How long should we keep emails?

Ana

Member
I have some emails on my mailing list that are from 2016 and I was wondering if I should keep them or delete them after some time.

My email list is really small right now so I was thinking I should keep them but I don't know if that is a good practice or not.
 

Dean

Well-Known Member
Unless they are invalid email addresses then I would not delete them myself. I have many email addresses that I have gotten several years ago that I get some nice results from so just because they may be 2 years old that doesn't meant that you should delete them from your lists.
 

JennyJ

Member
I would keep them as long as you might need them unless they are not being delivered anymore. Why throw away a potential money making resources?
 

Maria Marketing

Active Member
I would keep the emails on your list for as long as they can be useful to you. Don't delete them unless the person wants to subscribe or if the email address is not one that your emails get through to the person.
 

Milana

Member
I read some blog posts on this not long ago and they said that if the email does not produce in no more than 3 years then it will most likely never produce.

I think though if you are sending your emails for free then it should really not matter but that is just my thought.
 

Marcos

Active Member
That is only 2 years ago so I do not think that is too old for an email address so I think you should keep them. They might make you some money so do not throw away that chance.
 

eMonetize

Member
What are your open rates?

Your open rates can affect your deliverability (inboxing).

If you are getting good open rates you can afford to keep unresponsive addresses around longer.

Many deliverability experts will tell you to remove addresses that haven't opened in the last 30 days.

That's extreme and most big companies don't do it.

I'm on lists and I have images disabled. So I never trigger the open pixel. So it looks like I never open any messages and rarely will I ever be removed. My guess is they all have good open rates so they aren't worried about it.

Just today Return Path sent me an email and said I haven't opened a message in a while end they wanted to know if I still wanted to stay on the list. They gave me a choice of clicking a yes or no link. If I did nothing I suspect they would have removed me.

You just have to decide what works for you. How many months are you willing to let pass that someone never opens a message you send to them? For all you know they subscribed using a throwaway account and won't ever open anything from you ever again.

Before I remove anyone I always first test sending them a message using a free Gmail account and see if they open. Just to check and see if there isn't possibly a deliverability issue / spam folder problem with the address. Gmail probably has some of the best deliverability of all providers.

Anyway, hope that helps.
 

KeralMTG

Active Member
I have some emails on my mailing list that are from 2016 and I was wondering if I should keep them or delete them after some time.

My email list is really small right now so I was thinking I should keep them but I don't know if that is a good practice or not.
You are wanting to just delete them because they are 2 years old? I think some internet marketers will keep them for a long time like many years.
 

eMonetize

Member
You are wanting to just delete them because they are 2 years old? I think some internet marketers will keep them for a long time like many years.

What matters if the users are at least opening messages they receive from you ... ideally clicking.

What is the point of 2-year-old emails if they never open anymore.
 

Kania

Active Member
Is your email list for your internet marketing or is it for a newsletter for your blog or something else?
 

KeralMTG

Active Member
What matters if the users are at least opening messages they receive from you ... ideally clicking.

What is the point of 2-year-old emails if they never open anymore.
What if they are just opening them but they are not clicking on them? How long do we keep them if that is what is happening?
 

eMonetize

Member
What if they are just opening them but they are not clicking on them? How long do we keep them if that is what is happening?

I would keep all emails that are opening for as long as they continue to open. That shows they are at least interested in receiving messages from you.

If they are not opening you need to test and figure what will get them to. At least you have the ability to test because they are opening.

If I have users that are on my list for any length of time and haven't converted. I will send them an unsubscribe request and ask if they are no longer interested in X to unsubscribe.

I will send a message and ask if they are still interested in X.

I will send a message and ask what's holding them back.

Obviously, you can also promote other offers.

You could poll them and see if their interests have changed.
 

Catherine1

Active Member
I have wondered about this myself a few times lately but when I have done some searches in Google and Bing the answers I found in those results were all over the place.

Some people say keep them forever until they ask to be removed or the email address is not a valid one anymore and some have said things like a year or two.

I have kept all mine but I have only been doing this for a year and a half or so.
 

Traveler

Active Member
Keep them for a few years as long as they are not costing you to send the emails. The people on them might make you money later on. If they want to unsubscribe then you should remove them at that time though.
 
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