Summary
To enhance email deliverability, a consensus among marketers, experts, and email platform documentation points towards the critical importance of managing and removing unengaged subscribers. A common timeframe suggested for excluding unengaged subscribers ranges from 3 to 12 months, with 6 months often cited as a beneficial period. A key recommendation is to implement a re-engagement campaign prior to permanent removal, offering incentives for subscribers to opt back in. The experts also emphasize the need for prompt handling of bounced emails, and following RFC standards for opt-out mechanisms.
Key findings
- Exclusion Timeframe: Excluding unengaged subscribers for 3-12 months, with a focus on 6 months, can significantly improve deliverability.
- Re-engagement Campaigns: Implementing re-engagement campaigns before permanent removal is a recommended practice.
- Importance of List Hygiene: Maintaining good list hygiene, including removing unengaged users and handling bounces, is essential for sender reputation.
- Opt-Out Mechanisms: Providing easy unsubscribe links as per RFC standards helps prevent spam complaints.
Key considerations
- Define Engagement: Clearly define what constitutes 'unengaged' based on your audience and sending frequency (e.g., no opens or clicks).
- Handle Bounces Immediately: Implement a process for promptly removing bounced email addresses from your list.
- Re-engagement Incentives: Offer compelling incentives in your re-engagement campaigns to encourage subscribers to opt back in.
- Sunset Policy Implementation: Implement a sunset policy to automate the removal of unengaged subscribers after a defined period.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
To improve email deliverability, various email marketers recommend excluding unengaged subscribers from your mailing list. The recommended exclusion periods range from 3 to 12 months, with many suggesting 6 months as a sweet spot. Several sources emphasize the importance of attempting a re-engagement campaign before permanently removing subscribers. Regular list cleaning, segmentation, and implementing a sunset policy are also highlighted as best practices.
Key opinions
- Exclusion Period: A majority of marketers suggest excluding unengaged subscribers for a period of 3 to 12 months to improve deliverability, with 6 months being a common recommendation.
- Re-engagement: It's essential to attempt re-engagement campaigns before permanently removing subscribers from the list. Incentivize them with special offers to encourage them to resubscribe.
- Sunset Policies: Implementing a sunset policy that automatically removes unengaged subscribers after a defined period helps maintain list hygiene and improves sender reputation.
- List Size Reduction: Excluding subscribers will decrease your list size, resulting in better deliverability and higher engagement from those who remain.
Key considerations
- Engagement Definition: Define what 'unengaged' means for your specific audience. This could be based on opens, clicks, or a combination of factors. Adjust the timeframe based on sending frequency.
- Re-engagement Strategy: Develop a compelling re-engagement strategy that offers value and encourages subscribers to take action. Avoid simply re-adding them to regular newsletters.
- Segmentation: Consider segmenting your list based on engagement levels to target different groups with tailored messaging. Active users should have a different experience from those who are at risk of becoming unengaged.
- Email Frequency: Adjust the exclusion time depending on how often you send emails, it might also affect how quickly people are unengaged.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Litmus Blog explains before excluding unengaged subscribers, implement a re-engagement campaign. Send targeted emails with special offers or incentives to encourage them to re-subscribe. If they don't respond after a few attempts, remove them from your active list.
6 Dec 2023 - Litmus Blog
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum answers that they typically suppress non-responders after 4-6 months of inactivity. They then try a win-back campaign and if still no response after 1 month, they are removed.
22 Jul 2024 - Email Marketing Forum
What the experts say
2 expert opinions
Experts emphasize the importance of maintaining good email list hygiene for deliverability. One expert recommends removing unengaged subscribers, generally those inactive for 6-12 months. Another expert highlights the critical need to immediately handle bounced emails by removing or suppressing the addresses. Failure to do so signals poor list hygiene to ISPs and negatively impacts sender reputation and deliverability.
Key opinions
- List Hygiene Essential: Maintaining a clean email list is critical for good email deliverability.
- Unengaged Removal (6-12 Months): Subscribers who haven't engaged in 6-12 months should generally be removed to improve deliverability.
- Bounced Email Handling: Hard bounced emails should be removed or suppressed immediately to avoid damaging your sending reputation.
Key considerations
- Define 'Engagement': Clearly define what constitutes 'engagement' for your subscribers (opens, clicks, conversions).
- Prompt Bounce Processing: Implement a system to automatically handle bounced emails in real-time.
- Varied Timeframe: The optimal timeframe for removing unengaged subscribers can vary, so testing and monitoring results is key.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise answers that maintaining good list hygiene by regularly removing unengaged subscribers is essential for deliverability. While the exact timeframe varies, removing subscribers who haven't engaged in 6-12 months is generally recommended.
30 Sep 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Spamresource details the importance of handling bounced emails immediately and removing the address. They note if you do not remove or suppress hard bounces right away, ISPs will assume you don't care about list hygiene and begin reducing your sending reputation, hurting deliverability.
11 Sep 2024 - Spamresource
What the documentation says
3 technical articles
Email deliverability is highly dependent on maintaining an up-to-date email list and actively managing inactive users. Google recommends reducing sending frequency or unsubscribing users who aren't engaging, while Microsoft emphasizes the importance of removing unengaged subscribers for increased deliverability. Providing an easily accessible unsubscribe link is crucial for users to opt-out directly, as detailed in RFC standards, preventing spam reports and improving sender reputation.
Key findings
- Up-to-Date Lists: Keeping email lists current is crucial for high deliverability.
- Inactive User Management: Managing unengaged subscribers is important for sending reputation.
- Easy Unsubscribe Mechanism: Providing a straightforward unsubscribe link is essential to avoid spam complaints.
Key considerations
- Engagement Metrics: Define specific metrics to identify inactive users (e.g., no opens or clicks).
- Unsubscribe Process: Ensure the unsubscribe process is simple and efficient for users.
- Frequency Reduction: Consider reducing sending frequency to unengaged users before completely unsubscribing them.
Technical article
Documentation from RFC-Editor details standards and best practices for email headers. Include an email unsubscribe link so that unengaged users can easily remove themselves without being forced to send your mail straight to the spam folder.
24 Jan 2025 - RFC-Editor
Technical article
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that keeping your email list up-to-date and removing inactive users is crucial for maintain high deliverability. If users aren't engaging with your emails, Google recommends reducing the sending frequency or unsubscribing them completely.
7 Dec 2021 - Google Postmaster Tools
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