Time to Spring Clean Your Email Marketing Contact List
Michael Reale • June 3, 2025
Maintaining a healthy email list is key to strong engagement and high deliverability. If you're using Pinwheel’s Email Marketing Module (EMM), you already know the value of staying connected with audiences. But what about the contacts who haven’t interacted with your emails in months?
Sending emails to people who never open them can hurt deliverability; email providers see low engagement as a sign your messages are not wanted, which can cause future emails to land in spam. To protect your sender reputation, it’s important to focus on engaging active audiences and to regularly unsubscribe non-readers.
Therefore, it’s time for a list cleanup — and we've got a thoughtful, relationship-centered approach to help you do it right.
Step 1: Define What "Inactive" Means for You
Start by identifying what counts as inactivity. Generally, contacts are considered inactive if they have not opened or clicked on an email in the last three to 12 months. Your definition might vary depending on how often you send emails:
- Weekly emails: Inactive after 3 months
- Monthly emails: Inactive after 6 to 12 months
Use Pinwheel’s Number of Opens and Last Open date columns in the Contacts grid to get a list of who is not engaging. There are a variety of ways to identify these contacts, but try this one to begin with: Start by filtering the list using the funnel icon in the Number of Opens column to show only contacts with 0 opens. Then, sort by the # of Campaigns column by clicking the header twice; this will bring the contacts who’ve received the most campaigns to the top. You may find that some have received hundreds of emails without ever opening one. For these contacts, click the pencil icon in the Status column and change the status from "Subscribed" to "Unsubscribed". If you're not ready to unsubscribe them yet, proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: Run a Re-Engagement Campaign
Before removing anyone from your list, give them a chance to re-engage. A re-engagement campaign can reignite interest and save valuable contacts.
Try subject lines like:
- “Still want to hear from us?”
- “We miss you! Let us know you’re still interested.”
Here’s a sample message you can customize:
Hi,
We have missed having you as part of our story!
Thanks to supporters like you, here’s what we’ve accomplished recently:
✅ [Short impact stat or story — e.g., “Over 500 families received vital support this winter.”]
✅ [Another impact point — “We launched a new program for underserved youth.”]
Your past interest in our mission truly made a difference. And while we haven’t heard from you in a while, we’d love to reconnect — your voice, your presence, and your passion still matter.
If our work still resonates with you, please click below to stay in touch.
Yes, Keep Me Updated [link to your website]
With gratitude,
[Your Organization Name]
[Contact Info | Social Links]
P.S. If you'd prefer to unsubscribe, click below.
If the contact opens the email and clicks the link, great! They’re re-engaged. If not, it might be time to let them go.
Step 3: Mark Inactive Contacts as Unsubscribed
Once you feel confident that some contacts are not going to engage with your emails, it's time to let them go! Rather than deleting contacts, mark them as unsubscribed. This approach:
- Retains engagement history
- Prevents future sends to uninterested contacts
- Avoids accidental re-imports later on
To do this in Pinwheel: Go to the Contacts grid, sort by Opens or Last Open, review engagement, then update the Status column from “Subscribed” to “Unsubscribed.”
Conclusion – A Smaller List Can Mean a Stronger One
List cleaning isn’t about reducing your reach — it’s about refining it. By giving inactive supporters a chance to reconnect and respectfully retiring disengaged contacts, your messages will land where they matter most.
Need help cleaning your list? Contact us at support@pinwheel.us — we’re here to help you build lasting connections!
