Best Practices for Email Lists

Email lists that are not set up properly can cause your domain, email IP reputation, or hosting account to be blacklisted, suspended, or terminated when complaints are received from list subscribers or destination mail providers.

Here are the basic best practices that should be met when setting up an email list:

• A proper mailing list app should be used to send out messages. The app should auto-generate and send out one separate copy of the email per recipient. Do not send out messages where all of the recipients are placed in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields.

• The mailing list app should insert a working unsubscribe link at the bottom of each message being sent out, allowing recipients to instantly remove themselves from the list if so desired.

• Recipients must only be added to the list of email subscribers on a voluntary and double opt-in basis. Double opt-in means that when a new individual requests to opt in to the list, the mailing list app should immediately send out a verification email to that individual asking them to click a link to confirm their interest. Only after confirmation should that individual be added to the list as a recipient.

• The mailing list app should keep a log of all double opt-in signups including email and IP addresses as they may be needed as proof of opt in.

• Messages that are sent out to recipients on the mailing list should:

  • Consist of the kind of content that the recipients expect to receive when subscribed to that particular list in question. Consider setting up multiple lists when there are different topics that not all subscribers may be interested in.

  • Not exhibit spam-like characteristics such as having the subject in all-caps,incomplete sentences or missing punctuation in the text, extraneous empty lines between paragraphs, words commonly found in spam messages, and so on.

Utilizing the above basic best practices should help minimize complaints from list subscribers or destination mail providers.