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Do not index
Do not index
Is your email marketing not delivering the results you want? The problem could be your email list.
Did you know that 10% to 40% of your subscribers might stop engaging with your emails every year?
This is why it's important to regularly scrub and clean your email list every few months.
In this guide, we'll explain what email scrubbing is and walk you through 7 simple steps to clean your email list.
By doing this - you can increase your open rates, lower bounce rates, and improve your overall email marketing success.
So, let's get started!
What is Email Scrubbing?
Source: Freepik
Email scrubbing is the process of cleaning your email list by removing inactive or unengaged subscribers. Over time - some people on your list may stop opening or clicking your emails. Keeping these inactive contacts can harm your email marketing results by lowering your open rates and increasing bounce rates.
When following email scrubbing - you should target the following types of contacts:
- Inactive subscribers: Those who haven’t opened or clicked on your emails for a long time.
- Invalid email addresses: Addresses that bounce back or are incorrectly formatted.
- Unsubscribed contacts: People who have opted out but are still on your list.
- Spam complaints: Contacts who have marked your emails as spam.
- Unengaged new subscribers: Recent sign-ups who haven’t interacted with your emails after joining.
- Duplicate entries: Multiple entries for the same person or email address.
Regular email scrubbing helps you focus on the people who are truly interested in your content. By cleaning your list, you can – improve your email deliverability, make sure your messages reach the right audience, and get better results from your email campaigns.
Why Email Scrubbing is Essential?
Source: Freepik
Did you know? The average email open rate across all industries is 21.33%. By following email scrubbing – you can increase the rate.
Email scrubbing might feel like losing the subscribers you've worked hard to gain - but if those contacts aren’t engaging - they’re only boosting your numbers without adding real value. Regularly email scrubbing is important, and here’s why:
- Improves Deliverability
Removing inactive and invalid contacts reduces the chances of your emails bouncing or being marked as spam. This increases the likelihood that your emails will reach the intended recipients' inboxes, helping your messages get seen by more of your active subscribers.
- Accurate Engagement Metrics
If your list is full of inactive subscribers - your open rates and click-through rates (CTR) will appear lower than they actually are. Removing inactive contacts helps you get a more accurate picture of your campaign’s success. In fact, after cleaning their list - companies often see improved engagement rates.
- Lower Bounce Rates
Email bounces occur when messages fail to reach the intended recipient due to invalid addresses or full inboxes. Regularly email scrubbing reduces the number of bounces, protecting your sender reputation.
- Fewer Spam Complaints
Some subscribers might mark your emails as spam simply because they forgot they signed up. Too many spam complaints can lead email providers to send all your emails to the spam folder. By removing uninterested contacts regularly, you reduce the chances of this happening.
- Better Sender Reputation
A clean email list improves your overall email performance, leading to a better sender reputation. A strong sender reputation means more of your emails will land in the inbox rather than the spam folder.
- Boosts Engagement
Focusing on active subscribers means your emails are more likely to be opened and clicked. This improves key metrics like open rates and click-through rates, showing better engagement with your audience and making your email campaigns more effective.
- Reduces Costs
By using email scrubbing, you send fewer emails, which can lower your costs with email marketing services. This way, you’re only paying for subscribers who are engaged and likely to respond, making your marketing budget more efficient.
- Increases ROI
With a cleaner list, your email campaigns are more effective because they target engaged subscribers. This leads to better results, such as higher conversion rates, which ultimately boosts your return on investment (ROI) from email marketing.
When Do You Need to Scrub Your Email List?
Source: Freepik
Email scrubbing is essential to keep it healthy and effective. But when should you do it? Here are some key times for email scrubbing:
- Regularly, Every Few Months
It's good practice to follow email scrubbing every 3 to 6 months. This helps remove inactive or invalid contacts before they start affecting your engagement and deliverability rates.
- After a Major Campaign
If you’ve just finished a big email campaign, it’s a perfect time for email scrubbing. You can identify who engaged with your emails and who didn’t, helping you remove those who are no longer interested.
- When You Notice a Drop in Engagement
If your open rates or click-through rates start to drop, it might be time for email scrubbing. A decline in engagement often means there are inactive subscribers who need to be removed.
- When You Experience High Bounce Rates
A spike in bounce rates, where emails are not delivered, indicates that some email addresses on your list may no longer be valid. Email scrubbing helps eliminate these bounces, improving your sender reputation.
