Since you are reading this, it's likely you already know that email addresses at certain Orange, Wanadoo, and Freeserve domains will soon be no more and you simply want to know what you as a sender should do about it. I will certainly touch on how senders should address this change below. But first, in case you aren’t clear on what’s happening, I’ll quickly recap the issue.
EE (Everything Everywhere), the parent company that owns Orange, Freeserve, and Wanadoo, announced that they are closing Orange Email on May 31, 2017. This means that email addresses at the following domains will no longer be valid after May 31:
After May 31, any delivery attempts to addresses at the above domains will be unsuccessful and will bounce. Spikes in email bounces can harm your email deliverability so it's important to prepare for the upcoming closures.
So, how should you as a sender react to this news? There are two issues here to address. First, remove addresses at the above domains from your list on May 31. This will help you avoid spikes in bounce rates and unnecessary sending costs related to sending to nonexistent addresses.
The second issue to address is how best to maintain as many Orange email subscribers as possible as those users shift to different inbox providers. This challenge presents senders a unique opportunity to refresh your relationship with those subscribers. Once you’ve segmented out addresses at the impacted domains, here are some strategies you might consider to help make the most of this situation:
Send a couple of emails specifically to those subscribers prior to May 31, with an invitation to update or provide a new email address.
If you have collected your subscribers’ names along with their email addresses, consider using personalization in your subject lines to help your campaign stand out in the inbox.
Consider including a short blurb that reinforces why they want to continue hearing from you (the benefits to them) and properly sets expectations of what they can expect from your brand. Re-establishing the relationship and reinforcing the benefit your subscriber will receive from your emails boosts future engagement with those subscribers.
Provide those subscribers with the ability to indicate at what frequency they’d like to receive from you. Linking to a preference center is a great way to give subscribers more control over their experience with your emails and, thus, helps to improve your overall engagement and ability to reach the inbox.
For subscribers who provide a new email address, consider sending the updated email address a specialized re-welcome message or series. These recipients are likely using a brand new inbox. Making sure to send them relevant content soon after they’ve provided the new email address will help build good engagement and inbox placement moving forward.
Be creative and give special attention to any points where you are able to reinforce your brand’s value to your subscribers. While it’s never fun to lose subscribers from your list, being proactive with retaining those users gives you, the sender, a great opportunity to turn a negative into a positive by strengthening the relationship between your brand and your subscribers.
Have more questions about the closures or are looking for more advice? Check out SendGrid's Expert Services–an entire team dedicated to making sure your email reaches the inbox.
