What a "dirty" list is
Assuming that the contact database has been built over time in compliance with privacy regulations, it can still happen that the list may get "dirty" due to a lack of maintenance. Even if the addresses had been collected properly, poor list management and maintenance can lead to deliverability problems.
Here are some of the reasons that lead to this scenario.
- Obsolescence: If you have not sent an e-mail to the list in a long time. Many of those addresses may no longer be valid, but since you have not emailed them, you don't know. This means that the next time you send a message, the number of bounces could be unusually large, possibly causing deliverability issues for future mailings.
- Bad error management: if bounces (e.g. wrong addresses) have not been properly classified and removed (when needed), the next time you send a message the number of bounces could be unusually large, possibly causing deliverability issues for future mailings.
- Incorrect handling of abuse reports: if complaints (spam reports) have not been managed correctly (feedback loop management), many people could react quite angrily the next time a message is sent, leading to a high number of complaints and possibly causing a blacklisting of you as a sender.
- Errors in the management of unsubscribe: the same is true if the unsubscribing process was not correctly handled in the past, as you will send messages to people that indicated that they no longer wish to receive messages from you. Their reaction will typically be to file a complaint, resulting in deliverability issues.
- Registration is not confirmed (you did not ask recipients to confirm their subscription): if the addresses were collected with a form that does not require user confirmation (where the recipients must click on a link in an email to activate that email in the list of subscribers), the list may be full of incorrect addresses, and possibly spamtraps.
What happens when a list is "dirty"
When a list is "dirty", there will typically be a high rate of returned messages (bounces) during the first 3 mailings. The system will automatically begin cleaning the list after the first mailing, unsubscribing hard bounces (e.g. mailboxes that do not exist).
Secondly, there may also be an unusually high rate of unsubscribes.
Finally, there could be a higher than normal number of complaints (when recipients click on the button "SPAM" in many Web-based mail systems such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail).
As the list gets cleaned up automatically by the system, the number of bounces, unsubscribes, and complaints should dramatically drop after the first couple of mailings, and your reputation as a sender should stabilize and then increase after 5 or 6 mailings.
What you should do
Once again, all of the above starts with the assumption that you are NOT sending unsolicited messages, but rather that a portion of your list was incorrectly managed in the past, thus leading to a situation where that portion of the list is "dirty".
If you are in this scenario:
- Please inform your account representative so that your account can be properly managed through this phase
- Make sure that any new addresses are collected via a double opt-in process (i.e. opt in + e-mail confirmation)
- Make sure that you are always and only sending content that your subscribers are expecting to receive from you
Article ID: 363, Created On: 8/22/2011, Modified: 9/8/2011