Summary
Recovering email deliverability after sending to a purchased list requires a comprehensive approach that includes technical adjustments, list hygiene, and a strong focus on permission practices. Experts and marketers overwhelmingly advise abandoning the purchased list and focusing on engaged, permissioned subscribers. Email authentication methods (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are essential, as is monitoring your sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Sender Score. Cleaning your list by removing unengaged subscribers, invalid addresses, and spam complaints is critical. Gradual IP warm-up, consistent sending schedules, and subscribing to feedback loops will help rebuild your sender reputation. Maintaining a suppression list and emphasizing double opt-in for new subscribers are crucial for preventing future deliverability problems. Finally, avoid purchasing lists in the future and potentially cease relationships with those who continue to do so.
Key findings
- Abandon Purchased List: Immediately stop using the purchased list and focus on engaged, permissioned subscribers.
- List Hygiene is Critical: Removing invalid addresses, spam traps, and unengaged users prevents high bounce rates and spam complaints.
- Reputation Monitoring: Actively monitor sender reputation with tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Sender Score to identify issues early.
- Authentication is Key: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC verifies your identity and prevents spoofing, improving deliverability.
- Engagement Matters: Sending engaging content to a highly engaged segment boosts your domain reputation.
- Permission Practices: Focus on building an opt-in list to avoid problems in the first place.
Key considerations
- Suppression List Strategy: Determine whether to suppress or completely delete the purchased list. Deletion offers greater safety from accidental sending.
- Long-Term Investment: Rebuilding sender reputation takes time and consistent effort. Be patient and persistent with your efforts.
- Prevent Future Issues: Avoid purchasing email lists in the future and enforce strict permission practices.
- Re-engagement campaigns: Consider win-back emails to try and revive unresponsive subscribers.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
Recovering email deliverability after sending to a purchased list requires a multi-faceted approach. Experts and marketers emphasize the importance of cleaning your email list by removing unengaged subscribers, invalid addresses, and spam complaints, and building a comprehensive suppression list. Improving and monitoring your sender reputation, bounce rates, and engagement metrics using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Sender Score is vital. Sending engaging content to a smaller, highly engaged segment, maintaining a consistent sending schedule, and subscribing to feedback loops are also key. Moreover, preventing accidental mailings by maintaining suppression lists and implementing proper permission practices are critical.
Key opinions
- List Hygiene: Removing unengaged subscribers, invalid addresses, and spam traps is essential for improving deliverability.
- Reputation Monitoring: Actively monitoring sender reputation and bounce rates helps identify and address deliverability issues.
- Engagement Focus: Sending engaging content to a highly engaged segment improves domain reputation and deliverability.
- Suppression Lists: Building and maintaining a robust suppression list prevents accidental mailings to unwanted recipients.
- Consistent Sending: Maintaining a consistent sending schedule and volume establishes a predictable sending pattern with ISPs.
- Feedback Loops: Subscribing to feedback loops provides reports of spam complaints, allowing for quick issue resolution.
Key considerations
- Email Verification: Employ an email validation service to verify email addresses to remove invalid or risky recipients from your mailing list.
- Re-engagement Campaigns: Implement re-engagement campaigns to win back inactive subscribers before removing them from the list.
- Prevention: Ensuring addresses are removed to prevent accidental mailings by maintaining suppression lists and implementing proper permission practices is critical.
- Reputation Recovery: It takes time to recover your sending reputation after using purchased lists. Be patient and consistent with your efforts to improve deliverability.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit shares that you need to focus on improving your domain reputation by sending engaging content to a smaller, highly engaged segment of your list. This helps demonstrate to ISPs that your emails are wanted.
24 Dec 2023 - Reddit
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum says to keep an eye on your bounce rates and take steps to reduce them. High bounce rates can negatively impact your sender reputation and deliverability.
