List Hygiene
Regular maintenance of email lists by removing invalid addresses and unengaged subscribers.
Regular maintenance of email lists by removing invalid addresses and unengaged subscribers.
Why It Matters
A clean list is a profitable list. Invalid addresses cause bounces, unengaged subscribers drag down open rates, and both hurt sender reputation. Regular hygiene protects deliverability and ensures your metrics reflect actual performance with people who want to hear from you.
Practical Example
Scenario
A pet supplies brand hasn't cleaned their 85,000-subscriber list in 18 months. Open rates have dropped from 22% to 14%, and they're seeing deliverability warnings.
Calculation
After removing 23,000 subscribers (hard bounces, never opened in 12 months, invalid domains)Result
List drops to 62,000 but open rates jump to 26%, click rates improve 40%, and revenue per send actually increases because emails reach more inboxes.
Pro Tips
- 1Run email validation on your list quarterly to catch invalid addresses
- 2Implement sunset flows to automatically suppress the chronically unengaged
- 3Segment by engagement before major campaigns—don't blast the whole list
- 4Monitor engagement trends monthly to catch hygiene issues early