Summary
Setting up an email seed list for internal stakeholders requires careful consideration of various methods, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. The primary goal is to ensure that key internal personnel receive copies of all outgoing emails for review and awareness, distinct from using seed lists for email deliverability testing. The discussion often revolves around balancing ease of management, individual inbox impact, and the need for message archiving or tracking. The ideal approach depends heavily on the volume of emails sent and the number of internal stakeholders involved.
Key findings
- Individual vs. Group: Adding individuals to a seed list is manageable for very small teams but becomes cumbersome with more people or frequent personnel changes. Group emails (like Google Groups) simplify management for larger teams, allowing a single address to distribute emails to multiple recipients.
- Centralized Access: A central mailbox or email archive can prevent individual inboxes from being flooded, especially with high email volumes. This method allows stakeholders to access messages on demand without receiving every single email directly.
- Tracking Limitations: Using a single group email address for a seed list typically prevents per-individual tracking of opens and clicks, which might be a concern if detailed engagement data is needed internally.
- Unsubscribe Risks: Group aliases, particularly with platforms like Gmail, carry the risk of accidental unsubscribes. If a member of the group clicks an unsubscribe link within the email, they could inadvertently remove the entire alias from the mailing list or remove themselves from the group, affecting other stakeholders.
- Deliverability Concerns: While internal seed lists are not primarily for deliverability testing, ensuring that these emails consistently reach internal inboxes is still important. Incorrect setup could lead to internal emails landing in spam or not being received at all, which mirrors broader issues discussed in email deliverability issues.
Key considerations
- Volume and Frequency: For high-volume senders or frequent campaigns, individual or simple group email approaches can quickly become overwhelming for internal stakeholders' inboxes. A centralized archive or a system that gathers email addresses for review is often more practical.
- Stakeholder Needs: Understand precisely why stakeholders need to see every email. If it's for compliance, an archive solution with searchable capabilities might be better than flooding inboxes. If it's for real-time review, direct email or a dedicated review platform might be preferred.
- Management Overhead: Evaluate the effort involved in maintaining the seed list. Automated solutions or shared mailboxes reduce the manual work of adding or removing individuals as team members change. Consider the management of test email addresses for broader email marketing client engagements, which shares similar challenges.
- Data Privacy: Ensure any method chosen complies with internal data privacy policies and external regulations, especially if using a third-party service for archiving or group management.
- User Experience: The solution should be user-friendly for stakeholders. An overly complex system might lead to non-compliance or frustration. A simple, accessible method for viewing outgoing emails is key.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often grapple with the practicalities of setting up internal seed lists, aiming to satisfy internal requests without creating deliverability issues or excessive administrative burden. Their experiences highlight the trade-offs between different approaches, from individual recipient additions to more automated or centralized systems. The key is finding a balance that ensures internal visibility while maintaining efficiency and avoiding common pitfalls like accidental unsubscribes.
Key opinions
- Google groups have issues: Marketers find that while Google Groups can work, they pose risks such as accidental unsubscribes via the Gmail UI, potentially impacting the entire group or stopping mail to the alias.
- No individual tracking: A common drawback of using group aliases is the inability to track individual clicks or opens, which is important if granular engagement data is required internally.
- Centralized mailboxes: Some marketers suggest a central mailbox that all stakeholders can access, rather than flooding individual inboxes, especially for high email volumes. This also relates to broader email deliverability testing using seedlists.
- Archives for past messages: Building a searchable archive of sent messages is a recommended alternative for loyalty programs or when stakeholders only need to reference past emails, rather than receive every single send live.
- Individual adds are inefficient: Adding individuals to a large seed list is not practical due to constant personnel changes and the high administrative overhead involved.
- Alternatives to direct email: Marketers also consider non-email solutions like dropping screenshots of emails in Slack channels, adding context and reducing email volume for internal teams. This strategy works well when the primary goal is content review rather than deliverability monitoring. More broadly, it's about explaining your goals and objectives for using a seed list.
Key considerations
- Email volume: The number of emails sent per campaign (e.g., 1,000 to 60,000) and the frequency of deployments (e.g., 5-6 drops per week with segments) heavily influence the best method. High volume and frequency make individual adds or direct group emails less viable.
- Number of stakeholders: With around 20 internal people needing to see every email, managing individual subscriptions becomes time-consuming. A shared mailbox or an automated system that handles personnel changes more efficiently is crucial.
- Purpose of the seed list: If the main purpose is simply for stakeholders to see every email going out, and not for detailed tracking or deliverability monitoring, simpler solutions like shared inboxes or even screenshots may suffice. This differentiates from a deliverability seed list for avoiding deliverability issues.
- Scalability: The chosen method should be scalable to accommodate future growth in internal stakeholders or email volume without requiring a complete overhaul.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that creating a shared mailbox for all stakeholders to access could be a better alternative than individual inboxes, preventing email overload.
