I’ve got a question for you, friend. When did you last clean up your email list?

Do I hear crickets over there?

Hear me out. I know you’ve invested a lot of time and a decent chunk of change growing your list and you can’t imagine why you would ever want to get rid of a single subscriber, right? I understand…breaking up is hard to do…but it’s not you, it’s them. You wanna get rid of the dead weight pronto because it’s costing you in more ways than one.

The real real is this: if a subscriber hasn’t opened your last 5-6 emails, they’re just not that into you. And their lack of engagement is causing your open rates and newsletter deliverability to tank. Besides that, most email service providers base the monthly fee you pay on the number of subscribers you have. Why pay to retain subscribers who aren’t likely to ever become actual clients?

“Scrubbing” or cleaning out your list is something you want to do on the regular. I just scrubbed my own list and I’ll probably do it again at the end of the year.

You can straight up delete subscribers who haven’t opened your last several emails or if that sends you into a full-blown panic attack, you can segment them to an “inactive subscribers” list and create a re-engagement campaign as a last-ditch effort to reconnect with them. FYI – if you add an inactive subscriber to a segmented list, you’ll still have to pay to maintain your current number of subscribers.

You might feel that by scrubbing your list you’re essentially kicking people out of your community when the goal is to build it but it’s just part of the process of finding your squad. Engagement is the name of the game in email marketing. The number of subscribers you have means nothing if two-thirds of them aren’t reading your newsletters. And if they’re not reading them, the chances of them ever signing on to work with you are pretty slim.

My advice? Don’t let your ego take your eyes off the prize. A small community of subscribers who are engaging with your content is a huge asset to your business because they’re the ones that will end up becoming clients. Instead of focusing on the number of subscribers you’re letting go of, focus on the ones who love your particular brand of sumpin-sumpin and continue to serve them at a higher level.

Have Qs about your email marketing strategy? Let’s set up a call to see how we can take your biz to the next level.

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