What is an Email Distribution List, and How Does It Scale Your Marketing Efforts?
Email marketing is the cornerstone of any successful marketing strategy — it lets you send messages to multiple contacts at the same time.
When people started using email, they manually entered email addresses in the ‘TO’ or ‘BCC’ fields. This consumed solid time and increased room for human errors.
Thankfully, email service platforms and email programs evolved to automate this process, allowing for easy list building, segmentation, and sending targeted messages to a large audience.
An email distribution list helps you send messages to a group of contacts with a single click. Any email program you use, such as Gmail or Outlook can help you send messages to the same people without manually adding email addresses each time.
We’ll review how these simple tools can be leveraged to scale your marketing efforts. Let’s ditch the blast-and-pray approach and unlock the potential of email distribution lists.
What is an Email Distribution List?
An email distribution list is similar to a mailing list for the digital age — it’s a collection of email addresses that allows you to send emails to many people without manually entering their addresses.
In simpler terms, you can add a single email address in the ‘To’ field and all your subscribers on the distribution list will receive the message. Recipients can be grouped based on specific criteria, such as customers, employees, or partners to target relevant messages to these audiences.
Distribution lists save time and effort, especially when sending regular mass emails, email newsletters, or updates to a larger audience.
The Benefits of Using an Email Distribution List
Imagine having an alternative solution to typing out email addresses into the BCC fields of your email client. An email distribution list increases efficiency by providing a single storage space for all your contact groups.
For example, if you send emails to your team regularly, you can use those contacts to create the distribution group in your email program, and reduce the risk of missing email addresses or sending out the wrong messages.
Email groups are a collection of email addresses that function as a single recipient in your inbox’s ‘TO’ field. Although they share similar attributes to distribution lists, groups can go a step further by offering collaborative tools such as a shared mailbox or calendar.
You can have multiple email distribution lists, and just type the list name to send the message to all contacts in that group.
Email distribution lists are advantageous for various reasons, including:
- Preventing duplicate work: Do you have a contact group you email consistently? An email distribution list can eliminate redundancies and minimize your workload of entering each email address manually.
- Saving time: If you need to communicate with the same group regularly, a distribution list allows you to send messages with a few clicks.
- Improving communication: Adding the email addresses to the distribution list ensures all your contacts receive the email messages.
- Increasing scalability: You can easily add or remove members based on changing needs. This also lets you prioritize users’ communication preferences and know your email unsubscribe rate.
- Minimizing human errors: Unlike using BCC, which can increase the risk of missing out on contacts, distribution lists ensure that all people receive your communication.
- Helping repurpose contacts: Instead of sifting through your list and remembering names, an email distribution list makes it convenient to repurpose audiences and use the same contact groups for different occasions. For example, you can send the same email to your organization’s marketing and accounts teams.
A distribution list is your go-to tool for sending mass emails without worrying about making errors. When done well, it can foster lasting customer connections and brand loyalty.
You can send many types of emails to a broader audience, from marketing newsletters to targeted promotional emails and beyond.
Below, we’ll discuss more ways to use email distribution lists in email marketing.
The Untapped Potential of Email Distribution Lists
Email distribution lists are solely sought after for sending newsletters or for communication inside organizations.
However, they can be versatile for various types of email campaigns, such as below:
- Targeted promotions: Imagine sending discount codes for running shoes only for subscribers interested in fitness products. An email distribution list can help you segment audiences and send laser-focused promotional content.
- Personalized drip campaigns: Create automated email sequences tailored to your email marketing customer journey. You can welcome new subscribers and later send personalized product recommendations.
- Re-engagement campaigns: Re-engagement email campaigns offer exclusive discounts or relevant deals to entice inactive recipients to come back.
- Event invitations or reminders: Promote upcoming webinars, send product launch emails, or workshops by sending follow-up reminders to boost engagement and attendance.
You can still collect valid email addresses through an email list (a list of customer emails you use for marketing purposes). However, an email list and a distribution list serve different purposes.
Let’s understand how they differ.
What is an Email List and How Does it Differ From an Email Distribution List
An email list can help you segregate subscribers and send relevant content. It’s a broader term for a collection of email addresses for any purpose.
An email distribution list is more specific and is a technical name used for grouping people inside email programs like Gmail and Outlook.
In essence, both terms refer to a collection of email addresses, but a distribution list emphasizes the functionality of sending emails to a broader group of contacts.
The Main Differences Between an Email List vs. an Email Distribution List
The table below outlines their main differences.
| Aspect | Email List | Email Distribution List |
|---|---|---|
| General definition | It’s a collection of email addresses | It’s a type of email list used to share information with multiple recipients simultaneously |
| Usage | It refers to any list of email addresses to distribute email content such as regular updates, newsletters, or promotional messages | It is primarily used in a professional setting to send information to a predefined group of recipients (eg, company announcements, team updates, etc) |
| Flexibility | An email list can be used for multiple purposes such as sending newsletters, promoting new products or including discounts and coupons | It’s typically used for mass distribution of messages to a group of recipients |
| Purpose | It focuses on broad marketing purposes, including promotions and event invitations | It focuses more on internal communication but may be used for generic marketing broadcasts |
| Management tools | Simple and advanced automation tools can manage email lists | Email distribution lists are often managed by specialized tools designed for mass email sending |
Email distribution lists help you manage contacts in different scenarios, such as grouping event participants, communicating with loyalty members, and supporting high-value customers. You can also use them within an organization to send one email message to different departments.
