Email marketing is a powerful tool that can help your business to reach its goals. However, it is important to remember that customer privacy and data security should be at the forefront of your strategy. One way to ensure that your customers’ information is kept secure is by implementing a carefully thought-out suppression list. A suppression list is a list of email addresses that are identified as illegitimate or high-risk contacts. It is designed to protect you and your customers from malicious spam and scams, as well as improve your brand’s reputation by ensuring that you only send emails to interested and verified customers. In this article, we will discuss the importance of a suppression list, how to create one, and tips for effectively managing it.
What Is A Suppression List?
A suppression list is a collection of email addresses that should never receive any type of email communication. These email addresses might include inactive subscribers, spammers, or addresses that have been flagged as malicious or fraudulent. Campaigns sent to these addresses might be blocked by spam filters and can lead to your email program being blacklisted by most reputable email service providers. Because of this, it is important to have a suppression list and ensure that your emails are not going to undesired contacts.
Why Is A Suppression List Important?
Having a suppression list is important since it reduces the amount of unwanted or irrelevant emails being sent out to contacts. Not only will this help to protect your customers from malicious emails, but it will also improve the quality of your customer data and the overall performance of your email program. As email inboxes become more crowded, it is increasingly important to ensure that you are sending relevant emails to the right contacts. By creating a suppression list, you can rest assured that your emails will only be sent to interested and active subscribers.
How To Create A Suppression List?
Creating a suppression list is fairly simple. You can do so by utilizing a third-party email service provider or software platform that allows you to easily capture and maintain contact suppression lists. You can also build a custom suppression list by creating a list of contacts that should not receive any form of email communication. When creating a list, it is important to make sure that you are always up-to-date on the latest updates regarding email service providers’ spam policies and rules.
Tips For Effectively Managing Your Suppression List
Once you have a suppression list in place, it is important to manage it effectively. Here are some helpful tips for staying on top of your list:
- Use a CRM to store the suppression list.
- Create a new list whenever you encounter a new spam epidemic or change in email service provider policies.
- Review your suppression list on a regular basis to ensure that all inactive and malicious contacts are identified and excluded from receiving emails.
- Reach out to contacts to confirm their subscription status or presence in your database before adding them to the suppression list.
Types Of Suppression Lists
Suppression lists can be categorized in different ways, depending on the goal of the list. Here are some of the most commonly used suppression lists:
- Internal Blacklist: This type of list is used to suppress the emails of contacts who have already unsubscribed from status or who have previously reported your emails as spam.
- Universal Blacklist: The universal blacklist includes email addresses from known spammers and other malicious contacts that are automatically suppressed from receiving emails.
- Geolocation Blacklist: Geolocation blacklists are specific to geographic areas and are used to suppress emails being sent to certain countries or regions.
- Dormant Subscriber List: The dormant subscriber list is used to suppress contacts who have been inactive for an extended period of time and therefore are no longer interested in receiving any of your emails.
Advantages Of Using A Suppression List
Using a suppression list offers many advantages, including:
- Increased Deliverability: By limiting the number of emails being sent to undesired contacts, you can help to increase the success rate of your campaigns.
- Improved Reputation: By only sending emails to interested contacts, your brand’s reputation is protected and your email program will be seen as reputable.
- Lower Costs: Creating and maintaining a suppression list will help you save money in the long run, as you will not be wasting resources on sending emails to contacts who will not engage with them.
When You Should Add Contacts To A Suppression List?
When deciding which contacts to add to your suppression list, it is important to consider the following:
- Contacts who have permanently unsubscribed from all of your email campaigns
- Contacts who have marked one or more of your emails as spam
- Contacts who have not opened any of your emails for an extended period of time
- Contacts who have not provided an email address that matches your requirements
- Contacts who are known spammers
- Contacts from regions or countries that you do not have permission to send emails to
Conclusion
A suppression list is essential to improving the performance of your email programs and ensuring that your customers’ information is kept secure. By creating and maintaining a suppression list, you are ensuring that you are sending emails to interested contacts and reducing the chance of your emails being blocked as spam. Additionally, suppression lists can help you to save costs and protect your brand’s reputation. By using the tips outlined in this article, you can build a comprehensive and robust suppression list that will benefit both your customers and your email program.
Allison Cheng is a Michigan-based health enthusiast with extensive experience in lifestyle and fitness coaching. She has a special expertise in nutrition and mental health coaching. She is passionate about helping people become their best selves through health and wellness, and loves to share her knowledge and experiences through her blog and health coaching practice.
