Avoiding list decay in email campaigns

Cold email outreach is often misunderstood as a numbers game - send more, get more. But the truth is, quality always beats quantity. Your success largely depends on the quality of your email list. A well-curated list means you’re reaching the right people with the right message, while a poorly managed list can lead to low engagement, high bounce rates, and damage to your sender reputation. Here’s a few key steps to refine your cold email lists for better results: 1️⃣ Segment your audience: start by dividing your list into segments based on criteria such as industry, job title, company size, or previous interactions with your brand. 2️⃣ Regularly clean your list: over time, email lists can become cluttered with inactive or invalid addresses. Regularly clean your list to remove bounced emails, unsubscribes, and unengaged contacts. This not only improves your deliverability rates but also ensures you’re focusing on prospects who are more likely to engage. 3️⃣ Use data enrichment tools: tools like Clearbit, ZoomInfo, or Hunter.io can help you enrich your email list by adding valuable data points such as the prospect’s role, company details, and social profiles. This extra information enables you to personalize your outreach even further. 4️⃣ Monitor engagement metrics: pay close attention to open rates, click-through rates, and responses. If certain segments of your list are underperforming, it may be time to re-evaluate those contacts. Use these insights to continuously refine your list and improve your targeting. 5️⃣ Leverage intent data: incorporate intent data into your list-building process. This data shows which companies are actively researching solutions like yours, allowing you to target prospects when they’re most interested. Tools like Bombora or 6sense can provide these insights. If you do something extra special to your email lists, share below 🤓 #Sales #ColdEmail #EmailMarketing #Outreach #SalesStrategy

After auditing 100+ ecommerce email programs, I've found something concerning: Most brands focus on the wrong deliverability factors. Yes, everyone knows about: Using double opt-in Cleaning your list Avoiding spam words But here are the advanced tactics actually moving the needle for our clients: 1. Engagement-Based Sending Identifying highly engaged subscribers Sending to them first Gradually expanding to less engaged segments Only sending to the full list for critical campaigns 2. IP and Domain Warming New ESP? Don't blast your entire list day one. We follow this warming schedule: Week 1: 10% of engaged subscribers Week 2: 25% of engaged subscribers Week 3: 50% of list Week 4: Full list 3. Authentication Isn't Optional We recently took over a client's program where they had: No SPF records No DKIM No DMARC policy After implementing all three: Deliverability did a 180. 4. The Gmail Reply Hack Want to boost Gmail deliverability? Ask for replies. When subscribers reply, it signals to Gmail you're a trusted sender.

Every email you send either strengthens your relationship with your audience… or slowly erodes it. Most marketers obsess over short-term metrics while engagement quietly bleeds out. List fatigue and churn aren’t accidents. They’re the direct result of a poor email strategy. The real culprits? → Blasting irrelevant content (“Why am I getting this?”) → Sending at the wrong times → Getting frequency totally wrong... too much or too little → Treating every email like a sales pitch instead of building a relationship I once worked with a SaaS company that couldn’t figure out why their open rates and overall engagement rates were tanking. Their solution? Send more emails to “stay top of mind.” Spoiler: It only made things worse. The fundamental mistake? They were thinking about their needs, not their subscribers’ needs. How to fix it: ✅ Segment based on behavior and preferences ✅ Test send times for optimal engagement ✅ Find your Goldilocks frequency ✅ Deliver value first, sell second Your email list isn’t just a “marketing asset.” It’s a relationship with real people who gave you permission to enter their inbox. Respect that privilege. Because once trust is gone, no clever subject line or CTA will bring it back. 👉 Are you building a sustainable email strategy, or slowly killing your list?