- Before a Big Marketing Push
If you’re planning a major marketing campaign or a product launch, clean your list first. This guarantees you’re reaching out to the most interested and active contacts, maximizing the impact of your campaign.
What is Email Scrubbing Service?
Source: Freepik
Manually email scrubbing is time-consuming and nearly impossible for large lists. Sorting through each contact, checking for invalid or inactive addresses, and removing them one by one can take hours or even days.
That’s why businesses often turn to email scrubbing services and tools. An email scrubbing service helps you clean and maintain your email list. These services automate the process - quickly scanning your list to identify and remove risky or outdated contacts.
By using an email scrubbing service, you save time and guarantee that your list is clean and up-to-date. This helps improve email deliverability, increase engagement, and make your email marketing efforts more effective.
How to Scrub an Email List in 7 Easy Steps?
Source: Freepik
Wondering how to scrub an email list? The process is straightforward and easy to follow. Here’s how to scrub an email list in 7 simple steps to keep it clean and effective:
Step 1: Verify Email Addresses
To begin, use the best email list cleaning service or tool to check which email addresses are valid and which are not. One such tool you can use is VerifyMagically. It uses advanced verification algorithms to validate all types of emails including catch-all and risky emails in real time. This way – you get more refined lead list.
Source: VerifyMagically
This tool will scan your list to find invalid emails—such as those with with typos, fake sign-ups, or domains that no longer exist. Valid emails are those that are correctly formatted and exist. Removing these helps reduce bounce rates and improve deliverability
This step helps reduce the number of bounces - which can negatively impact your sender reputation. The best thing about VerifyMagically is that it is very easy to use with a simple user-interface and offers 250 free credits to new users.
Verify All Types of Email Addresses in Real-Time!
Note
Make sure your email list is saved in a file format, preferably CSV. If your list is in your mailing system - you'll need to export it first and save it to your computer.
Step 2: Eliminate Duplicate Entries
If your email system doesn’t automatically manage duplicates - you’ll need to handle this manually. Start by exporting all your email lists into a CSV file. Open the CSV file in Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet application.
Use the “Data” menu to select “Remove Duplicates.” This function will find and delete any duplicate entries, guaranteeing each contact appears only once on your list. This helps maintain a clean and efficient email list.
Step 3: Clear Out Unsubscribed Emails
Most email service providers (ESPs) offer tools to manage unsubscribed contacts. These contacts have opted out of receiving your emails and should be removed to avoid sending unwanted messages.
Within your ESP - locate the section where unsubscribed contacts are listed. You can then choose to delete or archive these contacts. Archiving might be useful if you want to keep records for future reference - but deleting them keeps your list current and clean.
Step 4: Remove Spam Complaints
Check your ESP’s reports to identify anyone who has marked your emails as spam. These complaints can harm your sender reputation and affect email deliverability. Access the spam complaint reports, locate the offending addresses, and remove them from your list.
You can do this manually by reviewing reports or use automated tools that can streamline the process. Regularly removing these contacts helps maintain a positive sender reputation and improves your email delivery rates.
Step 5: Reengage Less Active Subscribers
Before removing inactive subscribers - send a re-engagement email. Divide your subscribers into categories based on their engagement level –
- Gold (highly engaged)
- Silver (somewhat engaged)
- Bronze (least engaged)
For those in the Silver and Bronze categories - send a series of re-engagement emails with enticing offers or new content to try and win them back.
If they don’t respond after several attempts, consider removing them from your list. This approach helps focus your efforts on subscribers who are most likely to interact with your emails.
Step 6: Remove Inactive Contacts
Review the activity history of subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails for a long period. If they haven’t opened or clicked on any emails recently, it might be time to remove them.
However, if these contacts have previously made purchases but haven’t opted in for email updates, send them an opt-in request. If they remain unresponsive, remove them to keep your list focused on active subscribers.
Step 7: Regularly Repeat the Process
Email list scrubbing isn’t a one-time task. To keep your list healthy and your campaigns effective, repeat the scrubbing process every few months. Regular maintenance helps you stay on top of inactive contacts and ensures your list remains clean and engaged.
How to Scrub an Email List Using VerifyMagically?
Source: VerifyMagically
To clean your email list effectively - especially with larger databases - you'll need an email validation tool like VerifyMagically.
