Improve your email delivery rate with these 4 tips on using a CLEAN send list

The quality of the list you use directly impacts the deliverability of your emails. ESPs actually assign a “Sender Score” to all bulk email marketers, and it functions very similar to a Credit Score. The difference is instead of using the score to see if you qualify for a loan, they use your score to see if your emails should be delivered or not. The quickest way to trash your sender score is to use a “dirty” list - one that includes invalid emails, email recipients that complain about you or report you as spam and (the worst case of all) spam traps. These issues can result in your being “blacklisted” by an ESP, where none of your emails will be delivered to an entire ESP (such as Gmail). Here are four tips to make sure your list is clean, and is not negatively affecting your email sends:

Do not use “purchased” email lists. This is a great way to bulk up the number of people that you have in your database, but in the long run it may hurt your sends dramatically.
Use good data collection practices. If your staff is collecting email addresses for you during the transaction, BE SURE to train them properly so they understand the importance of collecting valid contact information. Many companies have instituted an unwritten policy where it is okay to use a “fake” email address in order to force a user profile into a system. This is terrible practice and defeats the whole purpose of systems that require an email address. Additionally, it is important to make sure that the email is entered properly into your system. Typo errors result in an email being classified as “invalid”, leading to the potential for it harming your sender score if it is not detected prior to an email send.
Obtain the permission of the recipient to send them an email. You will increase your chances of maintaining a good Sender Score if you only send to recipients that want to receive your messaging. Thus it is important to have a good opt-in strategy from your customers. This typically means that you need to offer something in return - the recipient needs to see the value in getting your emails. If they complain or mark your emails as Spam, it will hurt your Sender Score.

Make sure your contacts are engaged. This is one of the little-known “tricks’ of maintaining a good sender score. If the recipients of your messaging do not engage by opening your emails, ESPs will ding your Sender Score. So make sure you provide content that is relevant to the recipient’s interests. Use creative Subject lines that get them to open your emails without “bulk deleting” them before they are even read. If you have recipients that never open your emails, it may be wise to remove them from your email list altogether.