Sep 08 2008
Dormant Addresses Say “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”
Our respected colleague David Daniels published a nifty little report on deliverability last week at JupiterResearch, and there are a few little tidbits that bear repeating for the responsible masses.
Daniels reiterates the continued danger lurking behind “dormant” email masses, which are defined as email addresses that have been abandoned by their owner. As the nickname implies, dormant addresses look like they are in permanent hibernation, but in reality they have the potential to erupt, and not in a good way.
Some of these inactive subscribers can be linked to dormant accounts, and these dormant accounts are increasingly being used by ISPs to create honey pots or spam traps. Marketers hitting too many dormant accounts could have the delivery disposition of their messages changed (e.g., completely blocked, delivered to the bulk folder).
You heard the man — it’s time to dig into your email response data and separate those loved ones who simply aren’t answering the door from those who packed up and moved altogether. According to the report, this dormant segment probably represents a big chunk of your total subscriber list, so don’t be surprised if your viable list size decreases significantly. We know from experience that it’s more important to make every send count than to simply send more!
“We know from experience that it’s more important to make every send count than to simply send more”
While Ben makes an accurate statement, the important take away from dormant addresses is that they must be bounce removed rather than re-mailed. If you are an infrequent mailer, you may need to adjust your bounce re-mail settings to ensure that addresses are promptly removed. Most ESP’s or email software services will not automatically bounce remove upon the first try (for many reasons I’ll spare here), so if you only mail quarterly or occasionally to this recipient, you may not bounce remove them in time to stop them from becoming a spamtrap.
Bottom line: Mailing more often to re-identify inactive users and custom bounce-removing these ‘random’ recipients may be critical to ensuring long term deliverability success.