When to Clean Up Email Sequences

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.

Are you cleaning your email list regularly? Many brands will flex about the size of their email list, but in reality, a good number of those emails should be suppressed. What ends up happening over time is that your Klaviyo bill grows and increases because of this. So essentially, you're paying for someone who never engaged (and never will). To clean the list, create the following segment: - If someone can or cannot receive marketing > can receive email marketing AND  - What someone has done or not done > Received email is at 5 in the last 180 days AND  - What someone has done or not done > Opened email 0 times over all time AND  - What someone has done or not done > Clicked email 0 times over all time AND  - What someone has done or not done > Viewed Product 0 times over all time AND  - What someone has done or not done > Placed Order 0 times over all time Once you have created your segment, you can suppress those that did not engage with your sunset flow. To suppress the segment:  1. Go to the Lists & segments tab. 2. Click the Never engaged segment and click the 3 dots to the far right. 3. Click Suppress current members to suppress all of the unengaged profiles in bulk. On the confirmation modal, confirm the number of profiles you’d like to suppress. But that's suppressing the unengaged, there is more to list cleaning. Make sure to also do the following: -> Suppressing the unengaged – You stop emailing contacts who haven’t opened or clicked in 60–90+ days (depending on your send volume and business model). -> Removing hard bounces – These are invalid emails that failed to deliver. Keeping them hurts your sender reputation. -> Deleting spam complaints – If someone marked your email as spam, remove them. Keeping them increases risk with inbox providers. -> Checking for role-based or generic emails – Like info@, support@, etc. These often don’t belong to a real subscriber and can be risky. -> Running an email verification tool (optional but useful) – Especially for old lists, this helps identify invalid or risky emails before sending.

I just did something that would terrify most marketers. I cut my client's email list in HALF. Yes, I literally removed 18,000 subscribers from their list of 35,000. And I'm about to tell you why this was the smartest move we could have made. Before doing this, their open rate was sitting below 20%, their deliverability was tanking, and email service providers were starting to flag them as potential spam (I even saw an open rate of 6.3% in one campaign). I had to act fast before their entire email marketing channel collapsed. First, I removed everyone who had never opened a single email since joining—that was 6,900 subscribers gone immediately. Then I removed everyone who hadn't opened anything in the last 90 days. But here's the critical part most marketers miss: I didn't just delete these people forever. I added them to a 'Do not contact' list. Why? So we can send them a strategic re-engagement campaign later. After this cleanup, our final number of active subscribers dropped to 17,000. But watch what happened next: Our open rates jumped from under 20% to over 38% practically overnight. And most importantly, our actual revenue from email marketing went UP despite having half the list size. This is counterintuitive to most marketers who obsess over list size, but engaged subscribers are worth infinitely more than inactive ones. In fact, those inactive subscribers were actively hurting our performance by damaging deliverability. When was the last time you cleaned your email list? If you're seeing open rates below 20%, you might be due for a serious cleanup. #emailmarketing #advertising #digitalmarketing

Most founders are terrified of removing subscribers: - "What if they buy later?" - "But I worked so hard to get them" - "Bigger lists look more impressive!" Here's the cold truth: Dead subscribers are actively harming your business: • Skewing your metrics • Wasting your ESP costs • Destroying your deliverability • Making you think your emails aren't working So to help you out, here’s my complete email list cleanup guide: Step 1️⃣: Create Your Unengaged Segment In Beehiiv: 1. Navigate to Segments 2. Click 'Create New Segment' 3. Set conditions for Unengaged Subscribers: • Signup date - is on or before - 30 days ago • Open rate - is less than - 20% • Status - is - active OR For Zero Opens: • Signup date - is on or before - 30 days ago • Unique opens - is exactly - 0 • Status - is - active Step 2️⃣: Set Up The Automation Flow 1. Create new automation 2. Trigger: Is a member of the segment we just created 3. Action sequence: • Day 1: Send re-engagement email • Day 4: If/Then branch: - If Zero clicks, then auto unsubscribe - If at least 1 click, then move into engaged send list Step 3️⃣: Create Your Re-engagement Email Feeling generous today so here’s a template :) ===== Subject Line: Can we talk? Preview Text: haven't seen you in a while... 👋 Hey! Noticed you haven't opened any {newsletter name} in a while. No pressure, I understand life gets in the way sometimes. If you'd like to keep receiving {newsletter value proposition}, just click 'keep me subscribed' below. **[Button: Keep me subscribed]** If I don't hear from you, I'll assume you're not interested in {newsletter value proposition} anymore and I'll take you off the list in 4 days. If that's the case, no hard feelings - and thanks for being part of the community until now. Talk soon (hopefully), {name} P.S. Here are some recent newsletters you might have missed: - {link to high performing newsletter 1} - {link to high performing newsletter 2} - {link to high performing newsletter 3} ===== This entire process takes less than 20 minutes to set up in most ESPs. Most maybe see 5-10% of cold subscribers re-engage. The rest were never going to buy from you anyway. P.S. Want more email automations like this that increase engagement and drive sales? DM me "email" and I'll share how we can build these for your business.

Is your email list hurting your business? Your newsletter is a big part of your business, so keeping it in good shape is super important. A clean email list means more people see your emails, and they’re less likely to end up in spam. Here’s why cleaning your list matters: 1️. Unengaged subscribers drag you down If people haven’t opened your emails in 90+ days, email services (like Gmail) think your emails might be spam. 2️. You can’t improve without feedback If subscribers don’t open or click, you have no idea what they like or don’t like. 3️.  Engaged subscribers help you grow People who open your emails give feedback, fill out surveys, and help you make your content better. 4️. Low engagement messes up your stats Low open rates can even hurt your chances of getting sponsorships or partnerships. 5️. Think of your newsletter as a business You put time and effort into creating value every week. If someone isn’t interested, why waste time on them? Focus on people who actually care. Who are inactive subscribers? Active for more than 90 days: Anyone who hasn’t opened or clicked in the last 90 days. Active for fewer than 90 days: Anyone who hasn’t opened or clicked in the last 30 days. When should you clean your list? 1️. No engagement for 90 or 30 days: Try a re-engagement email to win them back. 2️.  Engaged only once: If they’ve only clicked once, it’s time to re-engage or remove them. 3️. No response after re-engagement: If they don’t respond, it’s time to say goodbye. It’s all about quality! A smaller, more engaged list keeps your emails in the inbox and helps your business grow. Start cleaning your list regularly! #newsletter