From time to time, email marketers may want to send to the majority of their mailing list but exclude a certain subset of people. For example, they want to send to their main list, less those who have not purchased an item and are between the ages of 18 and 30. The best way to do this is to create a suppression list.

By definition, in the world of email marketing, a suppression list is a text file that includes all email addresses that you do not want to include in your mailing. Most suppression lists are plain text files, with one email address per line.

The setup of a suppression list is pretty simple, depending on what email service provider you are using. All you need to do is define your suppression list: who do you want to exclude from this mailing (i.e. subscribers who have not purchased in the last 60 days)? Once you decide who will reside on your suppression list, from there you can import that data into your mailing. It's a simple yet effective means of targeting the right people with the right message at the right time.

Check out these other resources on LyrisHQ.com for more information about how to target readers with personalized and relevant content:

• Knowing Me Knowing You: The Importance of Relevance
• Basics of List Segmentation
• Tell me something good
• Garbage In, Garbage Out - Why personalisation is only as good as your data

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