Why Big Email Lists Can Be a Liability

Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes size is a hindrance, rather than an advantage. Brands love to brag about the number of addresses on their mailing lists, but size isn't everything! An oversized list that under-performs, bloats your marketing costs, and contributes to deliverability problems is hardly boast-worthy. In the simplest equation, sending more emails = making more money. I don't dispute that entirely, I'm not a monster. The problem is what that calculation fails to account for: the potential for lost revenue later, when mail gets delayed, sent to the spam folder, or rejected completely. Most likely, sending more mail to some users does net more profit! But sending more mail to others does more harm than good without additional considerations being made for list quality, prior engagement, and purchase history. Let's unpack the risks in blasting another sale announcement to your full list: 🎒 An address that never confirmed opt-in could be a spam trap that contributes to a blocklisting. Or, it could be a real, disinterested person who's one message away from reporting your mail as spam and damaging your reputation in the process. Impactful blocklistings and excessive complaints can both result in mail being being rejected outright. Instead of more mail & more money, your users get no mail and you end up with no money. 🎒 A user who hasn't opened/clicked the last few emails they've received could be dormant, over-quota (stuffed full of mail and unable to accept more), or a spam trap, none of which contribute positively to your bottom line. 🎒 If you're planning on sending mail beyond your typical daily volume or attempting to re-engage lapsed users, you could be penalized if that additional volume doesn't respond positively to your overtures. Target users thoughtfully, with regard to their prior interaction with your messages (or lack thereof). 🎒 Remember that waning engagement could mean some special Gmail or Apple user is just waiting for the perfect offer before converting, but it could also mean that special someone reported your mail as spam previously and your messages are now delivering straight to their spam folder, languishing unopened. #deliverability

Big email lists ≠ better results. In fact, a bigger list can kill your deliverability. Inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook don’t care how many subscribers you have. They care how many people engage. That means opening, clicking, and replying. And if half your list is ignoring you, Gmail starts assuming everyone will. So your deliverability drops. Even your best emails land in spam or promotions. You’re not being punished for sending too much. You’re being penalised for sending to the wrong people. That’s why regular list cleaning isn’t optional. It’s how you protect your sender reputation. Run this simple cleanup: → Segment no-opens from the last 90–180 days → Send a 2-part re-engagement campaign → Delete the rest without guilt What happens next: → Your emails hit more primary inboxes → Open rates climb → Clicks reflect real interest Keep it that way by: → Sending consistent value outside of launches → Set clear expectations in your welcome sequence → Running a quarterly list cleanup Because a smaller list of people who actually want to hear from you will always outperform a big one that doesn’t. When did you last remove cold subscribers from your list? If it’s been a while, take this as your sign.

I just deleted 1,452 email subscribers. No, it wasn’t a mistake (here’s why). And no, I don’t regret it. Most people think a big email list = big success. Not true. A big list of unengaged people is dead weight. I’d rather have 500 active subscribers than 10,000 ghosts. Because engagement is everything. If your audience isn’t opening, clicking, or replying, they’re not your audience. They’re just numbers on a screen. And numbers don’t buy. People do. So, I cleaned house. → Better open rates. → Better deliverability. Better business. More of the right people. Less of the wrong ones. Most solopreneurs obsess over growing their list. Few focus on keeping it healthy. Your list is the most valuable business asset. Treat it like one. If they don’t engage, they’re out. I’ve got a small list of 5,223 subs. And the brings in 80% of my revenue. My Durian-infused words might smell strong, but at least that create true fans. Your list should be the same. P.S How healthy is your email list?

The “growth hack” that quietly destroys your email program. A DTC brand came to us after using identity-resolution tool for months. Looked like a win. Emailing anonymous site visitors. No opt-in required. ROI looked solid on paper. But under the hood? It was silently killing them. Here’s what we found: • <2% click rates in high intent flows. • Deliverability quietly decaying • Spam placement was creeping up. • Engagement was dropping. And the brand had no idea why. This is how email dies: Not with a crash. But with a quiet, invisible bleed. You think you’re growing your list. When you flood your system with cold ID's that never asked for your emails… You send a signal. That signal tells Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook: “No one wants this.” And the platforms respond: “Then no one gets it.” That’s how real growth gets throttled. That’s how your best subscribers stop seeing you. That’s how your highest-converting flows stop converting. That’s how your list, your most valuable asset, becomes a liability. Here’s what inbox providers care about: Not list size. Not flashy automations. Not smart retargeting tools. Just one thing: Are real humans engaging with your emails? If the answer is no, cuz you’re pumping non-opted-in IDs through your system, then... Gmail throttles you. Yahoo buries you. Outlook stops listening. And your real subscribers? They stop seeing you too! That’s the cost of chasing fake growth. Here’s the fix: • Stop emailing people who didn’t opt in • Suppress low-engagement profiles fast • Segment identity-resolved contacts into their own sandbox • Monitor engagement and inboxing like your business depends on it (Because it does)

