To delete or NOT to delete, that is the question...

Improve your email marketing...

Should you 'delete' or 'unsubscribe' your 'cold' email subscribers?

This is a question I often get asked when talking about email list hygiene - so, I'll share with you, what I think... (and do!).

Firstly, to avoid any ambiguity, what do I mean by 'cold' subscribers?

Well, essentially, the term describes subscribers on your email list who are not engaging in your emails - they're not clicking on links, not replying, they're not even opening them!

Email marketing platforms qualify 'cold' subscribers using varying models of measurement, however, if you use Kit then a 'cold' subscriber is someone who has not engaged for at least 90 days, or if they have been a subscriber for less than 90 days, then they haven't engaged for at least 30 days.

You can easily check how many 'cold' subscribers you have by applying the filter to your list;

In Kit, navigate to menu option: 'Grow' > 'Subscribers'

From the drop-down menu, select 'Cold Subscribers';

Okay, back to the initial question - delete or unsubscribe them?

Well, actually, the first thing I do is try to get them to re-engage - I'll send them a couple of emails with more impactful subject lines, like... "I think it's time to say goodbye..." - this (somewhat) sensationalised approach often gets them to at least open the email.

If they don't engage with the 're-engagement emails' - then it's time for them to disappear off your list! ('cold' subscribers can negatively impact your overall email deliverability rate).

Okay, so what do I do in my biz?... I unsubscribe them.

Let me explain why...

When a subscriber joins your email list, over time, they will get 'decorated' - what I mean by that is they will have certain tags applied to their profile; they'll be associated with an opt-in form or a series of email sequences, and they'll perhaps have gone through some automations.

Over time, their profile will become nuanced - meaning you'll have a better idea of their preferences, behaviours (i.e. what they open, what they click on, what interests they have etc.) - but most importantly, you'll have a record of all the emails they been sent.

If, on the other hand, you 'delete' them from your list - it means that if they ever re-join your list, you won't know what they've already received and you could send them emails they already have in their inbox.

The tldr; version...

I unsubscribe my 'cold' subscribers, and I do NOT delete them.

P.S. I run an automated list-cleaning process that checks every subscriber AT LEAST once every 90 days (some are checked more frequently) - and then, the automated process kicks in and a few days later, all 'cold' subscribers are either re-engaged or unsubscribed from my list. If you'd like a copy of my automation for your Kit account, let me know and I'll send you the link.

P.P.S. If any subscriber ever asks me to entirely delete their data, as is their right, then I obviously would respect their wishes and remove them entirely from my email list.

Introducing a Kit feature...

Subscriber Attribution

Where are most of your subscribers coming from?

Do you even know?

Recently, the team at Kit upped their game with regards to subscriber attribution.

You can now track your marketing campaigns with UTM parameters, top referrers, and conversion rates in your form and landing page reports, so you can see exactly how you're growing your list.

Landing Pages & Opt-in Forms Reports

Inside Kit, you can navigate to any one of your forms or landing pages and click on the 'Reports' link; this will show you a breakdown of how all the subscribers who joined your list and where they came from.

The image below is an example of the type of data you'll see...

Export your subscriber data

If you want to download the the attribution data, navigate to the 'Grow' > 'Subscriber' menu option, tick the 'All' checkbox and click on the 'Bulk Actions' drop-down and choose 'Export' - this will create a .CSV file and will be automatically emailed to you for your perusal.

I know it's an obvious thing to say, but once you understand where the bulk of your subscribers are coming from, you can double down on those areas and ease off on the ones that are tumbleweed and crickets.

Tech you might find helpful...

I've created a little app inside my soon-to-be launched community, The Hub.

It's called the Take-Home Pay Predictor and does what it 'says on the tin'.

You can predict how much income you need to generate in your business to support the personal income you want to take from it.

You can set the tax rate and the business expenses to better tailor the results to your personal circumstances and territory/currency.

If your brain works anything like mine, you'll like to start with the end result and then work backwards to deliver the outcome you have planned, e.g. "I want to take-home $5,000 every month, so how much revenue does my biz need to generate to support me taking $5k every month?".

You've already expressed your interest in joining The Hub, so there's nothing you need to do right now - you'll be notified as soon as access opens.

What's on your mind...?

Answering questions on email, Kit, or solo biz is my favourite thing to do - hit the button below and ask yours now...

👊 Go on - click me and send a question!