How Often Should You Clean Your Email List
Posted: Sun May 25, 2025 6:48 am
As mentioned above, CTR is almost always much lower than the open rate. People often read emails without interacting further.
However, if you see a big drop, that’s a red flag. Cleaning your email list can increase your CTR and boost engagement.
3. You Get Lots of Spam Complaints and Your Bounce Rate is High Too
Recipients can do two things with unwanted email: trash it or send it to the spam folder. The latter is the most damaging to your business and brand.
When unengaged or inactive subscribers send your emails to spam, they send a message to their email clients: “This message is unwanted and unsolicited.”
Email clients pay attention to spam complaints Your email will be automatically sent to spam if it reaches a certain threshold.
Pay close attention to undeliverable emails if you reach a algeria phone number list certain threshold . If emails come back as undeliverable, there is likely a problem with the address itself or the owner's email client.
You can start at three months, but if you have a large list and you haven't cleaned your email list yet, now is the time to start.
The faster your list grows, the more often you need to clean it.
Before You Start Cleaning Your List, Check for Hard and Soft Bounces
There are two types of bounces in email marketing: soft and hard.
A soft bounce indicates a temporary delivery problem. Your email service will try to send the email again, and it will most likely be successful.
However, a hard bounce is a bounce that never goes through. The email address is incorrect, the domain no longer exists, or the email server has blocked delivery.
Many email providers will automatically clean up hard bounces. Others force you to initiate a list cleanup to get rid of the addresses.
Send Re-Engagement Email Campaigns Targeting Inactive Customers
Before cleaning your email list, you can segment inactive subscribers. They don't open or engage with your emails, but they did.
Send them a campaign email to bring back customers. In the first email, ask if they still want to hear from you.
However, if you see a big drop, that’s a red flag. Cleaning your email list can increase your CTR and boost engagement.
3. You Get Lots of Spam Complaints and Your Bounce Rate is High Too
Recipients can do two things with unwanted email: trash it or send it to the spam folder. The latter is the most damaging to your business and brand.
When unengaged or inactive subscribers send your emails to spam, they send a message to their email clients: “This message is unwanted and unsolicited.”
Email clients pay attention to spam complaints Your email will be automatically sent to spam if it reaches a certain threshold.
Pay close attention to undeliverable emails if you reach a algeria phone number list certain threshold . If emails come back as undeliverable, there is likely a problem with the address itself or the owner's email client.
You can start at three months, but if you have a large list and you haven't cleaned your email list yet, now is the time to start.
The faster your list grows, the more often you need to clean it.
Before You Start Cleaning Your List, Check for Hard and Soft Bounces
There are two types of bounces in email marketing: soft and hard.
A soft bounce indicates a temporary delivery problem. Your email service will try to send the email again, and it will most likely be successful.
However, a hard bounce is a bounce that never goes through. The email address is incorrect, the domain no longer exists, or the email server has blocked delivery.
Many email providers will automatically clean up hard bounces. Others force you to initiate a list cleanup to get rid of the addresses.
Send Re-Engagement Email Campaigns Targeting Inactive Customers
Before cleaning your email list, you can segment inactive subscribers. They don't open or engage with your emails, but they did.
Send them a campaign email to bring back customers. In the first email, ask if they still want to hear from you.