How to segment a database against inactive and softbounced contacts in Eloqua10

The questions has come up more than once recently, what are some best practices and methods for handling inactive or soft bounceback contacts in a database?

Please allow me to explain...

The best place to start is by creating a segment and populating it with filter criteria such as:

• Has not been sent an email within the last X time (perhaps 1 year, but it can vary) AND
• Has not submitted a form within the last X time AND
• Has not opened an email within last X time AND
• Has not clicked an email within last X time AND
• etc...

This should create a segment that finds all contacts in the database that are inactive or not interacting with your marketing emails.