Are We Breaking Up? How to Scrub Your Email List.

Am I seriously asking you to throw away email subscribers? Yes I am.

If you run a business, you’ve probably spent countless hours and marketing dollars trying to get good leads.  Those coveted email subscribers are like the holy grail - because the real money is in the email list (or so you’ve been told). So why on earth would you ever purposely delete email subscribers? The ones you worked so hard to acquire?

A few years ago, I was thrilled at my growing email list.  Yet my open rates and click-through rates didn’t seem to match up. I took an honest look at my email list and asked myself, "Am I sending my marketing love notes into the void, or are these actually landing with real people?" 

Turns out, yep - I was sending emails to quite a few “cold subscribers” (people who haven't opened an email in over 180 days). That’s six whole months of crickets.  It was time for the proverbial scrubbing of my email list.

Why I Hit the “Unsubscribe” Button For Them.

People stop opening emails for lots of reasons:

• They changed email addresses.

• The content isn’t relevant to their professional or personal lives anymore.

• They’re just not that into you. 

And you know what? That's okay. Sometimes it's not you, it's them. Or their spam filter. Or a general case of inbox overload.

Whatever the reason, the truth is: Keeping people on your list who never open your emails messes with your numbers. It gives you a false sense of audience size and how well your emails are performing. If you’re emailing 1,000 people but 300 of them are basically email black holes, you're only really talking to 700. That skews your open rates, click-through rates, and overall marketing mojo.

Also, many email service providers charge you based on the number of subscribers. And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not pay for emails that end up automatically in the digital dumpster. 

My Scrub Strategy: Start With The “Are We Breaking Up?” Email

Before I scrub people off my list for good, I automate one last email. It’s the “Are We Breaking Up?” message. It’s friendly, direct, and sounds a little something like:

“Hey! I noticed you haven’t opened an email from me in a while. No hard feelings, but I don’t want to clutter up your inbox. If you want to stay, click here. If not, feel free to unsubscribe, and you're welcome back any time.”

If they don’t open that email? My system gives them 10 days. Then it's “bless and release.” No guilt. No drama. It’s just common sense. 

This Is Marketing Self-Care.

I know, as small business owners, we cling to the hope that maybe one day, someone will dig back through old emails and suddenly feel inspired to buy from us. And maybe that does happen… once in a blue moon. It’s kind of like holding on to those mismatched plastic food containers. Maybe one day, that odd sized lid will reappear again - maybe.

But realistically, your time and energy are better spent on what makes the biggest impact. Just like pruning dead branches makes trees and shrubs grow back stronger, scrubbing your email list clears out the clutter and brings more accurate analytics.

Here’s What to Do Next to Scrub Your Email List.

1. Log into your email service provider

2. Look for an automation to scrub or delete cold subscribers (most platforms make it super easy).

3. If time is tight, use the default templates—just tweak them so they still sound like you.

4. Hit send. Take a deep breath. Bless and release.

Then? Enjoy watching your open rates go up, your click-throughs improve, and your messages land in inboxes that actually want to hear from you.

Because honestly, I’d rather have 100 interested people than 100,000 phantom recipients.

And remember as the saying goes: It's not rejection, it's redirection. Don’t take it personally if subscribers don’t read your emails anymore!

I used to take my kids to the playground when they were toddlers. Now that they’re older, I don’t use the playground anymore.  Does it mean that the playground is awful and has no value? Not at all. It just means that my family is no longer an ideal user of playgrounds.

So, if you’re wondering whether your email list is overdue for a good scrub… it probably is. I like to run my “cold email subscriber sequence” every 6  months or so. Kinda like cleaning the gutters in the spring and fall. Treat yourself to a quick cleanout, and get a more accurate picture of your email marketing performance. 

Want help making your email strategy simpler and more effective? Let’s chat.

Christine McShane is a content marketer, messaging strategist, and copywriter for Christine McShane Creative. She creates simple and effective marketing strategies for small brands, including drafting email marketing plans and writing compelling brand emails. Want help? Contact Christine McShane Creative here.

Images were created by AI to illustrate the points of this article.