How long should we keep emails?
- Thread starter Ana
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- email lists emails
Dean
Well-Known Member
Unless they are invalid email addresses then I would not delete them myself. I have many email addresses that I have gotten several years ago that I get some nice results from so just because they may be 2 years old that doesn't meant that you should delete them from your lists.
Maria Marketing
Active Member
I would keep the emails on your list for as long as they can be useful to you. Don't delete them unless the person wants to subscribe or if the email address is not one that your emails get through to the person.
eMonetize
Member
What are your open rates?
Your open rates can affect your deliverability (inboxing).
If you are getting good open rates you can afford to keep unresponsive addresses around longer.
Many deliverability experts will tell you to remove addresses that haven't opened in the last 30 days.
That's extreme and most big companies don't do it.
I'm on lists and I have images disabled. So I never trigger the open pixel. So it looks like I never open any messages and rarely will I ever be removed. My guess is they all have good open rates so they aren't worried about it.
Just today Return Path sent me an email and said I haven't opened a message in a while end they wanted to know if I still wanted to stay on the list. They gave me a choice of clicking a yes or no link. If I did nothing I suspect they would have removed me.
You just have to decide what works for you. How many months are you willing to let pass that someone never opens a message you send to them? For all you know they subscribed using a throwaway account and won't ever open anything from you ever again.
Before I remove anyone I always first test sending them a message using a free Gmail account and see if they open. Just to check and see if there isn't possibly a deliverability issue / spam folder problem with the address. Gmail probably has some of the best deliverability of all providers.
Anyway, hope that helps.
Your open rates can affect your deliverability (inboxing).
If you are getting good open rates you can afford to keep unresponsive addresses around longer.
Many deliverability experts will tell you to remove addresses that haven't opened in the last 30 days.
That's extreme and most big companies don't do it.
I'm on lists and I have images disabled. So I never trigger the open pixel. So it looks like I never open any messages and rarely will I ever be removed. My guess is they all have good open rates so they aren't worried about it.
Just today Return Path sent me an email and said I haven't opened a message in a while end they wanted to know if I still wanted to stay on the list. They gave me a choice of clicking a yes or no link. If I did nothing I suspect they would have removed me.
You just have to decide what works for you. How many months are you willing to let pass that someone never opens a message you send to them? For all you know they subscribed using a throwaway account and won't ever open anything from you ever again.
Before I remove anyone I always first test sending them a message using a free Gmail account and see if they open. Just to check and see if there isn't possibly a deliverability issue / spam folder problem with the address. Gmail probably has some of the best deliverability of all providers.
Anyway, hope that helps.
eMonetize
Member
What matters if the users are at least opening messages they receive from you ... ideally clicking.
What is the point of 2-year-old emails if they never open anymore.
KeralMTG
Active Member
What if they are just opening them but they are not clicking on them? How long do we keep them if that is what is happening?
eMonetize
Member
I would keep all emails that are opening for as long as they continue to open. That shows they are at least interested in receiving messages from you.
If they are not opening you need to test and figure what will get them to. At least you have the ability to test because they are opening.
If I have users that are on my list for any length of time and haven't converted. I will send them an unsubscribe request and ask if they are no longer interested in X to unsubscribe.
I will send a message and ask if they are still interested in X.
I will send a message and ask what's holding them back.
Obviously, you can also promote other offers.
You could poll them and see if their interests have changed.
Catherine1
Active Member
I have wondered about this myself a few times lately but when I have done some searches in Google and Bing the answers I found in those results were all over the place.
Some people say keep them forever until they ask to be removed or the email address is not a valid one anymore and some have said things like a year or two.
I have kept all mine but I have only been doing this for a year and a half or so.
Some people say keep them forever until they ask to be removed or the email address is not a valid one anymore and some have said things like a year or two.
I have kept all mine but I have only been doing this for a year and a half or so.
david smith
Member
It's all about timing in email marketing as there are a lot of marketers targeting a specific set of niche and the data might be same so it's better to just leave it and focus on generating a new email list.