Summary
Experts, marketers, and deliverability documentation overwhelmingly agree that emailing inactive subscribers is detrimental to email marketing performance. The consensus is that it damages sender reputation, leads to decreased deliverability, wastes resources, and ultimately harms ROI. The most effective way to convince management is to demonstrate these risks through data, cost analysis, and highlighting the benefits of focusing on engaged subscribers and maintaining a clean email list.
Key findings
- Reputation Damage: Sending to inactive subscribers negatively impacts both domain and IP reputation, increasing the risk of spam complaints and blocklisting.
- Decreased Deliverability: Low engagement from inactive subscribers leads to decreased inbox placement and overall deliverability issues.
- Wasted Resources: Emailing inactives wastes time, money, and effort that could be better spent nurturing active and engaged subscribers.
- ROI Impact: Focusing on engaged subscribers yields a higher return on investment due to increased open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Presenting data and cost-benefit analyses is more effective in convincing management than relying on subjective arguments.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Implement a regular list cleaning process to remove inactive subscribers and maintain a healthy email list.
- Segmentation: Segment email lists to target engaged subscribers and avoid sending to inactive users.
- Risk Assessment: Clearly communicate the potential risks associated with emailing inactives, including financial losses and reputation damage.
- Testing: Before emailing inactive subscribers, conduct a small-scale test to assess the impact on deliverability and engagement.
- Alternative Strategies: Explore alternative re-engagement strategies before mass emailing inactive subscribers, such as targeted campaigns or incentives for opting back in.
What email marketers say
13 marketer opinions
Experts and marketers agree that sending emails to inactive subscribers is detrimental to email deliverability and overall marketing performance. Key reasons include the risk of spam complaints, damage to sender reputation, wasted resources, and reduced engagement rates. Focusing on active subscribers, segmenting email lists, and regularly cleaning lists are recommended strategies.
Key opinions
- Deliverability Impact: Sending to inactive subscribers negatively impacts email deliverability due to increased spam complaints and low engagement rates.
- Reputation Damage: Engaging with inactive subscribers can harm sender reputation, leading to reduced inbox placement for all subscribers.
- Resource Waste: Emailing inactive subscribers wastes time, money, and effort that could be better spent nurturing active subscribers.
- List Health: Maintaining a healthy email list by removing inactive subscribers improves overall list performance and engagement.
- Focus on Engagement: Prioritizing engaged subscribers leads to higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, improving ROI.
Key considerations
- Segmentation: Segmenting email lists to exclude inactive subscribers is crucial for targeted and effective email campaigns.
- List Cleaning: Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers to maintain a healthy list and improve deliverability.
- Testing: If considering emailing inactive subscribers, test a small segment first to assess the impact on deliverability and engagement before sending to the entire list.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: Demonstrate the costs associated with emailing inactive subscribers versus the potential benefits to convince management of the need for list hygiene.
- Alternative Strategies: Explore alternative re-engagement strategies, such as targeted re-activation campaigns, instead of mass emailing inactive subscribers.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares that focusing on engaged users can improve email metrics and overall campaign performance. Send emails to people who want to see them.
30 Jun 2022 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view
Email marketer from HubSpot shares the importance of segmenting email lists to avoid sending emails to inactive subscribers. They explain that targeting engaged users leads to higher open rates and better deliverability.
15 Apr 2024 - HubSpot
What the experts say
9 expert opinions
Experts emphasize the importance of demonstrating the risks and costs associated with emailing inactive subscribers to convince management. This includes potential financial losses from reduced inbox delivery, wasted resources, and the impact on sender reputation. Data-driven decision making, splitting dormant addresses into segments, and highlighting the time required to repair reputation damage are key considerations.
Key opinions
- Cost Analysis: Quantify the potential financial losses resulting from reduced inbox delivery and wasted resources associated with mailing inactive subscribers.
- Reputation Impact: Sending to stale addresses negatively impacts deliverability and can damage sender reputation, potentially leading to a decline in overall email program performance.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Providing management with data on the risks and costs associated with emailing inactives empowers them to make informed decisions.
- Timeline Reset: Adding inactive subscribers can reset the timeline for repairing a damaged email reputation, prolonging the period of low deliverability.
- Fragile Reputation: A 'pinballing' reputation indicates instability, making it particularly vulnerable to negative impacts from emailing inactive subscribers.
Key considerations
- Risk Assessment: Clearly communicate the risks associated with emailing inactives, focusing on measurable impacts such as reduced inbox delivery and financial losses.
- Segmentation Strategy: Consider splitting dormant addresses into segments based on recency and engagement history to minimize potential damage.
- Resource Allocation: Highlight the time and resources required to manage and address issues arising from emailing inactive subscribers versus focusing on engaged segments.
- Alternative Solutions: Explore alternative re-engagement strategies before resorting to mass emailing inactive subscribers, such as targeted campaigns or incentives for opting back in.
- Ethical Considerations: While data-driven arguments are often most persuasive, also consider ethical implications, such as respecting subscriber preferences and avoiding spam-like behavior.
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource suggests convincing management by demonstrating the costs associated with sending to inactive subscribers, including wasted resources, reduced deliverability, and potential damage to sender reputation. A cost-benefit analysis showing the negative ROI of emailing inactives can be persuasive.
5 Sep 2023 - Spam Resource
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains the problem is you probably can’t convince them they’re wrong. You can only give them the data they need to make the decision.
6 Aug 2024 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Email deliverability documentation emphasizes that sending to inactive subscribers negatively impacts domain and IP reputation, leading to increased spam complaints, potential blocklisting, and reduced inbox placement. Maintaining a clean, engaged email list is critical for optimal deliverability.
Key findings
- Domain Reputation: High spam rates from inactive subscribers negatively impact domain reputation.
- IP Reputation: Low engagement and spam complaints from inactive subscribers harm IP reputation.
- Blocklisting: Sending to inactive subscribers can lead to being listed on blocklists like Spamhaus, severely impacting deliverability.
- Inbox Placement: Increased spam complaints push emails to the spam folder, reducing inbox placement for all subscribers.
- Feedback Loops: Inactive subscribers leads to increased spam complaints, and feedback loops allow marketers to remove these users to improve deliverability.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers.
- Engagement Focus: Focus on engaging active subscribers to maintain a positive sender reputation.
- Reputation Monitoring: Monitor your sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS.
- Blocklist Awareness: Be aware of blocklists and the potential consequences of being listed.
- Compliance: Adhere to email marketing best practices and comply with anti-spam regulations.
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that sending to inactive subscribers can lead to being listed on their blocklists, which significantly harms email deliverability. They advise regularly cleaning email lists and focusing on engaged users.
10 Jul 2024 - Spamhaus
Technical article
Documentation from Validity explains that inactive subscribers can lead to increased spam complaints and thus push your email to the spam folder, and it can damage your sender reputation, also effecting active user deliverability. Feedback loops help keep on top of this.
10 Mar 2022 - Validity
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