As a business owner, we get it. The more data you have, the better. Right?
While it may seem like hoarding your email list is a surefire way to pump more sales into your business, truth be told, sometimes it’s okay to let go. In fact, hanging on to emails from customers who just aren’t interested in your business or products anymore is probably costing you more than it’s worth. This is more than just in dollar value, too!
For example, if you send an email out and 50% of that list is unengaged, you have already set yourself up for low deliverability and even an increase in spam complaint rates. But, when the email numbers are so precious to you, how do you know which emails to cull and which ones to keep?
We’ve broken it down below:
Remove those soft and hard bounces
Some people may have signed up to your database using a work or school email. Once they leave or graduate, this essentially means that their email doesn’t exist anymore. So, instead of sending to ghost accounts, cleaning out your bounces can guarantee you aren’t mailing content into an empty void.
We recommend removing any email from your database if it has soft-bounced more than five times. Klaviyo will automatically suppress hard bounces.
Give your customers to chance to unsubscribe
Some customers want to unsubscribe, but they just never find the time to. This means they’re actively avoiding your emails and taking up precious room in your database. Try sending them a sunset flow with the content ‘Unsubscribe from our list,’ which gives them the opportunity to remove themselves from your database.
Suppress unengaged contacts
Every business owner dreams that their contacts will be 100% engaged with their emails. But, unfortunately, that’s not the case. Over time, some customers may no longer want to receive emails from your brand. Perhaps the purchase they made was for a gift, and your product offering really isn’t their thing. Or maybe they no longer require your business.
You will notice that these customers slowly begin to drop off and open your emails less. Before long, it may be over a full year since they last opened one of your emails. Setting clear parameters for how long you will allow your customers to wander aimlessly in your database will ensure you suppress them accordingly.
It’s important to remember, though, that this will differ based on your product. A business selling monthly food subscription boxes will have customers that typically purchase more frequently than one selling luxury perfume. Therefore, customers for the food boxes dropping off after 180 days may be a sign of poor engagement. Whereas for the perfume, this may extend to years.
Understanding the length of your customer lifespans will confirm you suppress the right audiences.
The Email By Design team is here to assist
If you haven’t cleaned your database before, you may not know where to begin. If you’re worried about suppressing the wrong data or want a hand in ensuring your database is as clean as can be, we’re here to help.