VerifyMagically is the best email list cleaning service that helps you validate email lists in real-time. Here are some features offered by the tool:
- 99% email verification accuracy
- Real-time email validation
- Risky and catch-all email validation
- Bulk email list processing
- Quick and speedy email verification
- Smooth API integration
- 250 free credits (no credit card required)
- 20% to 30% more verified leads
- High-security email validation
Here are the steps to use the tool to clean your email list:
Step 1: Prepare Your List
First, make sure your email list is in a file format that VerifyMagically email validation tool accepts. The preferred format is CSV. If your list is in a different format - you might need to convert it to CSV.
Step 2: Upload to VerifyMagically Platform
Next, go to VerifyMagically and upload your file containing the email addresses. This usually involves selecting the file from your computer and clicking an upload button. The tool will prepare to check your emails.
Step 3: Start Validation
Begin the validation process by clicking on the submit button. The tool will then check each email address in your list. You can also preview the list.
Step 4: Download Results
After the validation is complete - you will receive a report showing the status of each email address. You can choose from various download options like –
- Download original file
- Download valid emails
- Download invalid emails
- Download unverifiable emails
Download the report to see which addresses are valid or invalid. This helps you understand which emails need to be removed.
Step 5: Remove Invalid Emails
Open the report and look at the list of invalid or outdated email addresses. Remove these addresses from your main email list to avoid sending emails to addresses that won’t work or could harm your sender reputation.
Step 6: Review and Update
To keep your email list in good shape - repeat the scrubbing process regularly. Doing this every few months will help guarantee that your email list remains clean, so your emails reach real, active recipients and improve your email marketing results.
Source: VerifyMagically
Clean Your Email List With VerifyMagically!
Email Scrubbing Best Practices
Source: Freepik
Maintaining a clean email list is important for successful email marketing. Studies show that businesses with well-maintained lists see higher open rate and increase in click-through rates compared to those with outdated lists. Here are some email scrubbing best practices to follow:
- Use Reliable Tools
Choose a well-reviewed and trustworthy email scrubbing tool. Reliable tools help ensure that your email list is accurately cleaned, removing invalid addresses and identifying potential issues like spam traps.
- Regularly Update Your List
Don’t wait for problems to occur before scrubbing your email list. Perform regular clean-ups, ideally every few months. This keeps your list current and helps prevent issues with deliverability and engagement.
- Segment Your List
Divide your email list into segments based on activity, such as active, inactive, and newly subscribed. This helps you target your emails more effectively and manage different types of contacts more easily.
- Verify Email Addresses
Always check email addresses for validity before adding them to your list. Use an email verification tool to catch typos, invalid addresses, and domains that no longer exist. This reduces the risk of bounce rates and improves email deliverability.
- Handle Unsubscribes and Complaints Promptly
Remove contacts who have unsubscribed or marked your emails as spam. Addressing these issues quickly helps maintain a positive sender reputation and ensures you’re not wasting resources on uninterested recipients.
- Monitor Engagement Metrics
Keep an eye on how your emails perform, including open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. Low engagement may indicate that it’s time to scrub your list or refine your email strategies.
- Protect Your Sender Reputation
Avoid practices that could harm your sender reputation, such as sending emails to invalid addresses or frequently getting marked as spam. A good sender reputation guarantees better deliverability and engagement.
- Keep Your Data Secure
Make sure that the email scrubbing tools and processes you use comply with data protection regulations. Safeguard your contact information to prevent unauthorized access and protect your subscribers’ privacy.
FAQs
1. What is email hygiene?
Email hygiene involves cleaning and maintaining your email list to make sure it includes valid, active contacts and avoids issues like bounces and spam complaints.
2. What is sender reputation?
Sender reputation is a measure of how trustworthy your email sending practices are. It affects your emails' deliverability and how often they reach the inbox.
3. How to scrub an email list for free?
You can scrub an email list for free using tools like VerifyMagically’s free 250 credits.
4. Name the best email list cleaning services.
The best email list cleaning services include VerifyMagically, ZeroBounce, and NeverBounce. They offer effective tools for verifying and maintaining email lists.
5. How to reduce email database degradation?
To reduce email database degradation - regularly clean your list, remove inactive contacts, and use email verification tools to keep addresses current and accurate.
6. How often should you scrub your email list?
Email scrubbing should be done every 3 to 6 months to maintain the quality of the list.
Wrapping Up
Keeping your email list clean is important for successful email marketing. By following these 7 steps, you can make sure your list is up-to-date and effective. Regular email scrubbing boosts deliverability and engagement. For a smooth email cleaning experience - VerifyMagically is the best tool to use - offering reliable and efficient list management solutions.