How to Prevent E-mail List Churn

October 4, 2010 by Tim
Filed under: Email Lists

It is estimated that thirty percent of your house list changes their e-mail addresses annually or becomes inactive.

List churn reduces your e-mail deliverability, open rates, click-throughs, and overall performance. Why is this soo.. bad? Decreased revenues and profits.

List churn also forces you to spend more of your marketing budget on costly customer acquisition campaigns because, with a 30% annual attrition rate, your house file is shrinking in front of you.

Watch for these symptoms

Like cancer, list churn is a silent killer so keep an eye out for its causes and symptoms:

People move, they get new jobs (or lose them); they switch ISPs or just jump from one e-mail provider to anothotIf your e-mail messages are too frequent, your subscribers will get annoyed. If your e-mails are too infrequent, people may forget why they subscribed. Striking the right balance is critical.

Does your content meet or match your subscribers’ interests? Does it render properly?

Poor hygiene practices: Are you properly vetting your e-mail sources and validating e-mail addresses before they get into your database? Are you swapping e-mail lists with others? If so, stop this practice immediately.

Persistent aches and pains: Do you acquire e-mail addresses with low or no permission

Double-check your e-mail registration, validation, and messaging processes:

Have a clear, easy opt-in process and vet any third party sources very carefully.

Validate e-mail addresses at the point of registration prior to entering these into your marketing database.

Drop unsubscribes from your list immediately – you hate to lose anyone, but worse yet is gaining an enemy who clicks “this is spam” multiple times to send you a message.

Test your e-mails before every campaign to check your links and ensure your creative renders properly through the major providers.

Create an email preference center

Give your subscribers the option to adjust content, frequency, and format, and to update their e-mail addresses easily.

About The Author

Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past 20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed a website to help small business entrepreneurs find the best mailing list and marketing programs ps: I would like to recommend a tool to you to help find Boost Sales… Gain Market Share.. . With Focused List Selection, DYMO Label Writer Twin Turbo The perfect printer for any small business! See why people rave about this direct mail marketing printer and why you can’t survive without it!