Email lists are like plants. Here’s how to take care of them:
Confession: Since COVID and I’m spending more time at home, I’ve become a mediocre plant mom (GUILTY of major overwatering. Caring too much is a thing apparently…). Having new plant babies in the house brings me joy. What does not bring me joy is seeing my plant kiddos suffer because I didn’t do my research on how to properly care for them.
While googling plant care tips, I realized that many of the same principles for keeping plants alive apply to keeping an email list healthy, happy and most of all producing! So here are my 3 tips on how to keep your email lists (and plants) healthy!
- Water them regularly:
Emails lists have a burnout threshold — a place where you’re seeing a decrease in returns because your list can’t give anymore. To avoid burnout, make sure to keep adding new names to your list. Whether that’s through viral or paid acquisition, adding new names will make sure your list doesn’t dry out!
2. Prune dead leaves
Big truth right here: There will be people who, for whatever reason, just don’t open your emails. (Phew, glad we got that out of the way). Those people don’t need to stay on your list NOR should you keep emailing them if they aren’t interested in interacting with you. By keeping these “dead leaves” on your list, you can risk hurting your inbox deliverability. Make sure you’re only keeping (and reaching!) the best people by pruning off the people who aren’t interested so you’re making room for those who do!
3. Email lists (and plants!) love stability.
Best performing email programs consistently email. Stability and consistency are important to the overall well-being of your program. When you communicate regularly with your list, you’re building a rapport and community with them. You might even become the email that they’re excited about receiving! Consistency can also help maintain high inbox deliverability.
So, don’t be a mediocre plant mom (or in this case email list parent) and take proper care of your lists so that they can flourish even under the most stressful of situations.
Also, seriously… buy yourself some house plants. It’ll help.
