Why Quality Beats Quantity in Email Broadcasts

When it comes to email marketing, many campaigns assume that more contacts = more success. But the truth is, the quality of your contacts is far more important than the sheer size of your list. A smaller, more engaged audience consistently outperforms a massive list of unqualified or disengaged contacts.

This principle becomes even clearer when you compare results from audiences built through permission-based opt-ins versus lists acquired via list swaps, purchases, or poorly targeted signups.

The Risks of a “Quantity First” Approach

Sending campaigns to a very large but poorly targeted list might seem like casting a wide net—but in reality, it damages your email performance. Here’s why:

• Low engagement signals: Inbox providers (like Gmail and Outlook) measure open rates, clicks, and engagement. If most recipients don’t engage, your deliverability suffers.
• Spam and bounce risks: List swaps or purchased lists often contain stale, uninterested, or invalid emails. This can trigger spam filters or even get you blacklisted.
• Wasted effort: Crafting campaigns for people who never open them is a poor use of resources.

Real-World Example: From 700,000 Contacts to 58,000

Let's look at a real-world example with a campaign who started sending to a massive audience of nearly 700,000 contacts. Most of these names came from aggressive acquisition methods, including list swaps. Their results were underwhelming:

• Starting point:
  • Audience size: 696,069
  • Open rate: 0.21%
  • Opens: 1,462

Over the next 30 days, the campaign shifted to focusing only on quality, opted-in contacts. This meant reducing the number of unengaged contacts with each send in their audience over a 30 day period, ending with an audience of just 58,994 contacts.

• After 30 days:
  • Audience size: 58,994
  • Open rate: 47.1%
  • Opens: 27,792

📈 Result: Even though the list shrank by more than 90%, the number of opens skyrocketed by nearly 20x.

Why This Happens

1. Inbox providers reward engagement
   Smaller, high-quality lists generate stronger engagement signals, improving inbox placement.
2. Relevance builds trust
   When people actually want your emails, they open, click, and engage.
3. Compounding effects
   Each positive signal (like higher open rates) makes it more likely that future emails land in the inbox instead of spam.