Every year, we look back at the year’s performance and craft our predictions for what lies ahead. This past November, 2024, however, one surprising figure jumped out at us: a 3.6% decay rate in business email addresses in just one month. To put this in perspective, email decay traditionally hovered around 1.5-2.0% per month (which already adds up to a substantial annual churn). But 3.6% in a single month raises important questions about why emails are going stale faster than ever — and how organizations need to respond.
At RevenueBase, we track these changes across millions of B2B contact records. We know that every missed email can represent a lost opportunity, an eroded relationship, or wasted spend. Here’s what this faster-than-ever email decay means for your teams, and how you can stay ahead of it.
When email addresses go bad, it’s not just a small nuisance — it’s a problem that snowballs across the organization. Data teams already shoulder the responsibility of ensuring clean, accurate databases. But a 3.6% decay in one month forces them to:
Sales teams rely on accurate emails for everything from introductory outreach to deal follow-up. Inconsistent or decaying email data means:
A decaying email database spells trouble for marketing teams eager to reach and nurture leads:
For operations teams responsible for the systems and processes that power your revenue engine, decaying emails introduce several complications:
A 3.6% monthly email decay might seem like a daunting challenge, but proactive organizations can turn this into an opportunity to tighten operations and deliver better results. Consider these steps:
1. Invest in data enrichment and hygiene
Look for platforms (like RevenueBase) that can automatically enrich contact records and identify invalid or risky emails before they reach your sales or marketing teams.
2. Implement continuous verification
Rather than waiting for big database clean-ups, adopt an always-on approach to detecting decaying emails and updating them quickly.
3. Foster collaboration across teams
Encourage data, sales, marketing, and ops to share insights about bounce rates, invalid addresses, and trends in contact changes so everyone benefits from each other’s discoveries.
4. Monitor your email health regularly
Keep close tabs on email engagement metrics like bounce rates, open rates, and unsubscribe rates — these KPIs often offer the first clue that your contact data is slipping.
Your database is one of your most valuable assets. In a business landscape where roles, companies, and people are shifting faster than ever, ignoring email decay comes at a high cost. With 3.6% of emails going stale in November, 2024 alone, it’s vital to ramp up data hygiene efforts, invest in automated verification, and align your teams around the shared goal of maintaining an accurate, high-performing database.
At RevenueBase, we’re committed to helping organizations navigate these changes head-on. Feel free to reach out to our team if you have any questions or want to discuss strategies for keeping your email data fresh. By staying ahead of email decay, you’ll protect your brand reputation, empower your sales and marketing efforts, and set up every department for greater success in the months to come.
