Importing Your Email List Just Got Easier

By March 23, 2015

Moving is never easy. From inevitably breaking at least one mug to traumatizing your cat for weeks, moving has a tendency to be a giant headache.

The same can be said of moving your email list to a different provider. Importing can be a real hassle, especially if your subscribers are required to reconfirm that they want to continue receiving your emails. You spent a lot of time building that list – you can’t risk breaking anything!


Great news: You can now import your subscribers into AWeber without requiring them to opt-in again. Yes, it’s true. You can import your list worry-free. Moving just got easier.

In fact, it’s as simple as flipping a switch.

It’s important to understand what this means for your email list, so let’s learn a little more about confirmed opt-in…

What’s confirmed opt-in?

Confirmed opt-in (COI) is an industry standard that reduces the risk of spam complaints from people on your list and ensures optimum deliverability. It weeds out spammers, bots and other malicious site visitors from your email list. The result is a healthier, more engaged list of subscribers.

Now, the fact that AWeber no longer requires COI doesn’t mean that your email list is a free-for-all, ready to be populated by an army of robots. The opposite is true. Your list still needs to be permission-based and healthy in order to send emails with AWeber.

What makes a healthy email list?

A healthy email list is full of people who want to be there. They opted into your list by choice because they’re interested in hearing from you in the future. Many of them regularly open your emails, click on your links and even make purchases.

An unhealthy email list contains spammers, bots and people who never opted into your list in the first place. A purchased list is a good example of this – sending to people who have no idea who you are officially makes you a spammer, and your deliverability will suffer.

Pro-tip: Still not sure if your email list is healthy? This checklist should help.

How do I build a healthy email list?

Your email list is like a car – regular maintenance will keep it running smoothly. Make sure your subscribers are active. The best way to do that is by identifying and removing inactive people from your list. Not ready to part with them just yet? You can also try to re-engage them using a reactivation campaign. Here’s how to run a reactivation campaign in five steps.

A healthy list needs lots of attention. If you promised a weekly newsletter in your sign up form, you should be delivering a newsletter once a week. If it’s been awhile since you last reached out to your subscribers, it’s once again time to run a reactivation campaign.

My list is healthy. How will imports without COI affect my email marketing?

For any lists that you have already imported to AWeber, nothing will change. If you have another healthy list that you’d like to import, moving that list to AWeber will be a snap. You won’t have to send an email to your subscribers asking them to opt-in again, and they probably won’t even notice that you changed email providers. Pretty easy, huh?

How will this affect my deliverability?

You’ll continue to have the same AWesome deliverability. For years, AWeber’s automated reputation system has been sifting, sorting and scoring every email being sent by every customer. It allows us to quickly identify and remove anyone who doesn’t follow email marketing best practices.

That system, along with the AWeber team, has evolved and become even better at identifying patterns that lie outside of expected norms. We’ll still have the same high standards for email, and you’ll still have the same great deliverability that you’ve come to expect from AWeber.

It’s never been easier to import your list to start sending great emails.

Ready to make the move from another provider? Our handy guides address common questions and concerns about switching.

Not an AWeber customer yet? Start your free trial today!

Posted By

Kristen Dunleavy

Former Content Marketing Specialist

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30 Comments

  1. Mario Edgar

    3/23/2015 4:40 pm

    Hello, good afternoon, just, tell them if you do not need to put all your emails in a Bulletin, so you can capture more leads and prospects, which can be Villains my clients.

    This, Can you explain me in detail.

  2. Dan

    3/25/2015 1:30 am

    Hi team,

    Am I right in saying I can use this feature to consolidate other lists into one, new list?

    Just export them, then import them to the new list?

    Thanks in advance.

  3. Brandon Olson

    4/2/2015 1:18 pm

    Hi Dan. Yes, this would allow you to do that. Our Customer Solutions team could also help with this.

  4. Svetlin Golemanski

    3/25/2015 3:11 am

    Does this apply to single AND bulk imports?

  5. Brandon Olson

    4/2/2015 1:17 pm

    Hi Svetlin. It applies to all imports.

  6. David

    3/27/2015 4:31 am

    This is amazing function. I may import more subscriber to my list. Easy to do it.

  7. Sue

    3/27/2015 9:45 am

    THIS makes things SO much easier!!! I wish this had been available when I converted to AWeber. I think its fantastic that you now allow this. Bravo!

  8. Lynn

    3/27/2015 2:25 pm

    Thank goodness! I almost regretted moving over to AWeber when I had to confront this dilemma. Great decision! I’m 100% onboard again!

  9. Rebekah Nemethy

    3/28/2015 11:31 pm

    I have spent HOURS moving my list here and then conversing back and forth with your customer service people BEGGING for this… thanks for finally listening.

    I’m very glad your future customers won’t have to lose as much hair as I did, and that I won’t have to lose more hair moving back to my old newsletter service. I’m happy to stay now that I can take emails at live events without worrying that it’s all for nothing. =) Thank you thank you thank you!!!

  10. Ryan

    3/30/2015 2:34 pm

    I have heard in the past that if you don’t use Awebers double opt-in settings that you are put onto email servers that have lesser deliver-ability than those who are using double opt-ins.

