Email Marketing terms

Suppression List

A list of email addresses that an organization will not send emails to, often because of hard bounces, unsubscribes, or spam complaints.

What is a suppression list in email marketing?

A suppression list in email marketing is a list of email addresses to which you do not send any email campaigns or communications. This list is used to prevent businesses from sending unwanted emails to certain recipients. These recipients could be individuals who have unsubscribed from your emails, those who have complained about your emails, or those whose emails have bounced back multiple times due to invalid addresses.

The use of a suppression list is a best practice in email marketing as it helps maintain the reputation of the sender and ensures compliance with email laws and regulations. It also improves the effectiveness of email campaigns by focusing on engaged and interested recipients, thereby reducing the risk of being marked as spam.

How does a suppression list work in email marketing?

A suppression list in email marketing is a list of email addresses to which email communication will not be sent. This list is used to prevent sending unwanted emails to certain recipients. The list can include people who have unsubscribed from your emails, those who have marked your emails as spam, or those who have not engaged with your emails over a certain period of time.

When an email campaign is launched, the email marketing software checks the recipient list against the suppression list. Any email addresses that appear on both lists are removed from the campaign, ensuring that no emails are sent to those addresses. This helps to maintain a good sender reputation, improve email deliverability rates, and comply with email marketing laws and regulations.

In addition to this, a suppression list can also be used to exclude certain segments of your audience from a specific campaign. For example, if you're running a promotion for new customers, you can add your existing customers' email addresses to a suppression list to ensure they don't receive the promotional emails. This allows for more targeted and effective email marketing campaigns.

Why is a suppression list important in email marketing?

A suppression list is crucial in email marketing for several reasons. Firstly, it helps businesses comply with anti-spam laws by ensuring that individuals who have opted out of receiving marketing emails are not contacted again. This not only protects the rights of the consumer but also safeguards the reputation of the business by preventing it from being labeled as a spammer.

Secondly, a suppression list can improve the effectiveness of an email marketing campaign. By removing uninterested parties from the mailing list, businesses can focus their efforts on potential customers who are more likely to engage with their content and make a purchase. This can lead to higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, thereby increasing the return on investment for the campaign.

How can I create and manage a suppression list in email marketing?

Creating a suppression list in email marketing involves identifying and compiling a list of contacts who should not receive your email campaigns. This could be due to various reasons such as they have unsubscribed, their emails bounced back multiple times, or they marked your emails as spam. Most email marketing platforms, like MailChimp or Constant Contact, have built-in features to help you manage suppression lists. You can manually add or remove contacts, or the system will automatically update the list based on user actions like unsubscribing or marking emails as spam.

Managing a suppression list is crucial to maintain the health of your email marketing campaigns. Regularly review and update your list to ensure it's accurate. Remove any contacts who have re-subscribed or shown interest in your emails. Also, make sure to respect the wishes of those who have chosen to unsubscribe by keeping them on the suppression list. This not only helps to maintain good relationships with your contacts but also ensures compliance with email marketing laws and regulations.

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