Do you have a massive list of emails to market to? If so, that’s nice because big numbers make us feel good. But wait a minute – what happens when you actually send them offers? Do they buy or does your offer disappear, never to be heard from again?

If your marketing is together (you’ve got a targeted list and you’re offering things they want),

you should be seeing sales. If your subject lines or calls to action are weak, a little tweaking will take care of that. But if you’re really not seeing the numbers you should be, you might have a different problem – Your list is full of junk names that lead to nobody’s inbox.

Here are my Top Tips

Email marketers need to keep a clean list. If not, you’ll have fewer real subscribers than you think you do, and after all, those phony emails aren’t doing anybody any good.

Double Opt-in Sign up

A really simple solution is to install a double opt-in sign-up form. Just like the name suggests, this means that they have to sign up twice to receive your offers. They fill out the form and then they get an email asking them to confirm. It means two steps they have to take in order to get signed up, but it will keep a lot of spammers from getting onto your list.

Look for Funny Emails

Every now and then, have a quick skim through your emails. If your spam box is pummelled everyday by spam, you know what a funny email address looks like. See if you can spot a few of these. How do you know if they’re really fake and not just funny? Before you delete them from your list, check to see if they’ve ever bought anything from you.

Check Web Logs

Another thing you can do is to check web logs. Web lots tell you where your subscribers are coming from. If you see a bunch of email addresses all coming from the same IP address, this is a sure sign. Delete immediately.

Segment Your List

You can make this regular maintenance task much easier by segmenting your list by length of subscription. If you do this, you don’t have to keep checking the same names over and over again. The older subscribers, who you’ve already had a look at, are safe and you don’t have to check them again. Just skim through the newer ones who have signed up recently.

If you’ve never cleaned your list before, you might be surprised by how many of those names are unresponsive fake emails. Get into a regular routine of cleaning it out once in a while. This is a great task to outsource to a virtual assistant if you can trust them handling your list.

Tony

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