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Has your email engagement been dropping these days? You might think it’s your content, but consider this: Your emails could possibly be ending up in your spam folder. Major email service providers (ESPs) like Google and Yahoo are enforcing stricter email sending policies. So if your campaigns aren’t getting results, it’s time to reassess your practices.
A very good place to start is with an email list. As you add more contacts to your list, keep in mind that over 25% of your leads declines annually. Neglecting bounce rate and spam grievance rate will destroy your fame with ESPs and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – and cause your messages to go to spam.
Remove these dangerous email addresses to improve your delivery efficiency
The health of your email database is crucial to email deliverability, which implies how quickly your messages reach your customers’ inboxes. But how do you make sure your email list is healthy? Here are five sorts of email addresses you need to remove from your database today.
Invalid email addresses
A bounce rate above 2% indicates that your list has degraded and needs to be trimmed. A high bounce rate affects email deliverability, so never email a contact who has bounced again. Instead, remove these invalid email addresses instantly to help your campaigns reach the inbox. To prevent deliverability issues, consider cleansing up your database commonly, especially before sending a bulk email.
Abuse emails
“Report Spam” is a useful button in our inboxes. It allows us to inform our ESP when someone is sending us emails without permission or with malicious intent. However, many people hit the “report spam” button even when they have signed up to receive reported emails. These sorts of accounts are called “abuse emails.”
Since Google and Yahoo require spam grievance rates to be inside 0.3%, you’ll be able to never be too careful with spam complaints. Using email validation software that may detect abuse emails—and remove them from your list—is an extra step you’ll be able to take to help your campaigns get into the inbox.
Disposable contact lenses
Have you ever created a digital content offer—like an e-book or whitepaper—to grow your email list? These sorts of lead magnets are still effective, but the problem is that not everyone who downloads them uses their real email address. Sometimes people use temporary leads to get a free e-book or discount without being added to a marketing list.
Temporary email addresses deactivate inside minutes or days, leading to bounces. They have no place on your list, so delete them before your next campaign.
Spam traps
In 2023, the variety of spam messages was over 46% of worldwide email traffic. Although this percentage has been declining over the past few years, ISPs and email blocklists are continuously working to combat spam. Spam traps are just one method they use to catch and block spammers.
Spam traps appear to be real email addresses, but they are not. Internet service providers strategically place these traps on the Internet, often in places where only spammers could find them and add them to their lists. When an email is sent to a spam trap, it signals to the ISP that the sender is likely to be using bad email practices, equivalent to scraping addresses off the web or buying email lists. That sender will then be flagged as a potential spammer.
Getting caught in a spam trap can seriously damage your fame with ISPs, so avoid purchasing databases and adding random email addresses to your list.
Passive subscribers
The overall engagement your emails receive also matters to your fame. So, if a segment of your email list is passive, it’s bad for your deliverability. Do you have subscribers who haven’t clicked on any of your emails in over six months? Eliminate them to keep your metrics high and allow your emails to reach lively recipients.
In addition to skewing your engagement metrics, passive email addresses can be deactivated by EPS. If these accounts turn into invalid over time, it may well increase your bounce rate and further sabotage your email marketing. Removing these subscribers means you’ll be able to focus your resources on engaged contacts who are more likely to respond to your offers — and convert.
Bonus tip: check email addresses in real time
Running your database through email verification software a few times a 12 months ensures that invalid, temporary, abusive, and spam traps may be removed before they do any damage. But did you know that you could also check email addresses before add them to your list?
Real-time email validator immediately detects dangerous emails and rejects them from signup forms. It’s a proactive measure against bounces, spam complaints, and other incidents that affect sender fame and deliverability.
The better part is that almost all email verification firms offer a certain variety of free monthly checks. If your list is growing slowly, you’ll be able to make the most of those offers and confirm your subscribers’ contacts to keep your records in shape.