The Brutal Truth About Email Lists
When I took on a small training client at the start of this year, things were a mess. Among the randomness of marketing efforts from the previous year, was the “crown jewel” (an inherited a 43,000-contact quasi-vetted email list). Sounds impressive until you look at the average numbers: 16,000 opens per send, 240 clicks - like clockwork. That's a 37% open rate (not bad!) but a pathetic 0.56% click-through rate (not good!).
The marketing team was proud of their "robust database." It was hard for them to see the bloated list full of dead weight.
The Segmentation Surgery
It was pretty clear that things needed to change. But, instead of blasting everyone, we did something basic: we actually looked at who was engaging. Email opens, clicks, website visits, subscription activity. Basic stuff that most teams ignore because they're too busy chasing new contacts.
The results? Of 43,000 contacts, only 22,500 showed any meaningful engagement signals. So we did the one thing nobody expected - we cut the list nearly in half.
And now, it gets interesting…
What Actually Happened
With the smaller, engaged segment, you’d expect to see 1 of 2 things - either a significant dropoff from email performance (halfing the legacy engagement rates - and probably subsequently an abrupt end to JMC’s relationship with the client - sad), or a nominal improvement - because after all, didn’t we just cut HALF our at-bat chances??
Well, here’s how it’s actually played out: