How to remove inactive subscribers from a mailing list?
Please be aware that many features used in this process are not available for free accounts.
Success in email marketing is often defined by the number of openings and clicks you have collected over a certain period of time. Many marketers want to weed out the inactive subscribers in order to focus on the active ones. It also helps when your number of subscribers is limited and you don't necessarily want to upgrade to the next level yet. Cleaning your mailing list is a good way to know whether it's time to upgrade or not. Here is a step by step guide on how to do that.
Important:The following process involves many steps. Please make sure to follow them through so you don't end up messing up your list
1. Create a behavioural segment
Go to Lists => Create segment
- Type in the name of the segment (for example, inactive or not opened)
Click Save and continue
- Select the list you want to clean up
Save and continue
- Now, there are many ways to go about it. It really depends on what kind of clean up you wish to accomplish. The main key is to play with behavioural conditions.
For example: If you want to remove all subscribers that have never opened any of your campaigns, you could create a behavioural condition where:
- Campaign would be "All"
- Publication would be "All"
- Operator would be "Average open is less than"
- Value would be "1"
The segment result would then be all subscribers who have never opened any of your campaign.
Once the segment is set to your liking, click Save and continue
You may have to move from Step 3 to Step 4 and back again a few times to get it right.
On Step 4, once you have the results you wanted, click on the Download segment details button at the bottom of the page to save a CSV file with all inactive subscribers.
2. Create a publication
Go to Lists => Create publication
- Type in a name like "never_opened"
- Select the list you want to clean up
Save
3. Import your CSV into your list
Go to Lists => Manage
Click View & Edit next to the list you wish to clean up
Click the Add subscribers button at the bottom of the page
Select Option A) Upload a CSV file and upload your CSV file
- Match the Destination with the source
Make sure to Select your "never_opened" publication
Save and continue
- If your segment had 700 addresses, you should have a result of 700 already exists
4. Clean up your mailing list
If you are still on the Step 4 page, click the Browse list members button at the bottom of the page OR Go to Lists => Manage and then click View & Edit next to the list you wish to clean up
Click on List members if it's not open
Click on the next to the search bar
Set your filters for: All fields, Subscribers Only, never_opened
Click on the Delete all entries from this search link underneath the number of entries
Click Ok
Congratulations! Your list is now purged from inactive subscribers.
