Key findings of the seventh edition of the Email Marketing Industry Census, published by Econsultancy last week, have shown that marketers cite the 'quality of the email database' as a major barrier to effective email marketing.

Despite the respondents identifying this barrier to performance, the report also found that 'only 49% carry out any regular list cleansing'. This is a worrying statistic because in-depth and methodical list-management practices can actually make or break an email-marketing campaign.

To run successful email marketing campaigns, email marketers not only need to know how to build a list, but they need to master the art of maintaining a clean one.