RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.
Sending emails is just as much about who not to send them to as it is about who you should send them to.
Yep, you read that right!
Not everyone should get your emails.
In email marketing, a lot of our attention goes to one thing: who to send to.
We obsess endlessly about lists, segments, flows, campaigns, all designed around getting the right message in front of the right people.
That also means that being intentional and tactical about who shouldn’t get an email is a key consideration (and if it isn’t already, it should be!), and going beyond basic list hygiene and unsubscribes into a full exclusion strategy.
If you want to avoid friction, misalignment, and confusion in your customer journey, you need to implement an exclusion strategy and repeatedly ask yourself “Who shouldn’t receive this message?”.
So, what is an exclusion strategy, and how do you get started on building an exclusion strategy in your email marketing?
It’s annoying, and more importantly, it’s confusing.
You’ve just bought something, and you haven’t even received it… so why are they trying to sell you something else?
This is a classic case of no exclusion strategy.
B2B example:
A client downloads a whitepaper.
They’re already a paying customer, but they get entered into a sales automation funnel meant for leads.
Cue the flood of “book a call!” CTAs and cold nurture emails that aren’t remotely suitable for them and their circumstances.
Or let’s say a lead received email comms from both the sales and marketing team — with no coordination.
One message says “speak to sales” while the other says “learn more.”
Yet again - you guessed it - no exclusion strategy.
Here’s how you can get started embedding exclusion strategies into your email process as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Use this handy checklist to see if an exclusions strategy is needed before you send any - and we mean any - email:
This is where most teams fall short.
Rather than having a centralised view, they might think about exclusions on a per-campaign basis.
You need an exclusion map — one place where the whole team (sales, marketing, service, product) can see:
This should be treated like an operational blueprint that keeps all parties informed and in sync:
Having this all under one roof means that you’ll be avoiding the usual pitfalls:
We don’t want to say that it’s outdated to view each element of email being under the sole ownership of a specific department, but… it kind of is.
It’s about creating a mindset shift.
Rather than “marketing owns email” or “sales owns lead nurturing”, think in terms of “what is the experience we’re giving our audience?”.
Exclusion strategies cut through the noise and create cohesion because your email marketing revolves around the important concept that it’s not about sending more, it’s about sending smarter.
It might seem easier to slip into the mode of ‘more sends = more results’ sometimes when email marketing becomes overwhelming.
But that mindset leads to friction, unsubscribes, and missed opportunities that’ll only increase over time.
It’s better to lead with a thoughtful exclusion strategy in place so that:
If your emails are causing confusion or if you’re struggling with conflicting journeys, we offer strategic consultancy on building friction-free email programmes (without the faff!).
Have a chat with me to find out more about how I can help.
RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.