24 October How to Segment Your Email List Like a Pro: Part 1 October 24, 2018 By NPI Marketing Team Marketing digital marketing, email marketing 0 HOW TO SEGMENT YOUR EMAIL LIST LIKE A PRO: PART 1 October 24, 2018 | Marketing | digital marketing, email marketing By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.'s Marketing Communications Specialist In our last post, we went over why cleaning your contact list is crucial for running a successful email campaign. Now it’s time to talk about how to use the analytics information you’ve gathered from your open rates to create even more wins down the road. Let’s start with going more in-depth on the topic of bounce rates. What is a Bounce? Simply put, a bounced email is an email that wasn’t delivered. This could happen for a number of different reasons, and depending on the reason, it is considered a hard or a soft bounce. A high bounce rate will eventually lower your sender score significantly. Hard Bounces Hard bounces occur when an email is sent to an invalid email address. This may mean: the email address has been deactivated the domain name no longer exists a typo or misspelling was made in the address the address is bogus Soft Bounces A soft bounce refers to an email that gets to a recipient’s mail server, but does not make it to their inbox. This type of bounce might occur because: the recipient's inbox is full the message must be forwarded manually to the recipient's domain there's a server problem Bounced addresses are almost entirely out of your control, but what is in your control is whether or not you send messages to them. And just to reiterate, it’s never a good idea to send emails to bounced addresses. But if you’ve done your due diligence and run your list though NeverBounce, you should be in great shape until you’re ready to analyze your open rates. Unsubscribes are Actually a Good Thing With every email you send, it’s normal to receive several opt-outs from contacts on your list. This means that the recipient has clicked the unsubscribe button (which should be displayed prominently in each message), and that they no longer wish to receive emails from you. You’re probably wondering how this could possibly be a good thing—it sounds terrible! But we promise there’s a silver lining. If a person simply opts out of your email list, it means they’re not marking you as spam and impacting your sender score—win number one. It also means that you no longer have to make an effort to market to them or inspire them to open your emails—win number two. By declaring their disinterest, a recipient is saving you time and effort while also helping to keep your high score intact. You might look at it as a sign of mutual respect, for not just their time, but yours, too. Check out Part 2! We’ll go over how to cull your list and make segments so that it’s in great shape in time for your next big send. About the Author Stepha Vesper, Marketing Communications Specialist Stepha has more than five years’ experience in marketing, content creation, SEO and copywriting. Her favorite part of her job is assisting franchisees with their digital marketing strategies so they reach their goals that much faster. When she isn’t at work, Stepha is going on adventures with her basset hound, Frank, and husband, Zach, perusing used bookstores, reading or writing. Comments are closed.