$175K Pipeline in February — The Untold Framework Most Skip We’ve all seen posts talking about personalization, copywriting hacks, or intent signals. But after 20 years in B2B data strategy—and driving over 2,000+ campaigns, here's are 3 crucial steps that are usually missed. The Underrated Checklist Most Miss:   1) Data Source AND stress-test - Vet vendors ruthlessly: Many rely on “email-validated” lists but skip job/role verification. Test sample batches for accuracy before scaling.   Example: A healthcare client’s “valid” list had 12% contacts that were no longer at that company or position. Re-sourcing from trusted vendors and stress-testing the data lifted reply rates by 7%.   2) Hidden reach with smarter email validation - Avoid basic valid/ catch-all/ invalid splits: Most marketers ignore “catch-all” domains in fear of losing domain reputation (up to 50% of lists!). Tools like EmailAddress.ai classify emails clearly as Deliverable/Undeliverable, letting you safely target 30-40% more prospects from your list.   - Why this matters: Competitors leave catch-alls untouched. You’ll dominate inbox share, especially in niche verticals (like SaaS or healthcare).   3) Track opens — then double-tap with hyper-targeted follow-ups  - Myth: “Tracking hurts deliverability.” - "Maybe it does" - Reality: But look at our stats! Opens are a great trigger. Retarget them on LinkedIn/ads while continuing highly personlized email sequences.   - Result: A tech client saw 40% of demos booked from this “hot list” layer. Without tracking? You’re just spraying emails and spending a ton more on targeted ads than necessary.   Pipeline isn’t built on catchy copy alone. It’s data rigor + precision targeting.   Need a second opinion on your data strategy or campaign setup? - Like this Post - DM me (Need to be connected)  - I’ll send you my calendar link for a 20 minute consult. #B2BMarketing #LeadGeneration #GTMStrategy #DataDriven

Too many B2B founders ignore this. (It quietly kills their outreach results.) Invalid emails are a silent revenue drain. Even 5–7% risky emails in your list can: - Spike your bounce rates - Destroy your sender reputation - Wreck your deliverability - Waste hours chasing ghosts I used to double verify lists - yes, even pay for a second one.. It worked. But it was a time and money sink. Then I switched to Bouncer. - It flags risky or toxic emails - Detects spam traps - Always verifies in real-time Since then, not only have my reply rates jumped. But my domain reputation stays healthier for longer. And all my campaigns have around <1% bounce rate. So I can focus on better campaigns, without doubting my contact lists. Clean lists = more replies = more revenue. Simple.

CLIENT: How can we do some housekeeping so we're not wasting money on unengaged subscribers? ME: Well, it all comes down to building these 3 unengaged list segments: 👉 General Unengaged Subscribers The parameters for this varies by brand, but this segment consists of people who: → Received 10-20 emails over all time, AND → (Optional) Haven't engaged with your website in 180-365 days, AND → Haven't opened or clicked an email in 180-365 days, AND → Have never purchased Purpose of segment: ✅ Run this segment through a Sunset Flow. ✅ Exclude this list from campaigns except for sales, promos, or important announcements 👉 Never Opened/Clicked Email No one ever talks about this segment. If you build a big enough list, you're bound to have people who will NEVER open your emails. This segment consists of people who: → Received 15-30 emails over all time, AND → Have never opened or clicked an email over all time Purpose of segment: ✅ Exclude this list from all campaigns. ✅ Suppress anyone who enters the segment. 👉 Churned/At-Risk Customers All customers will expire or churn out at some point. But some can be recovered and brought back to rebuy. This segment consists of people who: → Placed an order at least once, AND → Haven't engaged with the website/emails in 60-180 days, AND → Haven't placed an order in 90-365 days Purpose of segment: ✅ Occasionally email segment (1-2x/month) to recover potentially lost customers ✅ Exclude this list from campaigns except for sales, promos, or important announcements Housekeeping and list cleaning start with segmentation. Getting rid of subscribers is like pruning a tree; Cutting away dead/stuck-out branches helps the list grow stronger and healthier. Build out these 3 segments and you'll grow your list effectively.

IF your strategy for bf/cm includes “opening the net” to reactivate old unengaged leads.. Pay attention to these recent changes - Microsoft & Gmail is sunsetting emails that have not been used for 2 years. - Yahoo is doing it after 12 months. When these emails “expire,” they can become spam traps and create a hard bounce report. Both will hurt your domain reputation and deliverability that could cripple your holiday. Easy way to avoid it? Use the opt in date with behavioral data and ensure you aren’t reaching too far back. My suggestion is simple: if they have NEVER engaged with any email or sms, it’s not the time to try to engage them. TL;DR: Use this as your reminder to perform list hygiene to your list and engage with those who are engaged with you.

