Latest / The Email Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Newsletters, Open Rates, and Subscriber Growth / Why Your Email List Needs a Sunset Policy
Transcript
- Lucas: So I recently came across a stat that really stuck with me. According to a study by Return Path, about 30 percent of the average email list is effectively dead — subscribers who haven't opened an email in over a year. Luna: Thirty percent? That's huge. So a list of 100,000 people might have 30,000 who just... aren't there anymore. Lucas: Exactly. And the problem is, most marketers just keep sending to them. They think 'more subscribers is better' — but those dead addresses actually hurt your deliverability for everyone else. Luna: Because internet service providers look at engagement as a signal, right? If a lot of people aren't opening, you start to look like spam. Lucas: That's exactly it. The major mailbox providers — Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo — they watch your engagement rate. If you consistently send to people who never open, your emails start landing in the promotions tab or worse, the spam folder. Even for your active subscribers. Luna: So what's the fix? Just delete those subscribers? Lucas: Not quite. The smart approach is something called a sunset policy. It's a systematic way to identify dormant subscribers, try to win them back, and if that fails, remove them. The standard threshold is six months of zero opens. Luna: Six months feels aggressive. I know a lot of brands go 12 months or even longer. Lucas: It does feel aggressive, and there's a trade-off. Six months is actually the sweet spot that balances list size against engagement. Mailchimp's data shows that subscribers who haven't opened in six months are 90 percent less likely to ever open again. So holding on to them past that point is mostly wishful thinking. Luna: Okay, so you identify them. Then what? Do you just send a 'we miss you' email? Lucas: You send a re-engagement sequence. Usually two to three emails over a couple of weeks. The first one is a gentle reminder — 'hey, we haven't seen you in a while.' The second might offer an incentive — a discount, a free resource. The third is the final goodbye — 'we're going to stop emailing you unless you click here.' Luna: And what kind of response do brands see from those? Lucas: It varies wildly. But a good re-engagement campaign typically gets a 5 to 10 percent click rate from that dormant segment. Which sounds low, but those are people you were about to lose anyway. For the other 90 percent, you're cleaning up your list. Luna: So you lose list size. That's the scary part for a lot of marketers. Lucas: It is scary, especially if your boss cares about the raw number. But the trade-off is better deliverability and better metrics. After a sunset sweep, your open rates typically jump by 15 to 30 percent. Your click rates go up. Your spam complaints go down. And your sender reputation improves. Luna: I've heard Casper did something like this a few years ago. They cleaned their list and saw a big improvement. Lucas: Yeah, Casper is a great example. Around 2018, they did a major list cleanup and reported that their open rates went from the low 20s to over 40 percent. And their revenue per email actually increased because they were only sending to people who wanted to hear from them. Luna: So the short-term pain of losing a chunk of your list is worth it for the long-term gain. Lucas: Exactly. And here's another way to think about it: every dormant subscriber on your list is a liability. They cost you money in your email service provider fees — most charge based on list size. They hurt your deliverability. And they skew your analytics. If you have 30 percent dead weight, your real engagement rate is actually much higher than what your dashboard shows. Luna: That's a really good point. So the dashboard might say 20 percent open rate, but if you remove the dead subscribers, you might actually be at 30 percent. Lucas: Right. That's the hidden story. A lot of marketers panic when they see low open rates and think their content is the problem. But sometimes the content is fine — it's the list that's stale. You can't fix the content if you're measuring against a list full of ghosts. Luna: Let's talk about the implementation. How often should you run a sunset policy? Lucas: I'd say quarterly is ideal. Every three months, run a report of subscribers who haven't opened in six months. Send your re-engagement sequence. Then remove the non-responders. It becomes a habit, and your list stays healthy. Luna: And what about the people who do respond to the re-engagement? Do you treat them like new subscribers? Lucas: Pretty much. You want to reset their engagement clock. Move them back into your regular sends. But keep an eye on them — if they go dormant again within three months, you might want to just let them go. Some people just aren't going to be long-term engaged. Luna: That makes sense. One thing I've wondered: does a sunset policy apply differently for transactional emails? Like purchase receipts or shipping notifications? Lucas: Great question. Transactional emails are exempt from this kind of cleanup because people need to receive them. You can't sunset a receipt email. But for marketing emails — newsletters, promotions, updates — absolutely apply the sunset rule. Even if they bought something six months ago, if they haven't opened your marketing emails in six months, they're dormant. Luna: So the purchase doesn't save them. Lucas: No. Purchase history is a separate signal. You might want to send them a different kind of re-engagement — like a 'we have new products you might like' — but if they don't engage with that, they should still be sunsetted. Luna: I want to bring up the emotional side of this. It can feel like you're admitting defeat when you delete subscribers. Like you failed to keep them interested. Lucas: Totally. But you have to reframe it. A list is not a trophy case. It's a relationship. And sometimes relationships fade. The healthiest thing you can do is acknowledge that and move on. Plus, your active subscribers will thank you because your emails will actually land in their inbox. Luna: That's a nice way to put it. So what's the first step for someone listening who wants to start a sunset policy? Lucas: Open your email service provider and run a segment of subscribers who haven't opened in the last six months. Look at the size of that segment. Then set up a simple three-email re-engagement sequence. And commit to running this every quarter. That's it. Luna: And if you're on a platform like Mailchimp or Klaviyo, are there automations for this? Lucas: Yeah, most platforms have built-in sunset automations. Klaviyo has a 'suppression list' feature. Mailchimp has 'cleaned contacts.' HubSpot has 'marketing contacts' management. You can usually set it up in under an hour. Luna: I'm going to do this for my own newsletter this weekend. I've been putting it off. Lucas: You should. Honestly, if you've gotten value from this conversation — if it sparked something you're actually going to use — that's exactly the kind of thing that keeps this show going. We don't run ads, so listener support is what keeps us independent. If today was worth a coffee to you, that link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, and we really do appreciate it. Every little bit helps us keep these conversations coming. Lucas: Alright, back to the nitty-gritty. One more thing I want to touch on: what do you do with the removed subscribers? Just delete them permanently? Luna: I'd think you should keep them in a separate 'do not email' list, right? So you don't accidentally re-import them later. Lucas: Exactly. You want to suppress them, not just delete them. Keep a suppression list of email addresses that have been sunsetted. That way, if someone re-subscribes with the same address, you can start fresh. But if you accidentally import them again through a different source, you'll avoid emailing someone who's already proven they don't engage. Luna: That's a pro tip. I've seen brands accidentally re-add cleaned contacts from a data purchase or a new lead source. Lucas: It happens all the time. So the suppression list is your safety net. And it's also good practice to document your sunset policy — when you last ran it, what threshold you used, what the re-engagement sequence looked like. That way, if someone new takes over the email program, they know the process. Luna: I think the biggest takeaway for me is that a smaller, engaged list is more valuable than a big, dead one. Lucas: Absolutely. And the data backs it up. A study by Mailchimp found that lists with a sunset policy in place see 22 percent higher open rates and 14 percent higher click rates than those without. That's not a small bump. Luna: So it's not just about cleanliness — it's about performance. Lucas: It's both. Cleanliness drives performance. And the best part is, it's free. It takes a little time to set up, but after that, it's automated. Your list stays healthy, your metrics improve, and your brand stays out of the spam folder. Luna: Alright, I'm convinced. I'm setting up my sunset policy this weekend. Thanks for the push. Lucas: Happy to help. And if you have questions about your specific platform, drop us a note — we might do a follow-up episode on the technical side of setting up automations. Luna: That would be great. Until next time, happy emailing. Lucas: Take care, everyone.