As the winter snow melts away, the spring flowers begin to grow and everyone begins their annual spring cleaning. This is the ideal time to clean out your email marketing mailing list. This list is an essential part of your marketing campaign. Keeping it clean, without duplications and incorrect or out-of-date information, is imperative to having an effective email marketing strategy. In addition to weeding out the bad information in your list, you should also be increasing your list so it stays sizeable enough to be effective. Here are some tips on how to do some spring cleaning on your email list.

Find Your Inactive Subscribers – These are subscribers who have not responded to your email marketing in the past six months. By identifying these individuals, you don’t necessarily have to remove them all. First try to make them active again by sending out an email that is specifically targeted to bring them back into the fold. If you have the data stating why they were initially interested in subscribing, send an email with a discount on the product or service. If you don’t have that information, try sending out a general discount on all products and services. If there is still no response, then take them off your active list, but keep the information in an archive of past subscribers.

Identify Long-Standing Subscribers – New subscribers are usually the most active. By identifying subscribers that are more than a year old, you can reengage them with added benefits for ‘loyal’ customers. With an additional benefit for long-standing subscribers, you can keep a steady flow of activity for your entire email list while also monitoring purchases and the viability of your email list.

Analyze Overall Email Marketing Campaign – Is your email marketing campaign being used to its fullest potential? Send out an email asking your subscribers for feedback. This will give you insights into not only what your customers want, but also what your customers don’t want. By using this feedback, you can greatly improve the results of your email marketing campaign.

Attract New Subscribers – Make sure your spring cleaning is balanced by adding new names as well as moving names to the inactive list. Initiate a Spring Savings campaign that will attract new subscribers. With new initiatives, discounts, or services, you can create renewed interest in past subscribers while also encouraging new subscribers. In addition, by having a new subscriber discount, you can encourage past subscribers to forward it on to a friend, expanding your reach and targeting a wider customer base.

This is the time of year to analyze your email list and make it work to its fullest potential. By using email marketing software services and really looking at the data, you can specifically see what is working and what is not. By engaging inactive subscribers, rewarding long-standing customers, asking for feedback and inspiring new subscribers, you can look forward to a new season of increased web activity and sales.