Email lists are valuable commodities that every marketer uses. Over time, the lists themselves require management and maintenance, ensuring only valid addresses remain.
If you’re responsible for a list, chances are you’ll know how important bounce rates and deliverability scores are. You probably also use tools that make this process easier.
The number one benefit of using tools to manage your list is that they have policy rules built in for your protection. Regulations specify who you can contact using email campaigns. Manually managing a list could allow you to slip up and be in violation of CAN-SPAM or GDPR laws.
What is an email list?
Your email list is your collection of contacts who have agreed to receive email marketing messages from you. You can then manage that list through your email service provider, such as Campaign Monitor.
Email service providers are applications that help you create and send emails, and they also allow you to track the success of your email marketing campaigns, telling you which have been opened, which links have been clicked, etc.
Can I move this type of list to Campaign Monitor?
If you’ve decided to save yourself time from manually updating lists in clients, you can move your list to Campaign Monitor. In this case, you’ll have to manually add the entries to a new list and provide some details about how you received permission to contact the recipients.
In Campaign Monitor’s Lists and Subscribers section, you can click on the Create a new list button. You’ll give the list a name and choose an Opt-In Type.
Single opt-in
This may grow your list quickly, but you won’t have a way to ensure the email you received is valid, making you vulnerable to spambots.
Double opt-in
Using the double opt-in method means the subscriber will receive an email requesting them to confirm their address. Although this method may mean your list grows a little more slowly, you’ll gain quality subscribers as opposed to gaining larger quantities of subscribers who may or may not contribute to a healthy list.
Only about 80% of customers will go to the trouble of confirming their email address.
After you create the new list, you can click on the “Add new subscribers” button. This will allow you to select a file to import or copy and paste your list entries into the field provided.
Once you’ve added the entries, you’ll have to go through an approval process to ensure that you’ve gathered the necessary opt-in consent from your subscribers.
How do you measure your email list performance?
After the approval process is complete, you can start sending campaign emails to your list members. For every email you send, Campaign Monitor will add a mandatory “Unsubscribe” link that automates a big portion of your list management requirements.
In addition, other integrations can manage lists from external e-commerce partners you may have. There are also key metrics you should track, such as unsubscribe rates, bounce rates, open rates, and click-through rates.
Does it really matter?
Taking into account the pitfalls associated with contravening privacy laws, moving your list management to an automated system makes sense. By ensuring that you only contact valid email addresses, your bounce rate will decrease and your sender reputation will improve.
Using templates for your email campaigns makes adding these automated features to your content quick and easy. If you still receive manual requests in your email client, you can design an automated opt-in request email that’ll ensure you record the consent. Once they click on the verify link, they’ll be included on your list for the future.
What now?
Moving your list from a manually managed process to an automated system is quick and easy with tools like Campaign Monitor. Once approved, you’ll be able to track analytical data about subscriber rates, see geographical metrics, and build lifecycle marketing campaigns that improve your conversion success.
You can also choose from beautiful and responsive HTML email templates in the gallery, improving the quality of the messages you send.