Big Star Data (2026)

20/02/2026

Database Hygiene Before a HubSpot Migration: Start with Email

In HubSpot, email is the unique identifier for contacts.

If you’re planning a migration to HubSpot, now is the time to clean your database — especially by reviewing contacts that don’t have an email address. Removing incomplete records can free up valuable space for contacts with full, usable data.
How to identify them:

In your current database, create a contact-level filter: Email does not contain “@”

This will generate a list of records without valid email addresses. Export and archive them for safekeeping, then remove them from your active database.

But don’t just delete and move on — there’s opportunity here.

Before purging:
• Assign someone to research and populate missing fields where possible.
• Enrich records using data tools.
• Partner with a lead generation provider to backfill your database strategically.

The goal? Maximize your contact capacity while maintaining data quality.

Remember: there will always be natural attrition in your database. Strong database hygiene ensures you’re making room for the right records — not just more records.

Clean data isn’t just an operational task. It’s a growth strategy.

19/02/2026

We’re pleased to share that we’ve officially surpassed 90,000 email subscribers across the clients we serve.

If you manage a CRM properly — with consistent list hygiene and engagement standards — you know organic attrition is inevitable. Contacts age out. Emails go inactive. Databases naturally shrink over time.

That’s why achieving — and sustaining — growth is never accidental.

Database growth is an uphill climb unless lead generation and lead nurture efforts are working together simultaneously. Lead generation fuels the top of the funnel. Lead nurture converts and retains. You need both.

If you’re not generating leads in-house, partnering with the right lead generation company can help offset database loss and protect long-term growth. It’s not optional — it’s a strategic component of a healthy sales and marketing program.

We partner seamlessly with the top lead generation companies in our industry, and deliver stronger results - together.

If database attrition is quietly working against you, it may be time to rethink your top-of-funnel strategy.

25/10/2025

Are you running hygiene reports after each list import?

After any list is imported into Keap (or your CRM of choice), it is always a good idea to run your native hygiene reports.

Here’s why:

Most CRMs will accept a “new” contact that may have already opted out, unsubscribed or bounced. And it’s a numbers game, right? So, the larger the list size, you’re importing, the higher percentage of contacts with this undeliverable status are likely to be brought back into your clean database.

Now allow me to clarify – the undeliverable contact will be added back to your database when you import a list, and it will all look hunky dory to enroll them in your automated email marketing program. But they will never actually receive your automated emails because it was blocked by their domain provider, and your sender score will take a hit because it will appear that your database is unmanaged hygienically.

If you work hard to manage your database hygiene, it is always a good idea to run your hygiene reports after each list import. And that is of course, in addition to running them each week as well.
We do this service for many franchise owners that utilize Keap for their email marketing, and would be happy to help you as well.

12/08/2025

As easy as it is to set it and forget it, chances are it's been a while since you last reviewed the integrity of the data in your Keap database.

But when your direct mail program is extracted directly from Keap, it becomes more important than ever to know the status of your data. These may or may not be inspired from real data. ;-) We'll never tell.

How does your data look?

29/05/2025

If you’ve ever had an issue with importing a list into Keap, you’ll want to read this.

It happens from time to time, and it just happened yesterday. I was bringing in a prospect list into a Keap database and after multiple unsuccessful attempts - and I mean I cut the list in half, I tried to import just one contact - Keap wasn’t going to take the import - I had to put it aside and move on for the time being.

It nagged at me all day because as a Keap Certified Partner, I can usually solve this kind of thing.

Later yesterday, I revisited this troubling prospect list and I remembered something I learned from the last time this happened. Every once in a while you’ll get a list that may have undetectable junk in the header columns. You can’t see the bad data and Keap’s importing process will not recognize the column headers because of this invisible junk, and your import will never take.

If you ever have a problem with importing a list, manually rekey the column header data, save it and retry the import. I guarantee it will take the import after you do this.

21/03/2024

The more opportunities you give a contact to engage with an email, the better your engagement score will be with any and all mailbox providers.

If you email once every 30 days and a contact doesn't engage with that single email, your engagement in the eyes of the mailbox provider is a zero.

If you email four times every 30 days and a contact only engages with one email, your engagement score is 25%. That's better than a zero.

Engagement is a simple numbers game. Give your contacts a chance to open and click by maintaining a consistent, weekly cadence.

16/01/2024

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and your declining database count.

While we may not be able to avoid the first two, we can hedge the latter with a little time and some sales planning effort.

Each week as your automated marketing program sends emails, there's an accumulation of opt-outs, unsubscribes and hard bounces. And of course, they are routinely swept out of your database as a part of your ongoing hygiene activities.

And, as database counts organically erode, it’s good to have a plan in place to feed the marketing beast.

A good start is to weave lead generating activities into your email marketing program. As leads are uncovered each day and week, trickle those prospects into your Keap database and automated marketing program.

Aside from staving off count erosion, it also updates a freshness clock on your Keap records. And those freshness dates matter according to domain providers.

If you haven’t already built lead gen into your email marketing program, it’s a must-do, and easy to get started. Contact us if you need a hand.

14/12/2023

What you need to know about email warming services.

We’re not going to make you read any further before we tell you to avoid them.

Email warming services had a time and place, but now they are eschewed by all with heavy penalties for those that use the service, and also for providers that allow the service to be used.

CRM providers such as Keap (and others) are getting warnings from Google that their API access will be revoked if they continue to allow these warming services. Additonally, mailbox providers are penalizing domains they catch using these services.

Bottom line? Avoid email warming services and stick to best practices.

14/12/2023

80,000! That is the number of emails we send EACH WEEK for our managed IT services clients. WHOOOO-EEY!

We launch Keap email programs and get our clients up and running quickly and smoothly. If you need help getting started, contact us and we'll have you off to the races for the new year.

14/12/2023

Email addresses are the unique identifier in Keap and can help prevent duplicates in your database. Without an email address, we'll demonstrate how duplicates can make their way into your database and inflate your database count:

Big Star Data

20/02/2026

19/02/2026

25/10/2025

12/08/2025

29/05/2025

21/03/2024

16/01/2024

14/12/2023

14/12/2023

14/12/2023

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