How Long is an HCP Email List Good For?

Maintaining a high-quality contact list of your HCP audience is an essential aspect of any successful email marketing strategy. And while sourcing the best possible lists for your campaigns is vital, just as important is knowing when to clean or replace them.

All HCP email lists degrade over time, and if you aren’t keeping up with these changes, you’ll be wasting money and resources trying to reach people who aren’t there. 

Determining how frequently you should scrub or replace them will help ensure your campaigns engage the greatest number of valid, up-to-date leads, for years to come. 

The Importance of Maintaining a Clean, Robust Email List 

According to global software solutions provider Veeva, 30 percent of HCP interactions occur through digital channels—making email one of the most reliable and cost-effective ways to engage with your target audiences.

In B2B healthcare marketing, the effectiveness of your campaigns relies heavily on the quality and health of your contact database, which can significantly impact key performance metrics and contribute to the overall success of your marketing efforts. 

Here are several advantages of a well-maintained list. 

Lowers Bounce Rates

A bounce occurs when a message is undeliverable, either because the recipient's address is invalid or a server rejects it. Regularly cleaning and maintaining contacts reduces bounce rates—guaranteeing messages reach intended recipients without hindrances.

Enhances Deliverability

Internet service providers (ISPs) employ sophisticated algorithms to determine whether an email should be delivered to a recipient's inbox, spam folder, or be blocked entirely. A clean and up-to-date list with a low bounce rate improves deliverability rates—so messages always land in the primary inboxes of HCPs.

Averts Spam Filters

Spam filters are designed to protect users from unwanted and potentially harmful messaging. A high bounce rate, excessive complaints, or irrelevant content can trigger spam filters, causing legitimate messages to be flagged as spam. Contact lists of accurate and engaged target audiences minimize the chances of being classified as spam.

Ensures Sender Reputation

ISPs assess a sender's reputation based on various factors, including past behavior, engagement rates, and spam complaints. This plays a pivotal role in determining the success of campaigns. A clean and active HCP roster positively impacts your sender reputation, leading to better deliverability and increased trust among ISPs.

Improves Cost Efficiencies 

Maintaining a clean and robust contact catalog is not only vital for marketing effectiveness, but also for cost efficiencies. Deploying to invalid or non-existent addresses wastes valuable resources and negatively impacts marketing budgets. 

Factors That Make Your Lists Untidy

When auditing your HCP contacts, it’s important to know the considerations contributing to their untidiness, so you can be aware of potential issues or redundancies, and scrub your databases early on.

Taking stock of your emails can often reveal incorrect or low-quality contacts that do nothing for your campaigns, often attributable to the following:

• Incorrect/Inaccurate Information - This frequently arises from human error—typically when either a member of your team or a prospective lead inputs data with typos, in the wrong fields, or logs incomplete information. 
• Data Decay - This is the gradual decline of data quality due to outdated information such as email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, job titles, or other details.
• Data Duplication - Details were entered multiple times in your database. 
• Inconsistent Formatting - Your databases lack standardized fields and information requirements, which can lead to errors and difficulty sending and monitoring accurate leads. 

Verify how lists were compiled—whether they were gathered from public sources or obtained directly from HCPs for marketing purposes. The gold standard is double opt-in, where HCPs explicitly agree to receive communications and subsequently confirm their consent.

Keeping track of these factors will help your lists stay organized and valid with only the best contacts for your campaigns. 

Track Your Metrics 

Every contact database needs to be reviewed and evaluated regularly, but there are a variety of useful metrics that can help you determine just how frequently to audit them. 

Begin by reviewing your engagement metrics following every send. This will help you gain a better idea of how healthy your list is, and how often it will need to be updated. Also compare the analytics of your previous campaigns—even against industry competitors—to see if any patterns emerge that could help inform your overall strategy. 

The most important data points you should keep track of include: 

• Unsubscribes
• Open Rates
• Click-Throughs
• Spam Complaints

Look for red flags such as noticeable declines in open and click-through rates among your recent campaigns, as well as the number of people unsubscribing or reporting your messages as spam. 

Periodically removing unengaged contacts will ultimately help keep them accurate and more effective in the long run, so you can market only to those healthcare providers who want to receive your emails.

The more often you evaluate your KPIs, the easier to find patterns of inactive or incorrect HCPs, and the longer your lists remain valid and effective. So be sure to review your progress regularly.

Conduct Regular List Maintenance

Your databases require regular maintenance, because contacts will become inactive over time. Either due to changes in employment, practice location, internet provider, or address preferences, about 1 percent of healthcare industry email addresses become invalid every month, according to healthcare marketing data provider DMD. 

It’s therefore advisable to scrub your lists at least once every six months. Depending on their size, you may need to assess them more frequently if they are larger, or less often if smaller. 

Where and how you sourced them will also determine how easy or difficult they’ll be to update and verify—but consistent upkeep helps improve the effectiveness of your campaigns and ensure your lists remain valid and healthy for years.

Prioritizing data accuracy, regularly updating and cleaning, and maintaining compliance with data protection regulations builds a strong foundation for effective communication with healthcare professionals—leading to increased engagement, conversions, and long-term business growth.

Partner With PDQ Communications for Access to High-Quality Lists

Working with healthcare marketing partner PDQ Communications provides access to the best quality healthcare provider email lists for your specific campaign needs. Our well-maintained and expertly segmented contact databases are guaranteed to help increase your reach and ensure the maximum return on your overall investment. 

Contact PDQ Communications today to optimize your email marketing strategy!