Email List Management


Many businesses look at their email marketing list in the wrong way thinking of it as a numbers game and simply adding new names as old ones disappear. Worse still are those who resort to email blasts, regardless of subject relevance. Either approach indicates an email list is being used incorrectly, with little consideration shown towards recipients. To some extent etiquette has a role to play in email effectiveness, so consider the following:

  • Ensure your email recipients know who you are, and explain how you obtained their details. Speaking from experience I receive many email newsletters from businesses and struggle to work out who they are, or why they are emailing me. It's also a legal requirement to give your business contact details.
  • Provide your recipients with an easy, instant unsubscribe process. It is pointless to continually communicate with anyone not interested in you or your products. Better by far, and cheaper, to email 500 recipients genuinely interested in your business than 5,000 with little or no interest.
  • Review your statistics for up to 12 months after any email campaign. Checking responses, ie whether they are being sent to “trash”, filed or later reviewed, will clarify the interest rate of your emails. Understanding how recipients read your newsletters will benefit future campaigns.
  • Use an Email Service Provider to manage your email campaigns. This will help you manage unsubscribes, improve deliverability and provide statistics on user engagement. (User engagement is an important topic we will discuss separately.)
  • Segment your list into categories such as customers, prospects, interests. This will  prevent you from sending inappropriate offers or information.
  • Send topical and informative emails, and submit them regularly to keep in touch with recipients. If you have not used your email marketing list for more than six months then send a re-engagement campaign. If recipients forget who you are, your email marketing list is redundant.