29 Oct 2022 - Email Marketing Forum
What the experts say
7 expert opinions
Recovering email deliverability after using a purchased list involves several critical steps. Experts recommend abandoning the purchased list entirely, focusing instead on engaged and permissioned subscribers. Suppressing or deleting the list prevents further damage from spam traps and accidental sends. Monitoring sender reputation using tools like Return Path's Sender Score and Microsoft's SNDS is vital. Prioritizing permission practices, particularly double opt-in, helps ensure recipients genuinely want your emails and avoids future deliverability issues. Furthermore, continuing to purchase lists after being advised against it signals a lack of commitment to ethical emailing practices and may warrant ending the relationship.
Key opinions
- Abandon Purchased List: The purchased list should be abandoned completely, prioritizing engaged and permissioned subscribers.
- Spam Trap Suppression: Suppressing addresses that triggered spam traps is crucial to avoid further damage to sender reputation.
- Sender Reputation Monitoring: Actively monitor sender reputation with tools like Return Path's Sender Score and Microsoft's SNDS.
- Permission Practices: Focus on permission practices, especially double opt-in, to ensure recipients genuinely want emails.
Key considerations
- List Removal Strategy: Determine whether to suppress or completely delete the purchased list. Deletion reduces risk of accidental sends.
- Ethical Emailing: Refrain from purchasing further email lists after initial issues, and consider terminating relationships with those who continue this practice.
- Reputation Repair: Repair of sender reputation may be long. Focus on building legitimate, high-quality mailing lists for improved future deliverability.
- Long-Term Deliverability: Implement double opt-in from the start as the most secure way to ensure you only send email to users who actively want to receive it and help avoid deliverability problems associated with purchased lists.
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource warns that using purchased lists is almost always a bad idea because the recipients did not explicitly request to receive emails from you. This can lead to low engagement, high bounce rates, and spam complaints, all of which negatively impact your deliverability.
13 Mar 2024 - Spam Resource
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks recommends burning the entire purchased list and focusing on recently engaged and properly permissioned email addresses to help the domain reputation rebound.
29 Jun 2022 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
6 technical articles
Recovering email deliverability after sending to a purchased list requires a focus on technical best practices. Key actions include monitoring your sending reputation with Google Postmaster Tools, warming up your IP address gradually with engaged subscribers, and implementing email authentication methods like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Close monitoring of engagement metrics, such as open and click-through rates, is essential for detecting deliverability issues. Furthermore, implementing SPF records in your DNS settings and adopting a DMARC policy will significantly protect your domain from unauthorized use and improve deliverability to major email providers.
Key findings
- Reputation Monitoring: Use Google Postmaster Tools to monitor your sending reputation and address issues affecting deliverability.
- IP Warm-up: Gradually warm up your IP address by sending small volumes of emails to engaged subscribers.
- Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your identity and improve deliverability.
- Engagement Metrics: Monitor engagement metrics like open and click-through rates to identify and resolve deliverability issues.
- SPF Records: Implement SPF records in your DNS settings to prevent email spoofing and improve deliverability.
- DMARC Policy: Adopt a DMARC policy to protect your domain from unauthorized use and enhance email security.
Key considerations
- Implementation Complexity: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC requires technical expertise and careful configuration.
- Monitoring Frequency: Regularly monitor your sending reputation and engagement metrics to promptly address any deliverability issues.
- Patience: Recovering from the negative impact of purchased lists on deliverability can take time and consistent effort.
- Long-term strategy: Treat this as an opportunity to implement email infrastructure best practices.
Technical article
Documentation from Google explains to use Google Postmaster Tools to monitor your sending reputation and identify issues affecting deliverability, such as spam complaints or authentication failures. They suggest fixing these issues based on the feedback from the tools.
19 May 2023 - Google
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost advises to monitor your engagement metrics (open rates, click-through rates, etc.) closely. Low engagement can indicate deliverability issues, so it's important to identify and address any problems.
13 Jul 2023 - SparkPost
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