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Managing Email Inactivity: Google's Policy Change and Strategies for Marketers

Google's recent policy change to delete inactive accounts has caused some consternation among email marketers. While the policy affects personal Google accounts (not work or school accounts), marketers should be aware of the potential for a rise in hard bounces for permanently undeliverable email addresses. However, marketers should not panic and mass delete all seemingly inactive subscribers, as this is an ineffective way of managing email inactivity. Instead, marketers should review their post-send email activity reports more closely and ensure their email sending platform is automatically removing and suppressing permanently undeliverable addresses. Marketers should also consider extending their sunset policy beyond the arbitrary two-year cut-off point and rethinking their re-engagement strategy. They should track customer activity across all channels, send ‘We Miss You’ emails, offer multiple options for subscribers to update their preferences or opt out, and remind them that they can easily unsubscribe if they don’t find the emails relevant. Finally, marketers should prepare for Google and Yahoo!'s new requirements for inbox access, which are expected to launch in February 2024. With effective inactivity management, marketers can reap rewards down the line, whether the outcome is more engaged subscribers or fewer accounts in limbo.

Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/how-to-create-a-re-engagement-strategy-that-doesnt-insult-your-subscribers/
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