Definition
List hygiene frequency determines your schedule for identifying and removing problematic addresses from your subscriber database. Regular cleaning prevents deliverability decay by ensuring you only send to engaged, valid addresses.
Recommended Schedule
- Hard bounces: Remove immediately — every send should be checked against your bounce list
- Spam complaints: Suppress instantly when FBL reports arrive — real-time processing is essential
- Inactive subscribers (no open in 90 days): Flag for re-engagement after 90 days, suppress after 180 days
- Full list audit: Every 3-6 months — review all segments for decay, trap hits, and engagement declines
- Pre-campaign check: Before every major send — verify the list against current suppression data
Why It Matters
ISPs increasingly use individual subscriber engagement as a filtering signal. A list with 30% inactive subscribers drags down your per-ISP reputation, affecting deliverability to even your most engaged readers. Regular hygiene protects the active portion of your list.
Related Glossary Terms
Announcement Email
An announcement email is a dedicated campaign that communicates a specific update, milestone, or change to subscribers, from product launches and feature releases to company news and events.
AOL Mail for Email Marketers
AOL Mail is a legacy email provider with specific deliverability requirements and rendering quirks, now operating as part of the Yahoo+AOL network under shared infrastructure.
B2B Email Marketing
B2B email marketing targets business professionals and organisations with longer sales cycles, educational content, and relationship-driven campaigns compared to B2C email.
B2C Email Marketing
B2C email marketing focuses on sending targeted promotional and transactional emails to individual consumers, emphasising personalisation, urgency, and direct response.
BIMI
BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email standard that allows brands to display their logo next to their emails in supported email clients. It requires DMARC enforcement at quarantine or reject policy.
Bounce Rate Threshold
A bounce rate threshold is the percentage of hard or soft bounces at which email platforms and ISPs begin to penalise sender reputation, typically around 2-5%.