    My guess is Aweber is trying to compete with everyone else who offers importing lists. That’s fine, but please know as someone who practices having a healthy email list for years, that my aweber messages go to spam for some of my subscribers.

  11. Brandon Olson

    4/2/2015 1:48 pm

    Hi Ryan. Double opt-in will always help you ensure a more engaged subscriber base, so we always recommend that step. With that said, there are many factors that go into your email reputation. If you stay engaged with your subscribers and have clean lists, that will have a positive impact on your reputation and deliverability.

  12. Roy Ware

    3/30/2015 4:58 pm

    Kristen,

    This is really good news. The last I knew I could only put in one or two names a day manually into Aweber. I have motel guest that come to our motel that I would like to put in Aweber for specials, but I never have as it takes a lot of work to get them to the opt in stage. So Can I get your blogs sent directly to my
    Feeddler site. It follows certain blogs that I select and immediately sends to the new updated blog.

    thanks, Roy Ware Snap Fitess and now Super 8 Motels

  13. Angela

    3/31/2015 11:31 am

    I may break into interpretive dance. This is great. I’ve been running lists in multiple places to avoid the mess of importing.

  14. Kathie Kramer Ryan

    3/31/2015 11:38 am

    Hurrah – I’m ecstatic!! My #1 peeve with Aweber is now a non-issue. Thanks so much.

  15. Jason Didner

    3/31/2015 11:49 am

    This is a breakthrough for AWeber–a real world acknowledgement that people who sign up on paper want your emails and were’nt bought or obtained by bots. This will enable me to wind down my other mailing list provider anf go with AWeber 100%. Thanks for listening!

  16. John Yeoman

    3/31/2015 12:45 pm

    This is great news but it worries me. When I imported my own client list into AWeber some five years ago I had to jump through hoops to convince AWeber that my list had been ethically derived and that everyone listed actively wanted to be on the list. As they did. I now have a new list that I’d like to import in this way but… how will AWeber know that I’ve followed best practices in compiling it? In fact, I have. And my good track record with AWeber should testify to my bona fides. But won’t this relaxation of the rules let people put up ‘cold’ lists derived from directories, or scraped off the web, which would make a nonsense of the double-opt in principle?

  17. Brandon Olson

    4/2/2015 1:48 pm

    Hi John. We still require you to indicate where you obtained your list, as this is the first sign of a good list. When you import a list now, there’s a series of checks your list will go through to see if there are any glaring issues. We also take into account your history with AWeber (e.g., subscriber engagement, bounces, complaints, etc.). If you have a bad list, we will enforce COI and not provide the option for a bad list.

  18. Gifty

    3/31/2015 2:41 pm

    I am going to turn it on to receive all the benefits.

  19. Henrik

    3/31/2015 3:28 pm

    Great and good news – better late than never, we have been ready to move our email list to other vendors if that feature haven’t come through.

  20. Katherine

    3/31/2015 6:07 pm

    This is super helpful!

  21. Antione

    3/31/2015 6:26 pm

    This is Awesome

    Now I can import my leads without any hassle

    Awesome-Sauce “)

  22. Andrew

    3/31/2015 8:10 pm

    Wow. Genuinely surprised by this. Would love to know what finally made them change their minds on this. They’ve been like a dog with a bone on double opt-in for years.

  23. Robin Morton

    4/1/2015 7:03 am

    Great news! Not an April Fools Day trick I hope?
    Made my day anyway!

  24. Judy Thompson

    4/1/2015 10:51 am

    The flashing pop-up thing didn’t stay on long enough for me to read it. Once I was able to read it I still didn’t know know what it meant. I’m sure it is useful and important. I wish I knew what you were talking about.

  25. Donna

    4/1/2015 6:03 pm

    Thanks for this new option. You saved me from switching back to my original provider. Thanks a bunch because I really like Aweber the best.

  26. Jason Mclean

    4/2/2015 4:23 pm

    Great addition to a great product AWeber. Just so everyone knows there is also a product which will automatically consolidate customer information from the best POS and eCommerce platforms directly into AWeber.
    Find out more in the link below.

    http://mailsyncapp.com/Connections/AWeber

  27. Sisada

    4/3/2015 3:05 am

    Thanks for sharing this. Now I can import my email list now..

  28. Mike Herberts

    4/10/2015 8:50 am

    Well……what took you so long? I asked years ago that us long term customers (with proven credentials) should be allowed to do this. Thanks finally ;0)

  29. David

    4/13/2015 9:53 am

    Hi

    So there’s really no risk anymore in importing my list from another provider to Aweber, as long as my list is a healthy list? You write something about having a history with Aweber: What if I don’t have a history with you, will that be negative? The ‘horror stories’ from the past about losing much of your list when changing provider are therefore not valid anymore, at least not when importing a healthy list in Aweber?

    I am considering to change to Aweber, so this info is critical.

    Thanks you in advance for your thoughts
    David

  30. Kristen Dunleavy

    4/15/2015 10:55 am

    Hi David,

    When a list is uploaded, we do review the ‘health’ of that list based on the kinds of addresses being imported. Based on that, we would approve or reject the import. As long as you have a healthy email list, you will not have any issues importing subscribers, and your subscribers will not have to opt into your list again. Let me know if this answers your questions. I hope you do decide to join AWeber!

    Kristen