Does email marketing seem hard? With so much content online on how to make it work, it may feel difficult to achieve results. Where do you start improving? The truth is you have to focus on just a few key aspects, and the two most important ones are content and list quality. Today let’s talk about the latter and see how an email list verifier tool helps you boost open rates and how you can start using one, too.
What is an email list verifier tool?
It’s a system that analyzes your email list and determines which addresses are valid and which ones you should remove. A good email verifier detects bounces, spam traps, abuse and catch-all emails, and isolates unengaged accounts.
When to use an email list verifier tool
When was the last time you cleaned your list? If it’s been a while, you may notice a few indicators that its quality has deteriorated:
- a higher number of bounces
- low open rates
- poor click-through rates and conversions.
Furthermore, if your email list is a few years old and you’ve never cleaned it, things can get messy. Sending emails to invalid contacts, spam traps or catch-all emails is risky. So is getting frequent Spam complaints and not taking action to improve your overall engagement.
These are all things that make or break your sender reputation, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will treat your emails accordingly by either:
- delivering your emails in people’s spam folder
- deciding to not deliver them at all.
So, if your bounce rate is over 2% (the industry standard) and your engagement could use a boost, start looking for an email list verifier tool.
How to clean your list: it’s easier than you think
Getting your list back in shape is a fairly easy process that shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes, or a few hours – if you have a large database.
Where do you start?
- you find a trustworthy email list verifier tool (more on that later).
- then, you get your list ready for verification: usually, you’ll need to have it in either a .CSV or a .txt file
- next, you upload it on the platform of your choice and hit “validate”
- once your results are ready, you simply download your list and start using it.
If you want outstanding results – and who doesn’t? – email verification should be an integral part of your marketing plan.
Finding the right email verification platform
This is one of the most important steps when you plan to prune your list. With so many services on the market, you’ll need to do some research in order to pick the perfect one.
Here are a few criteria to keep in mind when you prospect the market:
- accuracy: a good email list verifier tool has to guarantee accurate results. Will you get at least 97%?
- ease of use: starting an account and having your list cleaned should be an intuitive process.
- speed: some tools are slow and will sabotage your productivity. Take advantage of the free trials to test the service before you make a purchase.
- clarity: you should be able to understand your results easily. Make sure your platform has enough documentation on the bad email addresses it removes.
- customer support: some email verification companies offer 24/7 support. It’s great to have an email expert on your side who can answer any question and help you get the most out of the platform.
- security: before you commit to a certain service, take a look at their data protection process. You want your list to be safe while it’s being validated.
The benefits of using an accurate email list
What can you expect once you’ve pruned your list and start emailing it again? The benefits are immediate and they’ll convince you to maintain email hygiene in the long run.
- first, your sender reputation will improve thanks to your lower bounce rate.
- as a result, you’ll notice a higher engagement: better open and click-through rates
- and most of all, you’ll finally get a chance to see how your content performs and tweak it to achieve the best possible results.
Of course, keeping a neat list is important not only for email marketing purposes. Ensuring you communicate with real human beings is essential if you run an online platform. Whether you send invoices, transactional or marketing emails, there’s great peace of mind knowing they reach your customers and subscribers.
Bonus tips for a better email marketing
Before you send your next email, check out these bonus tips to improve your email marketing – they’re easy to apply and we promise they’ll help!
- learn as much as possible about your subscribers, so you can create and send the best content for them. List segmentation boosts your open and click-through rates, so make the most of it.
- think of small gestures you can do to make your customers happy. People buy from a company because they like and trust it, and they’ll always remember how you treat them.
- subject lines have a dramatic impact on your engagement. Write several versions until you find a winner. Also, consider testing your subject lines to see which one performs best.
- show up consistently in your subscribers’ inboxes. Familiarity is a key ingredient that helps you build trust.
