The 3 major rules of an opt-in list hygiene

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Email hygiene is the process of removing “bad” email accounts from email opt-in lists. These emails may be from prospects who switched jobs and closed their old company address, people who switched domains (ex: from aol.com to gmail.com) or people who unsubscribed. (see more about unsubscribing here)

After you decide to create an opt-in list based on a list of prospects, don’t just send your subscribers your promotional newsletters, catalogs, discount, offers, etc. There are many things to consider in order to avoid complications and even rejections.

Whereas there are a lot of different ways to make people subscribe to your list, there are also some things you must do to prevent subscribers from wanting to unsubscribe. (see this article about unsubscribing for reference)

On top of that, you also want to avoid any problems with the law and your internet service provider or ISP. There are now many laws and rules (especially strict with hefty fines in Canada and Europe) that are used to help protect the privacy of the internet users from spamming and unwanted emails.

With the popularity of the electronic mail as a medium for marketing because of the low cost, many companies have seized the opportunity and have flooded people’s e-mail accounts with promotional mail.

Use an opt-in list

Most email marketing service requires your contacts to be part of an opt-in list. That means that all of your contacts must have willingly given you their email address, with the knowledge that they would be added to your list and receive mass emails from you. Usually, contacts sign up using an online subscription form.

A “double opt-in list,” which is preferred, means that every person who signed up to be on your email list was also subsequently sent an individual “confirmation” email, which asked them one more time to confirm that they did indeed want their email address to be added to your list. That improves the quality of your list as it ensures that no individual was added to your list against their will.

With an opt-in list, you avoid the rejection annoyance because people subscribe to your list. They have stated that they want to receive the newsletters and any promotional materials.

They have consented to be on the list by subscribing themselves.
Tip: just don’t forget to put an unsubscribe feature every time in your opt-in list so that you avoid any confusion. There may be times when an email account was provided when the real owner didn’t want to subscribe.

It is essential that you keep your list clean and manageable. Arrange it by using the many tools and technologies available for your opt-in list. Do not worry; your investment in this marketing strategy is well worth it with all the coverage you will get which will likely be converted into sales then to profit.

Keep yourself and your business out of trouble and potential run-ins with the law and the internet service providers. Keep your operation legit and clean. Your reputation as a legitimate businessman and a legitimate site depends on your being a straight and true marketing strategist. As a tip, here are three things to avoid when emailing your list.

Email Bounces

1) Take care of your unsuccessful sends by removing them from your opt-in list. The bounces are the e-mails that can’t go through and come back to the sender. Bounced emails, also known as undeliverable messages, are those messages that, for whatever reason, were not successfully received by the intended recipient.

Some bounces happen or occur because of a technical mishap. For example, the server was busy at that time but can still be delivered at another time. There are also bounces because the inbox of the recipient is full at that time. There are those bounce messages that are merely undeliverable ever. The reason for this is that it may be an invalid email address, a misspelled email address, or an email address that was abandoned and erased already.

Manage your list by putting markings on those that bounce. Erase an email account from your list so that you have an accurate statistics and records as to how many are actually receiving your mail. You may also want to check the spellings of your email addresses in your list. One common mistake is when an N instead of an M is placed in the .com area.

Email unsubscribes

2) Always provide an unsubscribe feature in your site and an unsubscribe link in your emails. When someone in your list files a request to be unsubscribed, always take that request seriously. If you don’t remove them off your list and keep sending them your e-mails, you are now sending them spam mail.

When you are reported as a spammer, you and your business can get into a lot of trouble. You can be reported to the authorities and maybe blacklisted by many internet service providers. You will lose a lot of subscribers this way and many more in potential subscribers.

Avoid shocking content

3) Do not provide pornographic or shocking and disturbing content in your newsletters. It is hard to decipher the age of the recipient, and many complaints may stem from these. Controversial issues also are to be avoided if you don’t want your prospects to unsubscribe. Stick to the nature of your site and business.

Always remember these tips in this article so that you can have a healthy relationship with your subscribers as well as be kept within the boundaries of what is allowed in sending emails to an opt-in list.