However, they are not the same as a shared mailbox, a common practice for organizations to receive and respond to emails. You might have noticed customer support or project management teams use a shared mailbox, making it easier to answer multiple emails from a single source. A shared mailbox acts as a central communication hub and allows teams to collaborate on email responses.
We’ll review their differences in the section below.
Email Distribution Lists vs. Shared Mailbox
Distribution lists and shared mailboxes help effectively manage your email communication.
However, they serve different purposes, as shown below.
| Aspect | Email Distribution List | Shared Mailbox |
|---|---|---|
| Function | It’s primarily used for one-way communication | It’s typically designed for two-way communication within teams |
| Primary use | Efficiently sending emails to a larger group of contacts | Collaborative email management for a group |
| Recipients | External or internal recipients | Typically internal team members |
| Use cases | Sending newsletters, marketing emails, and updates | Managing customer communication, team updates, or departmental communication |
Imagine a distribution list as a mass list, where the email sender does not usually expect to receive replies. A shared mailbox resembles a team mailbox in a physical office, where each team member can read and respond to email messages.
In conclusion, you will use an email distribution list for one-way communication to a large audience.
As with any email marketing practice, distribution lists must be monitored to check legal compliance. Let’s review the best practices that will help you stay cautious.
Email Distribution List Best Practices
A distribution list is a powerful asset to your business, and it’s crucial to handle it correctly. Focus on collecting email addresses from people genuinely interested in your email content. This is good practice to avoid spam complaints and ensure recipients want to read your emails.
Monitor these best practices in the table below.
| Email Best Practice | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Build a quality email distribution list | Use permission-based email lists and avoid purchasing or renting lists to maintain list quality and compliance |
| Segmentation | Consider creating different lists with specific audiences. You can divide them based on demographics, geography, behavior, and so on |
| Maintain regulation and compliance | Watch out for data protection laws like GDPR and promptly remove uninterested recipients from the list |
| Clean email distribution list | Monitor and regularly clean your email distribution lists to maintain sender reputation |
| Think about file attachments | Use safe links or non-editable files (PDFs) when necessary |
| Use reliable email marketing software | Opt for a sophisticated email services platform with security protocols and premium features to help you build a safe email distribution list |
Creating and managing an email distribution list is often simple since it is already available in your email client or within your ESP’s UI.
Let’s go through the steps to creating an email distribution list in standard email programs.
How to Create an Email Distribution List in Outlook?
Email distribution lists in Microsoft Outlook are known as “Contact groups.”
You can create contact groups on the desktop application or the web browser version with the following steps:
- Open Outlook and click the ‘People’ icon at the bottom left corner.
- In the Home tab, click the down arrow next to ‘New Contact’ and select ‘New Contact Group.’
- Type a clear and distinctive name for your distribution list in the ‘Name’ field.
- Click ‘Add members.’ You can add contacts from your Outlook address book or export from another platform.
- Select the contacts you want to include in the list and click ‘Ok.’
- Save and close once you’ve added all desired contacts to the list.
How to Create an Email Distribution List in Gmail?
In Gmail, your distribution lists are called ‘Labels.’
Here’s how to create a label in Gmail:
- Open the Gmail app and select ‘Contacts.’
- Create a ‘Label’ and name it.
- Go to ‘Contacts’ and select all the contacts you want to add.
- Click ‘Manage Labels’ and select the newly created label.
- Select ‘Apply.’
You can also narrow the contacts using the search bar at the top. For example, if all your contacts belong to the same organization and have the same domain name, you can quickly sort them out.
Choose ‘Manage Labels’ and ‘Remove Contact’ to remove a contact. Regularly monitor your contact groups to ensure only relevant recipients are added. This can help you avoid sending emails to unintended recipients.
You can also create and manage your distribution list using a reliable email marketing platform like Campaign Refinery.
How to Create Email Distribution Lists Using Campaign Refinery
Campaign Refinery makes it super easy to create any kind of audience segments, lists, and audience groups. Once you set up a segment filter, you can continue working with any campaign without worrying about sending messages to the wrong audience.
Here’s how our premium tools work:
- Email List: Our automatic email list-cleaning tool helps you build a clean and healthy email list by regularly eliminating harmful and inactive subscribers.
- Audience segments: You can filter audiences according to specific criteria and group them for easier sending. Further, audience filters help you customize the type of contacts you want in the audience segment.
- Audience groups: This latest feature allows clients to choose and group different audience segments for a specific campaign. It lets you combine recently engaged and recently added subscribers, allowing you to send personalized offers.
All our tools serve a single purpose: to improve email deliverability, sender reputation, and, ultimately, elevate your marketing revenue.
Enjoy the Highest Inbox Placement Rate With Campaign Refinery
Our clean sending practices and sophisticated email list cleaning and management tools help us provide the highest inbox placement rate on the market.
We understand the importance of having a clean email distribution list and reaching the subscribers’ primary inboxes.
Our robust authentication protocols and security compliance help clients experience a 600% increase in email deliverability after joining us.
Manage a healthy email distribution list and consistently reach customers’ primary inboxes.
