ghost subscribers

Happy Monday! 🙌

There’s a 2-part question I ask all my private clients during onboarding:

- How many total subscribers do you have?
- How many of those are ACTIVE?

I typically define “active” as someone who’s opened or clicked at least once in the last 90 days.

And here’s why it’s important:

Everyone has ghost subscribers on their list.

These are people who haven’t yet unsubscribed…

But are completely tuned out.

And the percentage of active vs total subscribers can be very revealing in terms of overall list engagement.

(in my experience, it’s usually 40-50%)

What’s more:

Most people continue to blast emails out to their entire list…

No matter how many have ghosted them.

This is a big mistake.

It depresses your overall open and clickthrough rates…

Which Google, Yahoo, and the other ESPs take as a sign that your content isn’t very good…

Or that you may be using deceptive tactics to add names to your list…

Both of which lead to the same thing:

You becoming a frequent flyer in Promotions or Spam.

So… what’s the fix?

Simple:

Create a segment of active subscribers who’ve opened or clicked at least once in the last 90 days…

And ONLY send your emails to those folks.

If you’re like most publishers and list owners, this will cut your list in half.

Which can be a blow to the ego.

Especially if you’ve paid to acquire some of those subscribers with real dollars.

Nevertheless, it must be done.

Good news is:

This will also double your open and clickthrough rates.

Not only giving you a boost in the all-seeing eyes of Gmail…

But also allowing you to separate the signal from the noise and identify which emails resonate the most with your actual audience.

This is how you create an upward spiral of subscriber engagement…

And boost deliverability, responsiveness, and profits.

Because ultimately:

97%+ of your sales are gonna come from people who are actively tuned in anyway…

Not the folks wondering “how did I get on this list again??” anytime they stumble across one of your emails in their inbox.

Jim Hamilton