Merchants know the value of re-engaging dormant email subscribers. I did that several years ago while working for a leading U.S.-based email service provider. A client, a prominent direct-to-consumer personal-care brand, had roughly 30,000 email subscribers who had not opened an email in 2 to 7 years.
My team developed and implemented a targeted three-month re-engagement strategy that maintained email deliverability and brand reputation. Over 50% of the dormant subscribers ultimately re-engaged.
Here are the steps.
Re-engaging dormant email subscribers drives value.
Re-engage Subscribers
Create a segment for unengaged subscribers
Including unengaged subscribers in a regular sending cadence will confuse them and likely land your campaigns in the spam folder, hurting your email deliverability. Instead, place them in a separate segment.
When sending re-engagement emails, prioritize the most recently engaged subscribers. As you work from newest to oldest, note metrics such as open and click rates. If they start to decline, you’ve likely hit your limit. For the DTC brand, we re-engaged subscribers who hadn’t interacted with the brand for up to five years.
Take it slow and steady
It’s tempting to send an email blast immediately, but strategy comes first. Flooding your sending-server IPs with new traffic can set off deliverability alarms and harm other campaigns. Do not increase overall deployments by more than 10% of your normal volume. This preserves deliverability while including dormant recipients.
Copy is king
Email copy should be compelling and engaging and create a sense of urgency. Start by acknowledging the subscriber’s absence in the subject line or preheader with a simple “We’ve missed you” or similar. Include an exclusive promotion or incentive — ideally contained in the subject line or preheader to capture attention immediately. Personal touches, such as recipients’ first names, can improve responses.
If you can’t offer promotions, inform subscribers of changes, such as new products or services, since they last engaged. The DTC brand had launched a celebrity campaign for Pride Month. We highlighted the partnership and offered limited-edition items from the campaign.
We also A/B tested subject lines across various micro-segments and sent the winning version to the larger population.
It might seem counterintuitive, but ensure the opt-out button is easy to find. The goal is to engage folks who want to hear from you. Facilitating unsubscribes from uninterested recipients reduces spam complaints for a healthier list in the long run.
Have patience
We emailed the dormant DTC subscribers every 2 to 3 weeks for three months before gradually integrating re-engagers into a regular rhythm. Once or twice per month may seem infrequent, but it allows for time to evaluate performance and craft compelling copy for real value.
Ongoing Re-engagement
Dormant subscribers are an unfortunate reality for every email marketing list I’ve encountered, but an active re-engagement strategy can minimize the loss. Don’t wait years to act. A twice-yearly re-engagement campaign can keep subscribers active and revenue flowing.