Summary
Sending emails to inactive contacts negatively affects deliverability through decreased engagement, increased spam complaints, and potential blacklisting. Low engagement signals to ISPs that the emails are unwanted, leading to spam folder placement and damaged sender reputation. Contributing factors include hitting dead addresses, triggering spam traps, and causing "email list fatigue". While maintaining list hygiene is important, overly aggressive removal of contacts is not advised. Strategies for mitigating these effects include carefully re-introducing oneself to inactive contacts, sending low volumes over time, segmenting active and inactive users, employing frequency policies that adjust send volume based on engagement, and implementing re-engagement campaigns.
Key findings
- Reputation Damage: Sending to inactive contacts damages sender reputation, leading to filtering.
- Decreased Engagement: Low engagement rates (opens, clicks) signal that emails are unwanted.
- Spam Complaints & Traps: Inactive recipients are more likely to mark emails as spam, triggering spam traps.
- Blacklisting Risk: High percentages of inactive users increase the risk of blacklisting.
- Address Validity: ISPs don't immediately treat addresses as dead; aggressive removal can be counterproductive.
Key considerations
- Controlled Volume: Carefully manage the number of inactive contacts you mail to; consider mixing them with engaged contacts.
- Segmentation & Re-Engagement: Segment inactive users and implement re-engagement campaigns before removing them.
- Frequency Policies: Use frequency policies that adjust send volume based on engagement levels.
- List Hygiene: Maintain list hygiene, but avoid overly aggressive removal of inactive contacts.
- Re-Introduction: When re-engaging, carefully re-introduce yourself and explain why you are contacting them.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
Sending emails to inactive contacts negatively impacts deliverability due to decreased engagement (opens, clicks), increased spam complaints, and potential blacklisting. Low engagement signals to ISPs that the emails are unwanted, leading to spam folder placement and damaged sender reputation. Strategies to mitigate this include mixing small numbers of inactive contacts with engaged ones, using frequency policies to gradually reduce mail touchpoints based on engagement, and segmenting active from inactive users to improve engagement and sender reputation. Re-engagement campaigns are recommended to revive interest before removing inactive subscribers. Monitoring engagement and maintaining list hygiene are crucial for overall deliverability.
Key opinions
- Engagement Impact: Sending to inactive contacts lowers engagement rates (opens, clicks), signaling to ISPs that emails are unwanted.
- Spam Complaints: Inactive users are more likely to mark emails as spam, harming sender reputation.
- Blacklisting Risk: A high percentage of inactive users increases the risk of IP address or domain blacklisting, severely impacting deliverability.
- Email List Fatigue: Not cleaning up your email list results in email list fatigue, lowering your overall sender score.
Key considerations
- Mixing Strategies: Consider mixing small numbers of inactive contacts with engaged ones to minimize negative impact on overall metrics.
- Frequency Policies: Implement frequency policies to gradually reduce mail touchpoints based on engagement levels.
- Segmentation: Segment active from inactive users to improve engagement and sender reputation.
- Re-engagement: Use re-engagement campaigns to revive interest before removing inactive subscribers from the list.
- Monitor Engagement: Actively monitor engagement metrics to identify and address deliverability issues promptly.
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive subscribers and maintain good deliverability.
Marketer view
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that regularly cleaning your email list and removing inactive subscribers is crucial for maintaining good deliverability. Sending to disengaged contacts increases bounce rates and spam complaints, which can harm your sender reputation.
31 Oct 2022 - HubSpot
Marketer view
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares to monitor engagement. Sending email to contacts who are not engaged will hurt your deliverability and cause your emails to land in the spam folder.
26 Jun 2023 - Campaign Monitor
What the experts say
7 expert opinions
Sending to inactive addresses poses significant deliverability risks. These risks include hitting dead addresses, generating spam complaints, triggering spam traps, and negatively impacting sender reputation due to low engagement. Mailbox providers notice when recipients don't open or click emails, leading to filtering. Aggressively removing addresses after a short period (e.g., one month) may be too extreme, as ISPs don't treat addresses as 'dead' until after months of inactivity. Strategies to mitigate these risks involve carefully re-introducing yourself to inactive recipients, sending low volumes over time, and avoiding overly aggressive list cleaning practices.
Key opinions
- Reputation Impact: Sending to inactive recipients negatively impacts sender reputation with mailbox providers.
- Multiple Risks: Mailing inactive addresses carries risks of hitting dead addresses, spam traps, and generating spam complaints.
- Engagement Signals: Mailbox providers use engagement signals (opens, clicks) to filter emails based on user activity.
- Address Persistence: ISPs do not immediately treat addresses as dead, requiring months of inactivity before deactivation.
Key considerations
- Re-introduction: Carefully re-introduce yourself to inactive recipients when attempting to re-engage them.
- Volume Control: Send low volumes of emails over time when re-engaging inactive addresses.
- Patience: Avoid overly aggressive list cleaning; wait for a reasonable period of inactivity before removing addresses.
- Address Validity: Recognize that addresses may remain valid even after extended periods of inactivity.
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource shares that one of the issues of not sending to dormant accounts is increased spam complaints, decreased engagement, and increased blocking can be expected.
19 Oct 2024 - Spam Resource
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that the idea of marking inactive addresses came from multiple places: 1) Some people say sending mail to inactive addresses was a way to delivery pain - and it is but it got twisted over time and was never intended to mean things like one month. 2) Out and out spammers who are buying / scraping / using co-reg / machine generating email addresses in such quantities that it makes sense to just drop any address that doesn’t respond in the first week or 10 days or 30 days. 3) People who think “a little list hygiene is good so more must be better!”
20 Sep 2024 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Sending emails to inactive contacts negatively affects deliverability due to reduced engagement metrics and increased spam complaints. Documentation from Google, Mailchimp, SendGrid, and SparkPost highlights that low engagement signals can trigger spam filters, damage sender reputation, and decrease the likelihood of future emails reaching the inbox. Engaging only with active subscribers is key to maintaining a high deliverability rate and avoiding penalties from ISPs.
Key findings
- Reduced Engagement: Sending to inactive users lowers engagement metrics like opens and clicks.
- Spam Complaints: Inactive subscribers are more likely to mark emails as spam.
- Sender Reputation: Low engagement and increased spam complaints damage sender reputation.
- Spam Filtering: Google’s spam filters learn to classify messages as spam when sent to inactive users.
Key considerations
- Active Subscribers: Focus on engaging only with active and engaged subscribers.
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean email lists to remove inactive subscribers.
- Monitor Engagement: Continuously monitor engagement metrics to assess and improve deliverability.
- Re-engagement Campaigns: Consider implementing re-engagement campaigns before removing inactive contacts.
Technical article
Documentation from Google explains that sending mail to inactive users can negatively impact your sender reputation. If users frequently mark your messages as spam, or don't engage with them, Google’s spam filters learn to classify your messages as spam.
6 Jul 2021 - Google
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost answers that engagement is a crucial factor for deliverability. Sending emails to a large segment of inactive users will likely drag down your overall engagement metrics, leading ISPs to negatively assess your sending reputation.
18 Dec 2023 - SparkPost
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