--- title: Email Marketing Strategy, Database Decay and How to Manage It description: At the start of a digital transformation, the resellers biggest marketing return on investment is likely to come from its email marketing strategy. Earning new contacts to replace those lost through natural database decay is an important part of the process for resellers to understand. --- [![Digitol Services](https://info.digitolservices.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Digitol%20%26%20E%26S%20Co-Branding%20Logo.png?width=131&height=64&name=Digitol%20%26%20E%26S%20Co-Branding%20Logo.png "Digitol Services")](https://www.EandSsolutions.com) - [Home](https://eandssolutions.com) - [About Us](https://eandssolutions.com/about-us/) - [About Us](https://eandssolutions.com/about-us/) - [Endorsements](https://eandssolutions.com/about-us/endorsements/) - [Privacy Policy](https://eandssolutions.com/about-us/privacy-policy/) - [Expertise](https://eandssolutions.com/expertise/) - [Business](https://eandssolutions.com/business/) - [Finance](https://eandssolutions.com/business/finance/) - [Planning & Strategy](https://eandssolutions.com/business/business-planning/) - [Operations Management](https://eandssolutions.com/business/operations-management/) - [Supply Chain](https://eandssolutions.com/business/supply-chain-for-small-business/) - [Intellectual Property](https://eandssolutions.com/business/intellectual-property/) - [Mergers and Acquisitions](http://eandssolutions.com/business/mergers-and-acquisitions/) - [Sales & Marketing](https://eandssolutions.com/sales-marketing/) - [CRM](https://eandssolutions.com/sales-marketing/crm/) - [E-commerce](https://eandssolutions.com/sales-marketing/e-commerce/) - [Digital Marketing](https://eandssolutions.com/sales-marketing/digital-marketing/) - [Social Media Strategy](https://eandssolutions.com/sales-marketing/social-media-strategy/) - [Sales Channel Development](https://eandssolutions.com/sales-marketing/sales-channel-development/) - [Technology](http://eandssolutions.com/technology/) - [IT Systems](https://eandssolutions.com/technology/it-systems/) - [Software Development](https://eandssolutions.com/technology/software/) - [Digitol](https://eandssolutions.com/digitol-solution/) - [Free Tools](https://eandssolutions.com/free-tools/) - [Blog](http://blog.eandssolutions.com/blog) - [Contact Us](http://blog.eandssolutions.com/contact) Search … Search ![keyboard2.jpg](https://info.digitolservices.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ExecutiveStrategicSolutions_Sep2016/Layout/keyboard2.jpg?width=1280&name=keyboard2.jpg "keyboard2.jpg") # The Great Office Supplies Caper ## Email Marketing Strategy, Database Decay and How to Manage It by [Ian M. Elliott](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/author/ian-m-elliott) | 5/9/17 7:43 AM Find me on: [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Executive-Strategic-Solutions/235034643185168) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottian) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/elliott_ian) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ## Email contact databases degrade by an average of 22.5% every year. ## It’s imperative to implement a strategy to make up for these lost contacts. ### Why is there so much churn in your contact database? - **Contacts’ email addresses change as they move from one company to another** - About four-million Americans' are constantly in the process of changing jobs and changing jobs means obsoleting one email address and generating one new one. - **Abandoning obsolete email addresses that are no longer required** - On average email users have three or more email accounts and one or more of these may not be used frequently or regularly monitored. Eventually users close the unnecessary accounts. - **Unqualified and disengaged leads opt out of your email communications** - Depending on how you built your email contact database will determine how qualified your contacts are. However, even if they're qualified, they won't engage unless the content you distribute to them is relevant, interesting, and valuable. ### How does this impact your marketing activities? Your list is going to get smaller every year if you don’t generate enough new leads to make up for this loss. So, unless you're constantly refreshing your database with new leads, your marketing strategy will be based on a deteriorating asset. ### What can you do about it? Email marketing database decay is a fact of marketing life. Even if you improve your unsubscribe rates, you can’t stop people from changing their email addresses. *But, you can implement inbound and deploy strategies to compensate for decay and build your contact database over time ...* Companies implementing an inbound marketing strategy typically double their website visitor traffic and double their conversion rates from website visitors. In 2014, more than twice as many marketers cited inbound (45%) as their primary source of leads versus outbound (22%). Couple this with the fact that inbound tactics like blogging and social media cost 62% less than other lead generation methods, and you can see why generating a consistent flow of inbound leads is the best way to overcome database decay and a pre-requisite to running successful marketing automation campaigns. > ***Adjust the data in any field colored green in the simulator model below and see how inbound marketing can help overcome database decay while simultaneously increasing inbound web traffic!*** See how Digitol can help you expand your contact database. [An email strategy for office products resellers](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/office-products-resellers-and-the-importance-of-email-marketing) is a critical component of a business transformation strategy necessary to help improve the future for office supplies dealerships. Despite a mature industry that's starting to decline in terms of overall retail dollars spent, [there remains an office products growth opportunity](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/office-supplies-dealerships-and-revenue-growth-in-declining-markets) for which the door can be opened to when dealers lead with the value proposition of aftermarket office supplies. However, in order to take advantage of the opportunity, it's necessary to implement and effectively use an integrated information technology platform for handling big data and automation.   Don't let database decay destroy your marketing efforts. Digitol's turn-key solution for office products resellers provides all the tools you need to drive more traffic to your website, and then convert these visitors into new contacts. [![Learn More About Digitol](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/af942b1f-a981-4db2-b2b8-1a558e1e65ed.