It’s 2024 & yet 99% of eCom brands above $5M/yr still believe this eCom myth: “I want my email list to be as big as humanly possible”. No, you don’t. Owning a big email list does not lead to more revenue or profitability. Let’s bust this myth: If it were true that a bigger list made the brand more money? Every brand owner up & down the country would run giveaways constantly consisting of:  - Free products  - iPhones & other accessories  - A chance to win some cash Why doesn’t that work? You’re attracting low quality people that’ll never buy a thing from you. And you’re LESS profitable because your ESP bill increases as your list fills up with non-buyers. Quite frankly it’s absurd to me that this myth hasn’t died yet. What you *actually* want is a big base of buyers that purchase your products & convert on your offers. How do you attract buyers? Market your products in a way that increases buyer intent. More buyer intent = a visitor on your site is more likely to buy your products. It’s why I’m so big on tracking “sign up rate to conversion instead”. One of the best ways to improve intent is addressing customer pain points in your marketing. How do you get that data? Ask questions in your popup form that customers can voluntarily answer. And no, this is not going to nuke your signup rate. We’ve legitimately ran A/B tests on popups with no questions vs popups with questions. The difference is literally 0.1%. It’s negligible. Yet the upside is so much bigger when you ask questions to gather info to use in your marketing. You attract buyers with real intent. You don’t fill your list with non buyers. You convert more people on the front end (ads) because you’re more specific with messaging. A big list of non buyers = useless if growth is your biggest goal.

Thinking about buying an email list? Let’s talk about why that’s not the best move 🚫 While it might seem like a quick win to expand your reach, buying mailing lists can actually harm your brand more than help it. Here’s why: 1️⃣ Engagement matters more than numbers: A large list means nothing if the recipients aren’t interested. Bought lists often lead to low engagement and poor results. The quality of your audience is far more important than its size. 2️⃣ Risk of spam complaints: When people didn’t ask to hear from you, they’re more likely to hit the spam button. This puts your email deliverability at risk and can even lead to your domain being blacklisted. 3️⃣ Legal risks are real: Laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM require explicit consent before sending marketing emails. Ignoring this can result in heavy fines and a damaged reputation. 4️⃣ Building trust takes time: While buying a list might feel like a shortcut, organic growth through meaningful, value-driven interactions is what builds a truly engaged and loyal audience. 💡 The better alternative? Focus on growing your email list organically by offering valuable content and creating authentic connections with your audience. This approach pays off with better engagement, stronger customer relationships, and long-term success. Check out the full article to learn why buying email lists is a bad idea - https://lnkd.in/dQDFGv44

“Just send another email” - The most expensive words in email marketing 👇 Let’s talk about something that rarely gets mentioned in email marketing (strap in it's a long one)… 👉 The mindset of leadership and internal teams Email is often (practically always) undervalued and misunderstood at the top And that trickles down to marketing teams who: - Send more emails because “volume = results” (it doesn’t) - Prioritise open rates over actual conversions. - Push batch-and-blast because leadership wants to see something go out. Common (but flawed) mindsets I hear: 🗣️ “Just send another email, it can’t hurt.” It can hurt – damaged sender reputation, unsubscribes, and spam complaints kill your inbox reach 🗣️ “We need to hit everyone – smaller sends mean smaller results.” Mass sends to unengaged lists destroy deliverability. Smaller, targeted lists actually perform better. 🗣️ “More emails = more sales.” Nope. Better, more relevant emails = more sales. Your audience doesn’t need to hear from you every day about every single thing. They need to hear the right thing at the right time. Most leaders don’t understand email beyond vanity metrics. They think: - Open rates = success - Big lists = more revenue - More sends = higher engagement BUT we know: - Open rates lie & are highly unreliable on their own - Quality lists outperform size every day - Over-sending leads to spam issues – which eventually tanks revenue How do you shift the mindset? Educate from the top down with DATA & the cost of inaction/carrying on Show leadership that email is a channel that requires strategy, not just volume Stop using vanity metrics & track really attributed revenue & impacted revenue, conversion rates, and deliverability health. When leaders see actual ROI, they’ll rethink their approach Advocate for the long game. Email isn’t a fast-sell channel, it’s a relationship channel. Until leadership shifts their mindset, email will always feel like a frustrating, underperforming channel (welcome to my world) And marketers will stay stuck on the hamster wheel of “send more” with less and less to show for it. 👉 If leadership doesn’t understand email – educate them (and get a juicy audit from me, it WILL transform everything) 👉 If your team is being pushed to over-send – show the risks 👉 And if you feel like no one’s listening – DM me I’ve helped businesses flip this mindset, approach, practices & strategy and the results speak for themselves Are you seeing the same mindset issues where you work? 👇

There’s a big difference between a big email list and a profitable one. Your friendly email guru wants these lines to be as blurry as possible so they can trick you into trading your hard-earned cash for magic bullets. Big list ❌ More subscribers = more money. Profitable list ✔️ 100+ true fans who believe you’re the best person to solve their problem. Big list ❌ Giving away everything for free hoping someone eventually pays you to do it for them. Profitable list ✔️ Talking about client problems, how you overcome them, and the benefits that brought, then linking it to an offer that will help the reader get the same outcome. Big list ❌ Monetisation comes from paid sponsorships when you hit 10,000 subscribers or more. Profitable list ✔️ Monetisation comes from a series of interlinked offers that earn you money from week 1 onwards. Remember – vanity metrics are a guru’s gateway drug of choice. They sell you on them because it’s easier to feed your ego than fill your wallet. That’s why they’ll say things like: “I’ll get you a 70% signup rate.” “We’ll get you to 3,000+ subscribers in 6 months.” “The larger your list, the easier it’ll be to sell.” In 2025, taking control of your audience is more important than ever, which means a whole bunch of desperate folks rushing to start a newsletter. Don’t get caught up in the “bigger is better” hype. Because when it comes to email, quality beats quantity 100% of the time.