Marketer view
Marketer from Sparkle.io suggests that many email platforms, such as Mailchimp or HubSpot, offer built-in seed list features that can simplify the process of setting up and managing an internal seed list.
What the experts say
Email deliverability experts emphasize that while internal seed lists serve a different purpose than standard deliverability seed lists, the underlying principles of efficient email handling and avoiding system overload remain critical. They often recommend solutions that prioritize sustainability and data management, moving beyond simple forwarding or group aliases, especially for organizations with significant email volumes or numerous internal stakeholders. This typically involves more robust archiving or dedicated email collection systems.
Key opinions
- Centralized email collection: Experts suggest setting up a virtual private server (VPS) with a single mailbox dedicated to receiving all outgoing emails, preventing individual inboxes from being overwhelmed.
- Database integration: For advanced needs, dropping collected emails into a searchable database (rather than just a mailbox) allows for efficient searching and reporting, which is beneficial for compliance or audit purposes.
- Protecting the domain: When setting up a dedicated mailbox for internal seed lists, it's crucial to protect the domain and local part of the email address to keep it spam-free.
- Volume considerations: While individual BCCs might seem simple, experts warn against it for high volumes. Even a few examples from sales teams can overwhelm database servers, leading to system instability.
- Differentiating seed lists: It is important to distinguish between internal stakeholder seed lists and deliverability seed lists used for inbox placement and content rendering, which serve distinct technical functions.
Key considerations
- Infrastructure investment: Consider the resources required to set up and maintain a dedicated server or database for email archiving. While it offers benefits, it requires technical expertise and potentially ongoing costs.
- Search and reporting functionality: If stakeholders need to easily find specific emails or generate reports on email campaigns, a simple mailbox might not suffice. A database solution offers superior search capabilities.
- Scalability and storage: Plan for the long-term storage of emails. High-volume senders will accumulate vast amounts of data, requiring robust storage solutions and efficient indexing.
- Security: Any centralized system for collecting internal emails must have strong security measures to protect sensitive content and prevent unauthorized access. This is just as critical as ensuring DMARC monitoring for external sends.
- User access and permissions: Define clear access roles for internal stakeholders to the centralized email archive. Not everyone needs the same level of access or permissions.
- Avoiding spam traps: While internal, ensure these seed addresses are not mistaken for spam traps by your email system, which can negatively impact deliverability.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks notes that at a previous job, they built an archive that stored and made copies of messages searchable, allowing them to rebuild the exact message sent to an individual on demand without keeping millions of messages.
Expert view
Expert from SpamResource.com suggests that understanding the root causes of deliverability problems, such as blacklistings or blocklistings, is essential to prevent internal seed lists from encountering similar issues.
What the documentation says
Technical documentation often outlines the capabilities of various email platforms and systems for managing internal recipient groups, offering structured methods for content testing and archiving. These resources typically focus on specific functionalities within email service providers (ESPs) or general best practices for internal communications, emphasizing the importance of dedicated features over ad-hoc solutions. They guide users on how to effectively manage internal stakeholder lists, sometimes differentiating them from external customer lists or deliverability testing seeds.
Key findings
- Internal group capabilities: Platforms often provide features like content test groups and email seed groups within their internal group management tools, which are crucial for review and quality assurance before broader sends.
- Dedicated seed list screens: Many ESPs have specific interfaces for creating and managing seed lists, requiring users to enter details like a seed list name for organizational purposes.
- Integration with user events: Advanced internal group settings may allow for recording user events, which could be relevant for internal testing and feedback loops beyond just receiving the email.
- Stakeholder definition: Documentation defines seeds as internal contacts or stakeholders who need to receive a copy of an email simultaneously with the primary contact list, but without being part of the primary audience for tracking purposes.
- Onboarding stakeholders: Engaging internal stakeholders in continuous training and support regarding email processes is referred to as everboarding, ensuring they understand the purpose and method of receiving emails.
Key considerations
- Platform-specific features: Review your current ESP's documentation for built-in seed list or internal group functionalities. Using native tools can often be more reliable and integrated than custom workarounds.
- Understanding user roles: Clearly identifying and understanding stakeholders' needs is paramount. Different internal teams may require different levels of access or types of notification (e.g., real-time vs. archived).
- Data separation: Ensure that internal seed lists are clearly differentiated from actual customer or subscriber lists to avoid skewing engagement metrics or accidentally including internal contacts in public-facing reports. This is crucial for overall email list management.
- Documentation for internal processes: Document the chosen method for internal seed lists and communicate it clearly to all relevant teams. This helps avoid confusion and ensures consistency.
Technical article
Documentation from Stoneshot explains that seed contacts are internal stakeholders who desire to receive email copies at the same time as the primary contact list, but without being part of the primary recipient group.
Technical article
Documentation from Medium outlines that internal groups, such as those in Braze, offer three key capabilities: recording user events, creating content test groups, and establishing email seed groups, all crucial for effective email management.
Related resources
10 resources
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