I've seen a few folk
[2022-05-05 09:15:35 AM] : I've seen a few folks here getting to a point where they want to trim their newsletter subscriber list down. If I understand it correctly, then is the idea that you occasionally remove subscribers who never read emails so that you don't hit subcriber count / email send paid-tier thresholds for your chosen email marketing platform. Another benefit being that with the trimmed-down list, you get a more reflective view of email open rates etc. Do I have the right idea? Are there other considerations or benefits I'm overlooking?
FYI I'm on mailchimp so I think the subscriber count doesn't really affect me (they count unsubs towards your total billable amount).
1 Reply
[2022-05-05 09:20:24 AM] : Yeah I do a cold list thing maybe once per year. For the reasons you mention but also just to make sure people still want my content. You have to be a bit careful with open rates - especially on Apple which I think doesn't give you any data anymore. I tend to follow a version of alex’s suggestion below. The number of people to choose to remain on my list is less than zero so it is worth doing. Still gets me to blow people away once you get to the end of this process but that is what we do I guess! :slightly_smiling_face:
https://stackingthebricks.com/list-size/
[2022-05-05 09:28:23 AM] : thanks Samir - I totally forgot about this post! Apart from open rates, I think a big plus for me would be to help manage my own expectations ahead of any product launch re how many people might actualyl be considering X offer. With that said, I think I'm still some way off needing to do this trimming
[2022-05-05 09:31:42 AM] : Happy to help Oscar Baruffa - Yeah you're right but of course there are several other components to launch success other than your list size (clearly...) Hope this helps anyhow.
[2022-05-05 09:35:34 AM] : open rates are not meaningful for individual subscribers (e.g. my email client won't load images by default, so I'm usually marked as "didn't open" even if I did), so I wouldn't rely on that
[2022-05-05 09:35:46 AM] : I've never culled my list, still have great open rates, seems fine
[2022-05-05 09:36:19 AM] : (and alex's culling of Stacking the Bricks list has resulted in me being removed; I'd rather still be on the list but never remember to resubscribe...)
[2022-05-05 10:30:02 AM] : Thanks itamar, probably at higher subscriber numbers this makes more sense to finesse but useful in the meantime nonetheless