Deliverability will make or break your email marketing. Yet, most brands don't monitor it. Here's our DAM framework to save emails from spam: D - Diagnose: 1. Identify email domains with the worst reputation  ⤷ Inbox placement tests - GlockApps & Gmass 2. Check your sending infrastructure  ⤷ DMARC, DKIM & SPF records - EasyDMARC ⤷ Dedicated sending domain setup 3. Run blacklist checks ⤷ MXToolbox, GlockApps & MultiRBL 4. Sound segmentation strategy ⤷ Inclusion segment definitions ⤷ Exclusion segment definitions 5. List hygiene ⤷ How often are you removing unengaged contacts? A - Action: 1. Setup your dedicated sending domain  ⤷ Unique to each ESP (e.g. Klaviyo, Sendlane, Yotpo, etc.) 2. Established correct sending infrastructure ⤷ Unique to each DNS provider (e.g. GoDaddy, NameCheap, etc.) 3. Create & update inclusion segment definitions ⤷ Ensure correct engagement filters are being used 4. Create & update exclusion segment definitions ⤷ Ensure correct emails are being excluded 6. List scrubbing ⤷ Setup re-engagement flows ⤷ Suppress unengaged profiles ⤷ Run list through cleaning tool (e.g. MillionVerifier) 7. Reach out to blacklists ⤷ Submit a request for removal ⤷ If needed, email detailing steps taken to improve sending practices M - Monitor: The work doesn’t stop there. Deliverability is a never-ending game. Ideally, once a month you should: - Run an inbox placement test - Monitor blacklists  - Review deliverability on campaigns  - Review positive & negative engagement metrics for anomalies Then once a quarter you should scrub your list of unengaged contacts. A drop in deliverability can crush your brand. It’s the dark horse of email marketing and something that should never be overlooked. P.S. Want a free deliverability audit to save your emails from spam and generate more revenue? Send me a DM.

We recently had a client that bought a business out of bankruptcy, inheriting over 12 million emails that needed to be warmed up. As my friend once put it, mass sending emails to cold prospects is a lot like sneaking cocaine across the Mexican border – high risk and tricky to manage. Here are the strategies we used to warm up this massive email list: 1. Start Small and Engaged: We began by targeting the most engaged contacts first. This phased approach ensured high open rates and avoided deliverability issues, gradually expanding the list to maintain quality. 2. Use Engagement Triggers: Simple tricks like asking recipients to reply to your email can significantly improve your inbox placement. A strategy we use involves plain text emails with calls to action like, “Reply YES if you want to stay updated.” This not only boosts engagement but also signals email providers that your content is valuable. 3. List Cleaning: Tools like NeverBounce can clean your list by removing invalid addresses, reducing the chance of hard bounces. In our case, we ran our lists through NeverBounce to filter out invalid emails before importing them into our email service provider. 4. Autoresponders for Relationship Building: Setting up autoresponders that immediately engage new contacts helped establish relationships early. A welcome email encouraging replies set a positive tone and improved deliverability. 5. Be Strategic with Content: For warming strategies, plain text emails often perform better than HTML-heavy designs. They feel more personal and are less likely to trigger spam filters. By applying these techniques, we successfully warmed up the list and turned this dead asset into a money-generating machine. Hope this helps anyone dealing with similar challenges.

If you run an eCom brand, your email list is one of your most valuable assets. But if you don't keep it clean - it can lose steam (faster than most realize). And getting momentum back isn’t a straightforward, or quick, process. The best method to keep momentum, other than sending quality messages and targeting appropriately, is to clean your list. 3 steps for email list hygiene: 1. Remove hard bounces and invalid email addresses. 2. Regularly re-engage inactive subscribers with targeted campaigns. 3. Segment your list and send targeted, relevant content to each group. Don't let inactive subscribers damage your sender reputation.  Re-engage them or remove them. Because, without a healthy email list, you risk your deliverability, open rates, and conversions.