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As an email marketer, keeping your lists in shape is one of your most important jobs. It is an ongoing process that you must dedicate yourself to if you are to grow and be successful in your efforts. Staying on top of everything is often a full time job in and of itself, but your email marketing software can make this important task significantly easier. This article will introduce you to a few specific features that can come through in the clutch for keeping your lists up-to-date.

Bounce Handling

Bouncing is one of the biggest threats facing the quality of your lists. An email may bounce for a number of reasons, with the end result either being a temporary or permanent failure. The most common culprit is an invalid email address, which is often created when a subscriber moves to a new ISP, webmail service, or job without notifying the marketer of the change. Unfortunately, continuing to send messages to that address is one of the worst things you can do as it could eventually lead to being blacklisted and ruining your sending reputation. Email marketing software equipped with bounce handling capabilities will aid your cause by either notifying you of all bounces, or automatically removing those addresses from your lists.

Automatic Unsubscribe Link Inclusion

If your email campaigns are of a commercial nature, including an unsubscribe link in your messages is a must to meet CAN SPAM compliance. Failure to do so could have serious consequences in terms of hefty fees or other penalties that could put your business in jeopardy. Importance aside, remembering to include this link in each and every message can be difficult when you are deploying a large number of campaigns to a decent sized audience. When your email marketing software includes automatic unsubscribe link inclusion, this is a problem you do not have to worry about. As the name implies, this feature automatically includes your unsubscribe link to each message so you don’t have to.

Contact Import

Where do you store the email addresses you collect from new subscribers? Maybe it’s an Excel spreadsheet, maybe it’s a simple text file. Wherever you keep them, it would be ideal if you had a convenient way to transfer them to your master list. Well you can when your email marketing software allows you to import your existing lists. Some programs will let you import contacts from virtually anywhere, including Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, SalesForce, Facebook, and other applications. This type of flexibility can help to assure that your lists are always up to date no matter where you convert new subscriptions.
Honor Thy Lists

As an email marketer, your lists are everything, the very lifeblood that enables you to thrive. Keeping them up-to-date is not only crucial for making the most of your opportunities, but keeping your expenses to a minimum and maximizing the return on your investment. Luckily, you will be in good shape if your email marketing software has these particular elements on deck.

 

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