An important question to ask yourself before doing this... If someone doesn't respond, are you going to keep them on the list?

If Susie, who you have sold four houses to doesn't answer, will you remove her from the list?  If she answers negatively, will you honor that?

I used to work at a charity that felt like they couldn't ever remove anyone from the list unless they died.  It was terrible.  If someone is clearly not interested in you anymore, bombarding them with information is not going to change their mind.

Anyway, I'm glad this worked for you and you got a good response.

You never know how those emails will turn out. Glad you got a good response.

Well at least you know someone read your message!!!

Congratulations.  Happy for you that the response was great. 

Good idea

A great reminder that many who don't necessarily 'make sounds' nevertheless are still alive and well and getting your emails!
This business is an iceberg; the 'above waterline' and beneath it could be very different in size!

Happy to hear you have a great response.  I think that Karen Climer thoughts on this are excellent and well worth keeping in mind.  A

That's awesome Peter! 

The next steps are to follow up.

My practice was to keep people on the email list until they requested removal.

That is a good way to ensure that your efforts are appreciated Peter! If someone is not interested, they can speak up.

I refuse to waste time or spend money on those who never plan to refer/use my services again.

I just let people unsubscribe when they want to. I don't get many unsubscribes so I don't tempt anyone. And amazingly, I see people look at my mailings for years and some who stop looking come back after years. 

Glad to hear about the positive response you received, Peter!  I think Karen Climer has some good thoughts on this.

If I do not get a request for removal, I do not rock the boat. One never knows when an opportunity may pop up from an unsuspected source.

Not a bad way to trim one's email list and keep people from unsubscribing and clicking spam.  I've had one or two of these over the years from lists I'm on.  I also get the "You haven't opened the email in weeks, do you still want to receive it."

I once asked a guy who worked on A/C's, who didn't respond often to my contacting, if he wanted to be considered for work? Yes or no please? Yes

Interesting, and glad you got responses.

I've done this in the past as part of an annual data base clean up and it was a great way to catch up with some & weed out some emails that had been changed from others.  Glad it worked for you! 

Glad it worked out for you. Sometimes you just have to move on with those who still have an interest and not fool yourself about the size of your database.

Sounds like a great idea.

They obviously appreciate what you have to say Peter. 

It would be a good idea to do this on a regular basis.

Today is going badly for them and they have no interest and get deleted. Next month they are back in the market but not with you because you deleted them. This does not sound like a productive strategy.

Well done!

Most surveys get very meek responses, so you did well.

I am always irritated when I get those emails attempting to cajole me into a response.  Most of the time I ignore them to see if they will delete me or not.