7 List Poisons Killing Your Email Delivery

List Poison #1: Dormant Accounts
Dormant accounts are email addresses at the top mailbox providers that USED TO BE GOOD but were then abandoned by their owner (probably because of receiving too much email). These mailbox providers (like Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft) then REACTIVATE those old, dormant accounts with the express purpose of catching email marketers who have not removed them from their lists after being warned for 6 months to do so. Mailing dormant accounts is probably 1 of the WORST things you can do for delivery at the “Big 4”.

List Poison #2: Spam Traps
Spam Traps are email addresses created for the purpose of catching people who send unsolicited emails. They NEVER optin to receive emails and they are almost always added through using 3rd party rented or purchased lists. Mailing Spam Traps immediately indicates that you are using 3rd party lists and pretty much drives your delivery into the toilet.

List Poison #3: Invalid Emails
Invalid emails are emails that do not exist. They are made up, inserted in your lists by malicious users and freebie seekers and they cannot be delivered to. They will do serious damage to your reputation as a respected email marketer.

List Poison #4: Typo Domains
These are emails with mistakes in the domain. Examples include gmal.com and hotmial.com. Mailing them indicates you care very little about your sender reputation and as such, you will be rewarded with the spam folder at best or your email never seeing the light of day (unless you get kicked off your ESP first)

List Poison #5: Role Accounts
These are emails like webmaster@, admin@, support@. They are normally NEVER used for personal/business email and many times the person or persons who check these accounts will have no qualms complaining about your email. While they aren’t as deadly as the previous 4 poisons, insisting on mailing them drives your reputation down and will probably end you on a “watchlist” at your ESP.

List Poison #6: Serial Complainers
Serial Complainers are like Serial Killers – they keep doing the same bad thing over and over again. They are well known for only complaining about the commercial email they receive. While it’s a judgment call on whether to remove them (as they are often some of the most active people on a list), being able to identify them empowers you to make the judgment call on whether or not to remove them from your most valuable asset.

List Poison #7: BOTS
Bots are robots that are added to your list simply to waste your time. They artificially inflate your Click numbers and provide you no value. They upset advertisers and list partners, drive down your PPC & ECPM and will NEVER become a lead or buyer. They are just taking up valuable space that could be filled with high quality prospects. Draw out this poison from your lists immediately!

How Many Of These POISONS Are In YOUR List?

None you say?

Here’s part of a conversation I had with a client. He thought EXACTLY the same thing –

Removing those emails is not the same as kleaning your email list. Most companies NEVER clean their list.

Here’s what happened when we kleaned his list:

Find out now – click here to clean your list!