1. Clean up your email lists

We all want to nurture a thriving email base, but sometimes we end up with recipients who aren't actively engaged with our content. Cleaning up your bulk email lists is essential to maintain a high deliverability rate and ensure you're sending emails to engaged recipients.

Remove inactive subscribers: Identify subscribers who haven't engaged with your emails for a certain period (e.g., 6 months) and consider removing them from your list. Inactive subscribers can negatively impact your deliverability rates.

Delete bounces and nonexistent emails: Remove email addresses that consistently bounce. Bounced emails can damage your sender reputation and affect deliverability.

Divide your lists: Gone are the days of blasting your entire list hoping for a response. Create smaller segments based on user demographics, behaviors, or engagement levels. This allows you to send targeted emails to specific groups, improving engagement and reducing the chances of being marked as spam.

2. Protect the quality of new email subscribers

The quality and accuracy of your email list matters and directly impacts the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns. Safeguard the addresses being collected from the very start.

Review email collection and sign-up sources: Remove sources that consistently lead to low engagement or high bounce rates. Look for additional high quality sources or add your newsletter sign-up to targeted locations on your site. This is great for a sports newsletter sign up on the sports section.  

Verify email addresses: Use email verification services to check the validity of email addresses on your list. This helps remove invalid, fake, or typo-ridden addresses.

Use double opt-in: Implement a double opt-in process to confirm subscribers' intentions. This reduces the chances of fake or mistyped email addresses entering your list.

3. Consistently evaluate your emails

Monitoring the performance and desirability of the emails you send is crucial to maintaining a successful email marketing strategy. It's imperative that your emails are not only performing well but also highly sought-after by your audience.

Review your current campaigns: Reduce the frequency of scheduled recurring campaigns. Send daily or weekly wrap-up emails instead of individual stories. If open rates still do not improve after reducing the frequency, consider discontinuing or replacing that campaign.

Monitor engagement metrics and monthly usage: Keep an eye on metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Low engagement indicates that your emails are not resonating with recipients, and it might be time to re-engage or remove those subscribers.

Monitor complaint rates: Keep track of how often recipients mark your emails as spam. High complaint rates can damage your sender reputation and deliverability.

4. Keep up with industry best practices

Stay informed about email marketing best practices and adapt your strategies accordingly to maintain a healthy email program.

Provide an unsubscribe option: Make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe from your emails. This might seem counterproductive, but it's better to have a smaller engaged list than a large uninterested one.

Use email authentication: Implement authentication protocols like DKIM to ensure your emails are properly authenticated, reducing the chances of them being flagged as spam.

Leverage a reputable email solution: Services like BLOX Email Reach can streamline the process of ensuring email quality and accuracy, bolstering the overall effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

Maintaining a healthy email newsletter program involves diligent list hygiene and ensuring your emails reach the right audience. These practices not only save you money but also enhance conversion rates and protect your sender reputation.

Stacy Johnson is the product manager for messaging for BLOX Digital.