Now, here are some helpful list management tools that you might consider using to make things easier on yourself. Basic list management, though, can be achieved with just a high-quality ESP.
- Email Service Provider (ESP) — A good ESP will give you all the basic tools you need to clean your list of email addresses which consistently bounce, create automatic email re-engagement sequences, segment your list, build a simple subscription management center, add an unsubscribe button, and even ensure you have correct permissions for each subscriber. Most ESPs will also automatically report open rate, click-through rate, deliverability rate, and other pertinent metrics to your dashboard. If you want to create a simple list management process, then start by using your ESP and document your process somewhere like Evernote.
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- Here are a few of our favorite ESPs: Mailchimp, Drip, Convertkit, Klaviyo.
- Software Communication Automator — This won’t be a necessary tool for most email marketers looking to automate their email management system and processes. Most ESPs easily integrate with other common software companies (your website provider, CRM, or paid ad platform, for instance), which means you can connect your different tools with a few clicks and code embeds. For those of you using software that doesn’t integrate easily, though, check out a tool like Zapier, which can help you connect two tools that don’t usually play well together. At the heart of list management is organizing and making sense of subscriber data, from all sources. A software communication automator like Zapier can help you do that when the tools don’t do it on their own.
- Email List Cleaning Software — If you want to make the process of cleaning your list easier and faster, tools like FreshAddress (Free List Check), Email Oversight and Webbula automate the process for you. These pieces of software scan your list for undeliverable addresses, spamtraps, honeypots, and other risky email addresses. Then it removes those from your list and gives you a new, clean email list.