What are the benefits of sunsetting inactive contacts?
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When you sunset inactive contacts, your sender reputation improves immediately. ISPs see you only mailing engaged subscribers. Your inbox placement goes up. Complaint rates drop. That's the main win: more of your mail reaches inboxes instead of spam folders.
You also get cleaner metrics. Your open rate isn't dragged down by thousands of silent addresses. You stop paying ESP fees for people who never open. You eliminate the risk of hitting recycled spam traps that damage your score. Getting your complaint rate under 0.1 percent and bounces under 2 percent isn't just nice to have. It's the foundation of being able to mail at volume.
The side benefit most senders overlook: a smaller, healthier list is easier to manage and segment. You can run targeted re-engagement on genuinely interested people instead of blasting everyone. Start by identifying your oldest inactive segment and run a sunset test with them first.
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