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list hygiene -- who does it?

by SageSound
8 replies
What kinds of tools do folks use for list hygiene and list manipulation?

I've got a Windows app I wrote a while back and I never did anything with it.

It takes one or two CSV files and lets you do basic stuff with them, like remove dups based on a given column; take the Union (A+B), Intersection (items in both lists), XOR (items in one list or the other but not both), and Difference (A-B and B-A).

I'm wondering if there's any value in making it connect to the APIs of various autoresponder services to import, process, and export the data directly, instead of via CSV files.

Worthwhile?
#hygiene #list #list hygiene
  • Profile picture of the author topcoder
    List Hygiene is usually referred to as removing bad email addresses from your mailing list.

    There are many steps involved..

    1) Remove addresses with invalid syntax.
    2) Remove addresses that don't have both an "A" and "MX" record in DNS
    3) Remove addresses that fail a SMTP Transaction test.
    4) Remove bounces - Which normally happens if the email passes the first 3 tests.

    You can find software that does all of these things, normally 1-3 will be combined as a service. #4 you'll need a bounce handler, I use List Nanny. The first 3 I do myself.
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    • Profile picture of the author desireedavid
      Is there another list verification service that you would recommend? Thanks!
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      “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
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      • Profile picture of the author SageSound
        Originally Posted by desireedavid View Post

        Is there another list verification service that you would recommend? Thanks!
        That's part of what I'm looking at building. The problem is I'm not getting much of a response to my questions about it.
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        • Profile picture of the author desireedavid
          Originally Posted by SageSound View Post

          That's part of what I'm looking at building. The problem is I'm not getting much of a response to my questions about it.
          I just got a message now about a list cleaning service - VERIAS. They do real-time bulk and live verification. I have not tried it but you may want to try them out.
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          “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
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  • Profile picture of the author SageSound
    Thanks for the info. Bounces are handled automatically by mosts ARs these days.

    What happens when your bounce rates increase because the domain or IP you're sending from is in a BlackList? That should not affect #1 or #2. Is #3 where it takes its toll?
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    • Profile picture of the author topcoder
      Originally Posted by SageSound View Post

      Thanks for the info. Bounces are handled automatically by mosts ARs these days.

      What happens when your bounce rates increase because the domain or IP you're sending from is in a BlackList? That should not affect #1 or #2. Is #3 where it takes its toll?
      That's what a good bounce handler is for, you only remove bounces from your list, if they are hard bounces. If they are bounces because the spam engine is blocking you, those you don't remove.

      If you IP has a low reputation, then you need to identify the issue and correct it or fix the issue and start over. You need to answer the question, what did I do wrong?

      1) Did I compose and email that trigger a spam filter at this ESP? Do Inbox Testing to make sure it passes the SPAM test, before you send. Why send 10000 emails to yahoo if it's going to land in spam (that's just going to hurt you in a big way)

      2) Did the first 20 emails make it to the inbox, then it went to spam or rejected? So why did this happen? Did you set up the right headers for sending bulk email? The first 20 it thought was transactional and then it realized it wasn't.

      3) Are you sending too much too fast to the same domain? How's your domain throttling routine? Do you really need to send all 10000 to yahoo in the same day? Why can't you do this over 2 weeks?

      4) No matter how many times you clean you list, you're going to get bounces, people close email accounts all the time. Companies go out of business, they switch names. It's a continuous process.
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  • Profile picture of the author fulfilledlife
    Given that bounces usually get spotted with the very first email and then removed from the list, there is really no way how they can increase.

    Another thing to consider, if people interested in what you have to offer they will make sure to provide a good email address.

    You only really have to worry for bounces is if you imported list or if you did not send any emails to the list for a really long time.
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    Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value - Albert Einstein

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    • Profile picture of the author SageSound
      Well, I've seen plenty of folks who've showed their bounce rates jumping around on aWeber, GetResponse, and others, for reasons that none of the platforms could explain. On one webinar I watched, a guy showed that his bounce rate is usually around 1%, but it started to jump to 8% for inexplicable reasons. I've heard it has to do with deliverability issues.
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