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We’re in that weird stretch between Christmas and New Year’s. The one where you’re not entirely sure what day it is, you’ve eaten your body weight in leftovers, and your inbox has finally stopped screaming at you.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of two types of email marketers right now: fully checked out (respect), or looking for something productive to do while things are quiet.

If you’re in that second camp, I have a suggestion. Instead of doom-scrolling or pretending to work on that “strategic planning doc” you’ve been avoiding, why not do some email housekeeping?

I know. Not exactly thrilling. But hear me out.

Why Now Is Actually the Perfect Time

There’s a reason I’m writing this now and not in, say, March.

Right now, send volumes are down across the board. Your test emails won’t get buried under a pile of promotional chaos. You can actually see what you’re doing.

Your stakeholders are probably out. Which means fewer Slack messages, fewer “quick requests,” and actual time to focus on the unglamorous work that never makes it to the top of the priority list.

And let’s be honest: there’s something about a fresh year that makes cleaning things up feel satisfying. You’ll thank yourself in January when Q1 campaigns kick off and you’re not wading through a mess of outdated segments and broken templates.

Start With Your List

When’s the last time you really looked at your subscriber list? Not just the total count (vanity metric alert), but the actual health of it?

Here’s what I’d check:

Inactive subscribers.
Define what “inactive” means for your brand. Six months of no opens? A year? Whatever your threshold, pull that segment and decide what to do with them. Re-engagement campaign? Suppression? At minimum, know how big that group is.

Data quality issues.
Scroll through and look for obvious problems. Malformed email addresses, role addresses that shouldn’t be there, duplicates. Most ESPs make this pretty easy to filter.

Your suppression list.
Is it up to date? Are there people on there who shouldn’t be? (Or people who should be but aren’t?)

Your sunset policy.
You have one, right? When did you last actually run it? If you’re like most marketers, the answer is “longer ago than I’d like to admit.”

Clean Up Those Segments

I’ll confess something: I have a bad habit of creating segments for one-off campaigns and then never deleting them.

Sound familiar?

Take a few minutes to scroll through your segment list. If you haven’t used something in six months or more, delete it. It’s just clutter.

While you’re in there, rename the cryptic ones. “Test_AK_Final_v3_REAL” meant something to you in April. It means nothing now. Give it a name a colleague (or future you) could actually understand.

And if you’re feeling ambitious, document your active segments somewhere. What they’re for, when to use them, any quirks in the logic. Your team will love you for it. Or at least be slightly less confused.

Audit Your Flows and Journeys

Automated emails are easy to set and forget. Which is great until you realize your welcome series is still referencing a promotion from 2023.

Pull up each of your active flows and give them a once-over:

Performance check.
What’s actually working? What’s underperforming? Are there emails in there you’ve been meaning to tweak but never got around to?

Broken links and outdated content.
Click through every link. Yes, every one. Check for product pages that no longer exist, old team member names, anything time-sensitive that’s now embarrassingly wrong.

Time-sensitive references.
Update any “2024” references to “2025.” Check for seasonal language that doesn’t make sense anymore. (Your “summer sale” email shouldn’t be in your January flow.)

Gaps.
Are there flows you’ve been meaning to build? A post-purchase sequence? A win-back series? Now’s a great time to at least outline what you need.

Tidy Up Your Templates

Templates are another “set it and forget it” area that tends to drift over time.

Archive what you’re not using.
If you have 47 templates and you only use 5 of them, clean house. Archive or delete the rest so you’re not scrolling past them constantly.

Update your footer.
Check your physical address, social links, unsubscribe language, and any legal copy. Especially if your company moved offices or rebranded in the past year.

Test on mobile.
Actually test. Send yourself a test email and open it on your phone. Scroll through. Tap the buttons. When’s the last time you did this? Things break over time.

Check brand consistency.
Did your brand evolve this year while your templates stayed static? New logo? Updated color palette? Different tone of voice guidelines? Make sure your emails match.

Quick Wins (30 Minutes or Less)

If you’re short on time but want to make some progress, here are a few things you can knock out quickly:

• Update your sender name and reply-to address if they’re outdated
• Check your email authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are still set up correctly
• Review your preference center and make sure the options still make sense
• Clear out old drafts you’re never going to send
• Update your team’s email signatures
• Export a backup of your key templates (just in case)
• Delete test contacts you added months ago and forgot about

Not Glamorous, But Worth It

Look, I know this isn’t the sexiest work. Nobody’s going to write a LinkedIn post celebrating their freshly organized segment list. (Actually, that could happen.)

But this foundational stuff matters. Starting 2026 with a clean, organized email setup means less stress when things ramp back up. Fewer “wait, why is this broken?” moments. More confidence that what you’re sending is actually what you want to send.

So if you’ve got a few quiet hours this week, consider spending them on the boring maintenance work. Future you will be grateful.

What’s on your year-end cleanup list? I’m curious what I missed.

Much love,
Andy

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @emaillove