A common question from restaurant marketers: If sending emails costs nothing, what’s the harm in keeping non-responders on the list? After all, there’s always a chance they will open an email someday, right?
Not exactly. Keeping disengaged recipients on your list does more harm than good. Unopened emails signal to providers like Gmail and Outlook that your messages are not welcome, increasing the risk they will be filtered as spam. When that happens, your emails do not just get ignored. They may never reach any inbox at all, even for engaged customers who expect to hear from you.
Regularly purging non-responders keeps your email marketing effective and ensures your messages reach the right audience. Here is why it matters:
Three Benefits of Cleaning Up Your Email List
✅ Better Deliverability: A regularly maintained email list reduces bounce rates and keeps your messages in inboxes instead of spam folders. According to Kickbox, email list cleaning improves deliverability by reducing the chances of messages being marked as spam.
✅ Higher Engagement: By focusing on active recipients, you will see stronger open rates, click-throughs, and overall campaign performance. Campaign Monitor notes that low open rates signal to ISPs that your content may not be relevant, which can harm your sender reputation.
✅ Smarter Spending: Even if email is low-cost, resources like design, content and automation can still add up. Keeping a lean, engaged list maximizes the return on every campaign. According to Mailchimp, high engagement boosts deliverability and ensures email clients recognize you as a trusted sender.
How to Clean Your List (Without Losing Potential Guests)
Rather than removing contacts outright, take a strategic approach to re-engage before purging:
Identify Non-Responders – Segment your list to find recipients who have not opened or clicked an email within a specific timeframe. That timeframe is dependent on your email frequency and audience engagement patterns.
Some general guidelines:
30 Days: Best for high-frequency senders (daily or multiple times within a week). If subscribers haven’t engaged in a month, they’re likely disinterested.
60 Days: A good middle ground for brands that send weekly emails. Two months may capture seasonal fluctuations while filtering out disengaged recipients.
90 Days: Recommended for restaurants that email less frequently (monthly or bi-weekly). If someone hasn’t opened an email offer in three or more months, they are out of the engagement cycle.
Run a Re-Engagement Campaign – Before you remove non-responders from your lists entirely, you might want to try once more to get them back on board with a Re-Engagement Campaign. Send targeted emails encouraging them to confirm interest, update preferences, or take action. ZeroBounce highlights that a clean email list provides more reliable data on engagement metrics, helping to refine future campaigns.
Some ideas to inspire re-engagement:
Verify Your Credentials or Login Reminder: If your restaurant group has an online ordering platform or loyalty program, send a message reminding inactive users to log in and check their rewards balance.
“You haven’t logged in for a while…don’t miss out on your rewards/exclusive offers waiting for you!”
Preference Update/Personalization Check-In: Give your subscribers a chance to tailor their experience rather than opt-out entirely. Ask them to update their preferences. This makes the recipient feel in control, and reduces lost subscribers due to irrelevant messaging.
“Still interested? Let’s make sure you’re getting the offers you actually want.”
Offer frequency options to receive emails less often (e.g. – weekly, monthly, only for special offers)
Let them choose specific content (like deals, events or loyalty perks)
Showcase What’s New: Highlight recent updates like seasonal menu additions or upcoming events. If your restaurant group has multiple locations, shine a spotlight on what’s happening across the brand.
“Here’s what you’ve been missing…check out the latest from [Restaurant Name]”
The ‘Hail Mary’: If none of the above is working, you’re nearly ready to say goodbye, with one last exception: a last-chance incentive to re-engage the guest. We should note that this quality of guest may not be worth saving, but if you want to be absolutely sure you’ve done everything to keep this audience, try this:
“We haven’t heard from you! Get [exclusive offer] before we remove you from our list.”
The incentive you offer should be weighed against the value of the guest: don’t lose money trying to attract a guest that hasn’t engaged in a while, but reward someone who responds.
Make it clear that the recipient will be removed if they fail to respond.
Remove Unengaged Contacts – If they remain inactive, it is time to let them go.
How Fishbowl GRM Helps You Stay Focused on the Right Audience
Managing this process manually is time-consuming, but Fishbowl's GRM makes it easy. With on-demand segmentation and campaign tools, you can clean your list in minutes, improving engagement without extra hassle.
BTW...wondering why we link to competitor email solutions in this article? Because Fishbowl was built for restaurants before other email platforms were even on the map. We've been serving this industry since day one, crafting the most comprehensive, restaurant-first email solution, now a core part of our GRM, the modern marketing engine that connects guest data to real engagement and long-term loyalty.
Want to make sure your emails reach the right guests? Let’s talk. Visit us here.
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