Common Reasons Email List Data Goes Bad

Email marketing is a tried-and-true business strategy that can help you grow your company's customer base and increase revenue. However, if your mailing list data has gone bad over time, then you may not be able to capitalize on this channel as much as possible. This article will explore some common reasons why email address data goes bad and how B2B marketers should deal with it with email list hygiene. 

Why Do Emails Go Bad, And How Does This Affect Email Marketing?

If your emails aren't reaching customers well, then they're not going to convert into sales and repeat purchases — and that's not good news for anyone. So what makes an email go bad? How can you tell if yours have gone bad?

Email marketing has a high bounce rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of emails that are not opened by users. There are soft bounces (when the problem that caused it is temporary, such as a problem with the recipient's server) and hard bounces (when the email cannot be delivered due to permanent problems, including a blockage). In the case of a hard bounce, addresses should be removed from the list — this will save your sender's email reputation. 

Email marketing has low click-through rates (CTRs)

CTR measures how many times someone clicks on an advertisement within an email — or more specifically, how many times people click on links within your emails versus just viewing them in their entirety without clicking anything at all. If this number drops below 2%, then it's worth considering whether those links are relevant enough for readers who receive them

There are many factors that can affect the success of your email marketing, and it can be difficult to know what works best. However, if you've been using the same methods for a while, and they're not working as well as they used to — or at all — then it might be time for some new ideas. Try looking at some other companies' approaches or even experimenting on your own with different types of content before deciding what works best for your business.

Main Common Reasons Email List Data Goes Bad

So, what are some common reasons why email list data goes bad?

Email addresses change with time

It's a fact of life, but it can be very frustrating for business owners who rely on email marketing as a key part of their marketing strategy. Email addresses are changing because people change jobs, move to new cities and states, get married and divorced, and have children who grow up and need their own email accounts — and all these things happen more frequently than you might think!

Your email list has duplicates

Duplicates are a common source of bad data. Duplicate records can be caused by many reasons, including typos or multiple signups. 

The email domain goes out of business or gets shut down

The domain for the email address you're trying to reach may have been shut down. This could be because the owner of that domain decided to shut it down, or because they failed to renew their domain and it expired.

Your list is not properly segmented

Segmentation is the process of dividing a large group into smaller groups based on some shared characteristic. It helps you target your audience more effectively and send more relevant emails. If you don't segment your list, you are more likely to send content to a large segment of people who are unengaged subscribers. 

You haven't updated your list in a long time

Hope it’s no surprise for you that email list fatigue. If you haven't updated your list in a long time, it's likely that people have changed email addresses. You might be sending emails to people who are no longer interested in your brand or are even alive.

Spam filters blocked your emails 

Spam filters and spam traps are a problem for all marketers. They can block your emails from the list and even bounce them back to you, making it seem like the subscriber has unsubscribed. Spam filters can be set up by your email provider, or they can be set up by the user.

How To Clean Up Bad Data?

If you've been using email marketing for any length of time, then you've probably accumulated a large database of contacts. While some people will always be active, others will not open or click on your emails. These inactive users take up valuable space on your list and waste resources. Fortunately, there are ways to clean up bad mailing databases so that you only send out messages to active users.

There are lots of ways to do this manually. You could search for all the addresses that haven't been active in over six months and delete those accounts from your list. Inactive users are those who haven't opened or clicked on any emails from your company in the last six months or more. These people will often unsubscribe from your mailing list if they don't receive any value from it, so removing them early can help reduce the overall number of unsubscribes.

If there are any duplicates, you'll want to get rid of those as well (it's easy enough with Excel). 

If your list is big enough, then cleaning it up periodically should be part of your routine as an email marketer. It’s better to use a special email validator for this, for example, Atomic Email Verifier — this tool helps you to verify all emails in your database in just a few clicks, and delete all invalid email addresses.

Regular work with your email list will have a positive impact on email deliverability, open rates, and conversion rates.

To Sum Up 

To ensure the success of your email marketing campaign, it's important to understand how you can avoid common sources of email address aging and inaccuracy. The best way to do this is to keep your list fresh. Verify and clean your data regularly, and you’ll see great results. 

Experience all the benefits of email validation with Atomic Email Verifier! Download our email address verifier now and test all its features for free for a trial period. 

Written by:

Ammy Potters