How to Clean Your Email List and Avoid the Spam Folder

How to Clean Your Email List and Avoid the Spam Folder: The Sunset Flow Guide

Email marketing is a powerful tool, but it’s only effective if your emails are reaching the right audience. Over time, your email list can accumulate inactive or unengaged subscribers, which can hurt your deliverability and lead to your emails landing in the dreaded spam folder. Cleaning your email list is essential for maintaining a healthy sender reputation and ensuring that your messages reach the people who want to hear from you.

Why You Need to Clean Your Email List As your email list grows, it’s natural to collect some subscribers who no longer engage with your content. Whether they’ve lost interest, changed their email addresses, or simply never open your emails, keeping these unengaged subscribers on your list can do more harm than good. Unengaged subscribers can lower your open rates, increase the chances of your emails being marked as spam, and ultimately damage your sender reputation.

Misconceptions About Cleaning Your Email List One common misconception is that a bigger email list is always better. While it might feel satisfying to have a large number of subscribers, quality is far more important than quantity. Another misconception is that removing subscribers is a loss. In reality, cleaning your list improves your overall email performance and engagement, leading to better results from your campaigns.

How to Clean Your Email List Cleaning your email list involves identifying and removing unengaged subscribers. This process can be done manually, but using an email marketing platform like Klaviyo can streamline the process. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Building the Sunset Flow The Sunset Flow is an automated email sequence designed to re-engage inactive subscribers before you remove them from your list. It gives your subscribers a final chance to stay engaged with your content.
Creating a Segment of Unengaged Subscribers Start by creating a segment in your email platform that identifies subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails for a specific period, such as 90 days. This segment will be the target audience for your Sunset Flow.
Content of the Sunset Flow The Sunset Flow should consist of a series of emails that progressively encourage re-engagement. Start with a soft nudge, reminding subscribers of the value they receive from your emails. Follow up with more direct messages, asking if they still want to receive your content. The final email should inform them that they’ll be unsubscribed if they don’t take action.
Content of the Emails Each email in the Sunset Flow should be clear and to the point. Use attention-grabbing subject lines, emphasize the benefits of staying subscribed, and include a prominent call to action. Personalize the content where possible to make it more relevant to the subscriber.
Sunset Flow Filter Set up filters within your email platform to ensure that only the unengaged subscribers are included in the Sunset Flow. This helps you target the right audience and avoid accidentally sending these emails to engaged subscribers.
Time Delay Space out the emails in the Sunset Flow to give subscribers time to respond. A typical flow might have emails sent 3-5 days apart. This gives subscribers a chance to engage without feeling overwhelmed.
Creating a Segment of Subscribers Once the Sunset Flow is complete, create a new segment of subscribers who did not engage with the Sunset emails. This segment represents the subscribers who should be removed from your active list.

How Often to Clean Your List Regular list cleaning is crucial for maintaining a healthy email list. Aim to clean your list every 3-6 months, depending on the frequency of your campaigns. Consistent cleaning helps keep your engagement rates high and your sender reputation strong.

Excluding the Segment from Campaigns To prevent unengaged subscribers from receiving future campaigns, exclude the segment you created from your regular email sends. This ensures that only engaged subscribers receive your content, improving your overall campaign performance.

Suppressing Unengaged Subscribers Suppression is an alternative to outright deletion. Instead of removing unengaged subscribers from your list, you can suppress them, meaning they won’t receive emails but remain on your list. This can be useful if you plan to retarget them through other channels, such as social media.

Cleaning the SMS List Don’t forget about your SMS list! Just like your email list, your SMS list can benefit from regular cleaning. Identify subscribers who haven’t engaged with your SMS messages and consider sending them a re-engagement text before removing them from your list.

Cleaning your email list is not just a good practice—it’s essential for maintaining a healthy and effective email marketing strategy. By implementing a Sunset Flow and regularly cleaning your list, you can improve your email deliverability, engagement rates, and overall campaign success.