If you need another reason to clean up your email list, here’s one.  AOL recently announced they are refining their process when it comes to high invalid or unknown user rates.  What does this mean for you?  It means that if you have an above average number of invalid or bad email addresses on your list, you could begin to see poorer deliverability to AOL.

So what can you do about this?  Be diligent about cleaning your list of people that consistently bounce.  These are the bad email addresses contributing to your unknown user rate.  Cleaning your list of bounces, both hard and soft, is easy and automatic in Publicaster.  To read how, click here.

Keep in mind that AOL will also be looking at other factors when determining if they should allow your email to the Inbox.  These include CAN-SPAM compliance, authentication protocol set up and adherence to general email best practices.  Following the rules, keeping up on best practices, and maintaining a clean list will all help improve your deliverability to AOL.

When you first started sending emails to your list of opted in subscribers, the results were fantastic. Subscribers were opening your emails with excitement, clicking on every link possible. As time went on, you noticed a drop in the numbers. The “newness” of your emails went away, and some subscribers weren’t as engaged anymore. For tips on how to fight this problem, click here.

This article was first published in our monthly newsletter, Factory Direct. Click here to make sure you don’t miss another issue.