The list sweeper function is an easy to use tool that allows you to categorically deactivate select types of bounces from your list(s). If you are already familiar with ReachMail’s extensive reporting system, then you are most of the way there. The list sweeper simply allows you to act upon data from the reports from one centralized location.

Anyone familiar with Email marketing will tell you that the importance of maintaining a clean list is paramount to strong delivery rates. Staying on top of your lists, especially if you are adding new subscribers either manually, or through an opt in form, is key to your long term success as an email marketer.

We understand that different people use the ReachMail system in different ways. Whether you import a new list every time you send a campaign or work off the same list every time, the List Sweeper tool can help speed up the cleaning process leaving you more time to work on your campaigns.

To run the List Sweeper, find your list then select ‘List Sweeper’ from the action drop down menu. Alternatively, check the boxes next to multiple lists and click the ‘Sweep’ button to run the list sweeper on several lists at once.

Here’s a screenshot of the list sweeper in action:

Remove Duplicate Records
Removes duplicates from your list.
Mark Pending Hard Records as Permanent
This will permanently deactivate all records that have hard bounced once. Hard Bounces are automatically deactivated after two hard bounces in a list.
Mark Known Bad Addresses as Hard Bounces
This will scan your list against your account’s Global Opt Out list, the company wide Opt Out list, and a list of known invalid addresses we maintain internally. This step is done automatically during the outgoing mail process, but has been made available for users to see how many records from a list will be deactivated prior to send time.
Mark Select Soft Bounces Records as Permanent Hard
Allows the user to permanently deactivate bounces by category. When the sub-option Permanently Deactivate in any List is checked, this list sweeper will also add checked sub-selections to your account’s Global Opt Out list. This is important when you are uploading a new list every time you send a campaign.
Remove All Records in a List Flagged as Hard Bounce
Permanently delete all inactive records in a list marked as a hard bounce. This is not required as inactive records will not be mailed to.
Remove All Records in a List Flagged as Opt Out
Permanently delete all inactive records in a list marked as an opt out. This is not required as inactive records will not be mailed to.

So this Gmail quirk had me baffled for a while, mostly because I had never run across it before.

If you have two rows of a table in which all the cells contain images Gmail likes to insert a horizontal line between the rows. Weird.

The fix is pretty quick and painless. Just set the display for the images to ‘block’. You can do it in the head of the document:

img {display: block;}

Or you could do it inline on each image:

<img src="images/example.jpg" style="display:block;">

One of the biggest challenges that you face as an e-mail marketer is keeping lists clean and tidy. An area that we frequent find clients overlooking are soft bounces of the ‘Mailbox Full’ type. These are bounces that came back because the mail server couldn’t cram one more byte into the subscriber’s over-stuffed mailbox.

They have no place in your list. These represent subscribers that have moved on, not just from your newsletters but from that e-mail address all together.

What’s worse is that eventually the ISPs holding those abandoned e-mail addresses are going to deactivate them or hold onto them as spam traps. Continuing to message these addresses after this point is going to negatively impact your sending reputation.

So, ReachMail makes it quick and easy to scrub those records out of your lists. Simply head on over to the Contacts and Lists tab and select the List Sweeper function on any list. In the function select the option to deactivate the Mailbox Full soft bounces and click the Run List Sweeper button. Voila! Your bounces are deactivated.