How do I start emailing a large list with no engagement history?

Key findings

• High risk of spam complaints: Sending to users who aren't expecting emails can lead to high complaint rates, damaging sender reputation and deliverability.
• Data limitations: Without engagement data, it's difficult to segment your audience effectively, increasing the risk of sending to uninterested recipients.
• IP/domain warming: New email programs require a careful warm-up process to build trust with ISPs, especially for large lists. Recommended initial email sending volumes are critical.
• List hygiene is paramount: Cleaning the list to remove role-based, disposable, and invalid addresses is a necessary first step.

Key considerations

• Double opt-in: Implementing a double opt-in process can significantly reduce complaints by confirming recipient consent.
• Segment by recency: If possible, segment the list by sign-up date or last activity (e.g., last played a game) to target the most recently engaged users first.
• Start small and scale: Begin with smaller, highly engaged segments (if available) or send a re-permission campaign before full-scale deployment. This is key to sending to a large unengaged email list.
• Content and expectations: Clearly communicate the purpose of the email and what recipients can expect. Phonexa's guide on sending mass emails suggests starting slow to retain quality.

Key opinions

• Focus on new sign-ups first: Prioritize sending to recent sign-ups who are more likely to expect communication, before tackling older segments.
• Hygiene is critical: Running the list through a third-party hygiene service helps identify and remove invalid or risky addresses, as discussed in guides on how to clean an email list.
• Double opt-in for consent: Even if the original sign-up didn't include it, a double opt-in (click to confirm) campaign can mitigate complaints from unexpected emails.
• Segmentation by activity: Use any available activity data, like last played date for gaming audiences, to create segments that are more likely to engage. Campaign Monitor's advice on growing engaged email lists highlights this.

Key considerations

• Managing complaints: Anticipate higher complaint rates due to unexpected outreach and have a plan to suppress non-engagers quickly.
• Progressive re-engagement: If you plan to re-engage inactive subscribers, do so with a clear strategy and monitor closely.
• Permission updates: Update future registration processes to explicitly collect marketing permissions at the point of email address submission.
• Define unengaged subscribers: Clearly define unengaged subscribers for removal from your list to maintain long-term health.

Key opinions

• Harvested list concerns: Experts are skeptical of large lists with no engagement history, often suspecting they might be harvested, which poses significant deliverability risks and can lead to being put on a blacklist.
• Data points for segmentation: Utilize any available behavioral data, such as "last time played" or "date of registration," to segment the list into manageable, more active groups.
• Opt-in message strategy: Recommend sending an explicit opt-in message to these users, explaining why they are receiving the email and the benefits of consenting to future communications.
• Gradual series and follow-ups: Suggest a short series of emails, with follow-ups to non-openers, segmenting by activity over time (e.g., 0-30 days, 31-60 days).

Key considerations

• Stop at diminishing returns: Experts advise discontinuing outreach to segments where the effort no longer yields sufficient reward or positive engagement.
• Suppressing inactive players: Long-inactive recipients should be suppressed, as they are likely to have lost interest or uninstalled the product, leading to poor engagement metrics and potential blocklisting (or blacklisting).
• Update registration for consent: It is crucial to update the registration process to explicitly collect marketing permissions to avoid similar issues in the future and to warm up a new email sender address effectively.
• External list validation: Using a third-party service like Kickbox (and its 'sendex' score) can help assess the health and activity of email addresses when internal engagement data is lacking. SpamResource (e.g., this article on email marketing challenges) often highlights the need for robust list management.

Key findings

• Consent is foundational: Most documentation highlights that explicit consent is essential for building a healthy, engaged email list and avoiding legal and deliverability issues.
• Engagement drives deliverability: ISPs use engagement signals (opens, clicks, replies) to determine sender reputation. Sending to unengaged lists can negatively impact these signals.
• Gradual sending (IP warming): Documentation frequently recommends a gradual increase in sending volume for new IPs or domains, especially when starting with an unengaged list, as detailed in guides on warming up a new IP.
• List hygiene importance: Regular cleaning of email lists to remove invalid, inactive, or spam trap addresses is a recurring theme to maintain deliverability.

Key considerations

• Monitor feedback loops: Leverage ISP feedback loops to identify and remove recipients who mark emails as spam, which is crucial for improving email deliverability and avoiding spam folders.
• Provide clear unsubscribe options: Easy and prominent unsubscribe links reduce spam complaints from uninterested recipients.
• Authentication standards: Ensure proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are configured to authenticate your sending domain and build trust with mail servers, as highlighted in documentation like email marketing challenges and solutions.
• Segment based on engagement tiers: Even with minimal history, attempting to segment based on inferred interest or recency of interaction can help improve initial engagement rates.