However compelling a message your email marketing campaign presents, unless you are able to get that message to your prospects, your campaign’s results are likely to be less-than-optimal. Taking the time to perform proper maintenance on your lists in conjunction with email hygiene software ensures that the maximum amount of emails you send will reach their destination. It also helps maintain your sender reputation, which can be damaged if too many of the emails you send result in bouncebacks. Some tips for getting this done are listed below.
Check for Bad Domains and Duplicates
Bad domain addresses not only lower the efficacy of your email campaigns, they can also, if numerous enough, result in getting you placed on blacklists as a spammer. Make sure you scrub your list often by checking registers of bad domains and getting rid of duplicate accounts.
Get Rid of Bad Addresses
Clean up bad emails by checking your failure reports and taking action to remove any addresses that are marked as bad on the reports. Whether caused by bad domains or incorrect email addresses, a high number of delivery failures, as mentioned above, can result in damage to your reputation as an email sender.
Review Email Address Validation Procedures
Check the data capture process you are using to make sure that it is designed to garner valid email addresses for your list. If necessary, use validation procedures that require contacts to provide a valid email address to be added to your list.
Review Your Bounces
Hard bounces due to faulty addresses should be removed from your list immediately, while soft bounces due to deliverability issues should be tracked, and repeat offenders removed from your list as well.
Process Unsubscribes Quickly
Contacts that don’t want to receive your emails should not be receiving them as these recipients are the ones most likely to mark your emails as spam if they keep receiving them from you. You should also make sure that the unsubscribe link associated with your emails is not excessively difficult to find, making it easy for leads that might otherwise prove troublesome to remove themselves from your list.
Monitor Feedback Loops
Check with your ISP about feedback loop availability and when possible review these reports to track spam complaints associated with your email campaigns. You can also take steps to maximise email deliverability by signing on to whitelists offered by ISPs you work with.