What is an email distribution list? (and how to create one)

What is an email distribution list? (and how to create one)

Distribution lists are one of the most essential—and headache-saving—tools for mass email sends. Whether you’ve recently been charged with managing internal communication for a team (or the entire company) or you’re a marketer who’s been tasked with making your email marketing program more effective, we’re here to help. Here’s everything you need to know about email distribution lists—what they are, how to create them, and when/how to use them for the biggest impact. 

What is an email distribution list?

An email distribution list is a list of emails that allows you to send a message to multiple recipients at the same time. Members of the list typically cannot interact with each other (thus avoiding the dreaded reply-all kerfuffle). Distribution lists are useful in many situations. You can create distribution lists for company departments, making it easy to email the marketing team, sales team, etc. You can expand that and create organization-wide emails. 

The other place distribution lists are often used? Email marketing. The term distribution list is often used synonymously with email list, referring to smaller segments of your overall email list. 

Group emails vs. email distribution lists

Group emails differ from email distribution lists in that email recipients can typically see each other and interact. Recipients tend to be entered in the “to” or “Cc” fields rather than the “Bcc” that is commonly used for email distribution lists. Whereas a distribution list is often used for broadcasts, announcements, and other one-to-many types of messages, group emails are better suited for collaboration. Group emails are common for shared projects, scheduling, interdepartmental conversations, etc. 

How to create an email distribution list

Once you’ve created an email list, sending mass emails is a breeze. All you need to do is select the list, and you can send an email to multiple recipients. But before you can enjoy the perks of distribution lists, you need to build them. The specifics vary, depending on your email service provider or marketing software. 

Below, we’ve outlined the steps to make a distribution list using the most common email providers. If you’re using email marketing software, you may be able to import a large list using an Excel spreadsheet, and you may be able to integrate your “email sign up” CTAs with your marketing software so that new subscribers are automatically added to a specific list. 

Creating an email distribution list in Microsoft Outlook:

1. Open Outlook.

2. Go to "People" or "Contacts."

3. Select "New Contact Group" or "New List."

4. Add members and save.

Creating an email distribution list in Gmail:

1. Open Gmail.

2. Open Google Contacts.

3. Create a label and add contacts to it.

4. Use the label in the "To" field when emailing.

Creating an email distribution list in Yahoo Mail:

1. Open Yahoo Mail.

2. Click the “Contacts” icon.

3. Select “Lists” and then “Create List.”

4. Drag contacts into the list or search and add them manually.

5. Name the list and click “Save.”

Tips for other email platforms:

1. Look for "Groups" or "Lists" under Contacts/Settings.

2. Add recipients and configure as needed.

The benefits of creating an email distribution list

A Gmail or Outlook distribution list can be life savers for managing internal communication—making organization- and team-wide announcements easy and focused. From an email marketing perspective, distribution lists provide a way to level up your marketing efforts. This is referred to as email segmentation.

Email segmentation is the process of dividing your email subscriber list into smaller, more targeted groups based on specific criteria. You can segment subscribers by demographics, where they are in the sales funnel, how they engage with your emails, and more. Segmentation allows you to eliminate the noise that comes from using a one-size-fits-all approach in your email marketing and instead create email marketing campaigns that deliver better results. 

Segmentation is important because it ensures that subscribers only receive the most relevant email messages. It also allows you to personalize emails, making your audience feel valued and understood, and it drives higher engagement. 

Recipients are more likely to interact with emails when the messaging is specifically tailored to them. Internet service providers (ISPs) monitor how recipients interact with your emails. A higher engagement rate can lead to a higher inboxing rate (the percentage of your email messages that are sent to the inbox rather than spam.

Segmenting your email list into smaller distribution groups can increase conversion. Targeted emails that resonate with the recipient are more likely to drive action, furthering a subscriber along the customer journey until, ultimately, a sale results. 

For the full, step-by-step guide on how to create a winning email segmentation strategy, check out the Ultimate Email Segmentation Guide: Tips, Strategies & Examples. 

When to use an email distribution list

Each type of distribution list has a time and a place. These are the best reasons to use distribution groups for your mass email sends:

• Internal communication: Inviting everyone to the monthly town hall via Outlook, announcing company-wide giving initiatives like coat drives, communicating leadership changes, etc. Distribution lists save you the headache of manually entering every email address for every email, and they make sure no one is ever forgotten (which is a reminder to regularly update your internal distribution lists). 

• Engaged users: Look at your email marketing analytics to determine which users engage with your emails most often. The recipients who open and click most often can be put into an engaged user distribution group. From there, you can create targeted messages designed to drive conversions. 

• Inactive users: These recipients are on your email list, but they never click, never open. By creating an inactive users list, you can send emails designed to get them to reengage. At the very least, you can reduce the email cadence so that their lack of engagement doesn’t drive down your sender reputation. 

• Behavior: If you have access to more sophisticated tracking, you may want to segment your list based on recent behavior. This can look like a user looking at a product page, purchase history, event attendance, etc. For example, f you know users viewed a specific product, you can send targeted emails about that product. 

Email software can level up marketing performance

Twilio SendGrid gives you the tools you need to create distribution lists that drive performance. Easily manage and segment your lists with our best-in-class email marketing software. Approachable automation tools give you more advanced control, and easy-to-use templates make creating marketing emails quick and simple. Discover the SendGrid difference with our Email API and Email Marketing Campaigns.