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/af942b1f-a981-4db2-b2b8-1a558e1e65ed) **Sources:** - [TowerD@ta - Keeping Pace with Email Data Decay](http://www.towerdata.com/blog/bid/117701/Good-Addresses-Go-Bad-Keeping-Pace-with-Email-Data-Decay-Gets-Harder) - [Marketing Sherpa and email contact decay](https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/heres-how-to-follow-them) - [HubSpot and Contact List Analytics](https://blog.hubspot.com/customers/list-analytics-database-decay) - [Case Studies - HubSpot Customer Success Stories](https://www.hubspot.com/customers) - [Zoom Info and the costly impact of data decay](https://www.slideshare.net/ZoomInfo/the-costly-impact-of-data-decay-infographic) Topics: [Business Transformation](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/business-transformation), [Inbound Marketing](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/inbound-marketing), [Web Traffic](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/web-traffic) ### Subscribe to Email Updates ## ![Digitol Logo](https://info.digitolservices.com/hs-fs/hubfs/EandS_Solutions/Blog_Images/DIGITOL_logo_HiRes.png?width=200&name=DIGITOL_logo_HiRes.png "Digitol Logo") Become a founding member of our Digital Business Transformation Service! Learn more with a no-obligation phone consultation. [![Learn More](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/cef2e462-845b-41a2-b17e-511743e2c14c.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/cef2e462-845b-41a2-b17e-511743e2c14c) ### The Office Products Trilogy ##### Free e-Books Authored by a 35-year executive veteran of the Office Products and Supplies industry and containing unique perspectives on the industry, the modern digital world, and roadmaps for independent office products resellers to set off down the path toward digital transformations. **Book 1** - *The Path to a Business Transformation* [![Free e-Book DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Click Here for Access](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/e5cfbfc9-5025-45bf-aae4-8667e0394fdc.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/e5cfbfc9-5025-45bf-aae4-8667e0394fdc) **Book 2** - *Mergers & Acquisitions: A $20 Billion Growth Opportunity* [![Free e-Book MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS Click Here for Access](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/e492f60b-40c4-47ac-a016-98d7aed323f4.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/e492f60b-40c4-47ac-a016-98d7aed323f4) **Book 3** - *How the Industry has Failed the Resellers* [![Free e-Book INDUSTRY FAILS RESELLERS Click Here for Access](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/6050472f-7fae-4de4-b9f9-d25f0fc8be11.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/6050472f-7fae-4de4-b9f9-d25f0fc8be11) ### Calculating Returns ##### For your Digital Strategy The world has transformed from analog to digital. Digital equals data and most business operators don't like messing with data! **Check out our suite of Business Calculators!** - Break the problem down into manageable segments. - Interactive - experiment and watch the results. - Develop a better understanding of how to translate effort into results. **Essential business tools to help you manage your digital transformation!** [![Calculators Click Here](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/061e5699-fff0-4e75-a389-3429d133ef87.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/061e5699-fff0-4e75-a389-3429d133ef87) ### Business Projection Model Download our *FREE* proprietary business projection model. It's been built to demonstrate a path for growth and profit potential that can be achieved in the office products channel on the back of an integrated business platform suitable for the 21st-century digital environment! [![Financial Plan Modeling Platform Start Here](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/13deb993-4160-408a-b023-b55419f42867.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/13deb993-4160-408a-b023-b55419f42867) ### IT Scorecard Download our proprietary Information Technology worksheet. Select answers from pre-populated drop-downs and develop your own task list and priorities for implementing a fully integrated software platform. Once an integrated technology platform is established then start to have some fun transforming a business while leveraging technology ***and ***personality. [![Access Free IT Scorecard](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/885654/8bd222da-4d6c-422c-92f3-5d4ba8006304.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/885654/8bd222da-4d6c-422c-92f3-5d4ba8006304) ### Posts by Topic - [Business Transformation (101)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/business-transformation) - [Industry News (43)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/industry-news) - [Web Traffic (37)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/web-traffic) - [Small Business (30)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/small-business) - [E-commerce (26)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/e-commerce) - [Inbound Marketing (26)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/inbound-marketing) - [Information Technology (26)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/information-technology) - [Social Media (21)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/social-media) - [Intellectual Property (16)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/intellectual-property) - [Mergers & Acquisitions (11)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/mergers-acquisitions) - [Business Planning (8)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/business-planning) - [CRM (5)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/crm) - [Big Data (4)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/big-data) - [Channel Convergence (2)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/channel-convergence) - [Operations Management (1)](https://info.digitolservices.com/blog/topic/operations-management) see all ### [Relevant Reading](http://blog.eandssolutions.com/blog/rss.xml) ### Free Tools - [Business Projection Model](https://info.eandssolutions.com/why-must-you-have-a-financial-plan) - [Business Transformation eBook](https://info.eandssolutions.com/building-blocks-for-restructuring-a-business-for-success) - [IT Scorecard](https://info.eandssolutions.com/it-platform-for-small-biz-to-compete-in-digital-world) ### Contact Us Executive & Strategic Solutions LLC P.O. 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