CASE STUDY
RELYCO knew its aging email database needed attention. Inconsistent email list maintenance was making it harder to maintain strong email performance.
Email has long been an important channel for RELYCO, a supplier of specialty paper products for businesses and government organizations. But like many established companies, its database included contacts collected over many years.
Without regular email list verification, outdated, invalid, and harmful email addresses accumulate over time. This can affect email deliverability – the rate at which emails land in the inbox.
"We were watching our email health carefully, knowing that our database included customers from many years prior," says Steph Oeser, Marketing Manager at RELYCO.
Things weren't necessarily in crisis mode, but the team knew waiting too long could lead to bigger issues down the road.
As Oeser explained: "Email health is hugely important, especially in my particular role, so I was looking to get ahead of any issues."
RELYCO is a New Hampshire-based supplier of specialty paper products designed for laser and inkjet printers, serving businesses and government organizations for decades.
Founded: 1989
Number of employees: 20
Industry: Printing and paper products
Monthly email volume: 41,900After several years without a consistent email validationⓘ process, RELYCO began to notice room for improvement.
"I was watching things like our open rates and just felt that we could do better," Oeser explains. "We hadn't done a major database clean-up in about three years."
Meanwhile, HubSpot's email health tool underscored the need to take steps towards getting a handle on email hygiene. "The HubSpot email health tool recommended utilizing an email verification tool."
Rather than waiting for performance to decline further, RELYCO chose to proactively protect its email list and safeguard its sender reputation. On average, email data decays by around a quarter every year, so regular cleaning helps keep emails landing in the inbox.
RELYCO found out about ZeroBounce through a recommendation.
"I asked our HubSpot rep for recommendations, and she mentioned ZeroBounce and another company. I researched both."
What stood out? Oeser wanted flexibility and ease of use. "ZeroBounce offered an integration with Salesforce and one-time bulk pricing, which is what we wanted."
The platform also made a strong first impression. "I found the dashboard really user-friendly. I didn't have any trouble navigating it."
Connect ZeroBounce to Salesforce
Instead of overcomplicating the process, RELYCO focused on keeping things simple for the team.
Even without an integration, the workflow remained straightforward. Oeser commented: "Manually uploading lists was always easy."
After adopting the ZeroBounce–HubSpot integration, the process became even smoother. "Now that there is an integration with HubSpot, it's totally streamlined the whole process."
With email validationⓘ in place, maintaining email list quality became far less time-consuming. "I can set it and forget it, which is invaluable."
Cleaning the database had a noticeable impact on email performance. Removing invalid and risky email addresses helped RELYCO improve key metrics across the board, including:
Even small improvements in bounce rate can signal stronger list health.
RELYCO's team didn't stop at scrubbing their existing email addresses. They also improved how new contacts are added to their system. "The ability to add the ZeroBounce email checker to the forms on our website has also really helped us."
The email validation API added a layer of protection, reduced unwanted submissions, and improved lead quality. "It's one of a few steps we've taken to filter out spam submissions, which we were getting inundated with a few months ago."
By verifying emails at the point of entry, RELYCO prevents bad data from entering its system in the first place.
For RELYCO, email validationⓘ is now part of an ongoing strategy rather than a one-time fix. "It's a great way to continuously check that email addresses are still good."
With cleaner contact data and better deliverability, the team can spend less time worrying about email list quality and more time improving campaigns.
Strong email performance starts with better data. When your list is clean, your emails are more likely to reach the inbox and drive engagement.
With ZeroBounce ONE, businesses can manage email validationⓘ, blacklist monitoring, authentication, and more in one platform. Together, these tools help protect sender reputation and support better deliverability over time.
That's how you keep your email database performing and your results improving.
