engagement automation - for any people who haven't engaged, opened or clicked on your content in 3-6 months, send a message asking them if they are still interested in receiving your content. Depending on the system you use, this can be automated.
  
  
• Opt-out any unengaged contacts - any people who haven't engaged with your emails in over 6 months likely won't. Mark them as opt-out in your lists so your deliverability rate increases to the customers who actually want to receive your content!
  
  
• Watch for any emails that bounce.
  • Opt-out any hard bounces on your list after you have reviewed the list. A lot of times they are bouncing due to a simple typo from the contact. If it isa simple typo issue, fix it. Some might be that the email address doesn't exist or is not functioning so remove it!
  • Monitor soft bounces and mark them opt-out after 3-5 bounces - they are currently unreachable so no point in sending!