Do some of your email list subscribers feel like they’ve disappeared, or become like zombies? (Are they ghosting you?) These prospects and customers may be out of sight at the moment, but there are ways you can reawaken them, and bring them back from the “undead” … with the right strategy! Here, we’ll discuss ways to re-engage them and make them part of the conversation again, welcoming them back, reawakening them to become active. They’ll just take a little coaxing. So, here are some tactics you can employ to make it happen.
Are you finding that inactive subscribers are haunting your database? Perhaps they haven’t been opening or clicking in your emails for several months. It is important to re-engage these leads or customers before they become completely lost. They need to be brought back from the graveyard of lost leads, as they can hurt your deliverability numbers and skew metrics.
Furthermore, they may just need a little nudge to start paying attention to your emails again, (think: dressing up subject lines with some original, creative hooks).
On the unscary side, these contacts still represent untapped potential! So, let’s talk about how you can re-engage them, or reawaken them from the dead. Include them in a Reactivation Email strategy to win them back, and have them clicking and opening doors once again.
For the different lists and segments you have, there will be a different cadence, with different email messages for each, according to how long they’ve been inactive or have shown previous interactions. As an example, group 1 might be customers not having visited your site in the past three months; group 2 might be customers with inactive click targeting in the last six months; group 3 would be long-term non-engagers (longer than 6 months inactive); and group 4 might be reactivation of customers based on a last purchase of theirs, (between 3 – 6 months ago). Each of these segments will get different subject lines, with increasingly “coax-worthy” copy. Also, you will want to make sure each segment has an appropriate cadence, as far as the time between the emails in your campaign series, or interval spacing. This could make the difference between a prospect or customer being turned off by the second email, or that same subscriber following the email sequence all the way through to the end of the campaign — and re-engaging!
Take your time in planning, to make sure you’re tailoring emails to the prospects within your lists that are part of the reactivation strategy, and in which segment they should be. You’ll be thankful that you did; and that the returning subscribers were not scared away with irrelevant messaging. See it pay off as they start to show engagement, and you see your metrics improve, week to week.
So, how do you go about creating impactful, effective reactivation campaigns? Let’s look at a few ways.
- First, start by crafting compelling subject lines and email content that will bring the inactive subscribers back to life. These might include something like: “See what you’ve been missing! Catch up on our newest features to help increase productivity.”
- Consider linking a compelling incentive to your loyalty program or current promotion, in order to enhance the impact of the reactivation strategy. -or-
- Appeal to their emotions and productivity-focused side: For example, “We miss you! Come back & see all the ways we can help you reach your goals!”
To improve the re-engagement rate of long-term inactive subscribers, assess your email offers. Common approaches at this stage include exclusive discounts, early access to new features, or personalized offers. Along those lines, offer them sneak peeks as treats to entice subscribers to re-engage and become reactivated. In these reactivation strategies, remember to convey a genuine “We miss you” sentiment. You want these particular subscribers to feel that you have really noticed their lack of engagement and interest, and that you are personalizing theirs enough to reel them back in, catching their attention in a way that plays to their past behavior or interest shown.
Another clear way to do this include: when using a reactivation email series, maintain a clean email structure (concise content and clear CTAs). It’s always a treat for the reader when they are led directly to where they need to click for more information.
Also, focus on one incentive/topic (clarity is key, here). In addition to new, eye-catching subject lines, also vary subject lines across the series to build progressive interest.
As with all campaigns and products, there are a certain number of subscribers/customers/prospects who will remain inactive, no matter how well the messages are tailored and personalized to them, simply because they have moved on from the awareness and engagement stage, to non-interest. This is when it becomes prudent to clean your list, and make sure that you are not taking up valuable resources marketing to those who truly should be removed and not reawakened. Removing these unengaged subscribers will ultimately be good for your email health and performance, (since fewer emails falling on deaf ears will be counted as ‘unreads’ or non-clicks).
This will also leave you with more time to focus on those customers and future customers who are still viable leads, and thus will be successfully reawakened – or reactivated – by your new email “attention grabbers” and crafty subject lines. You’ll soon get to know these customers better; know what makes them tick; and they will once again be added to your list and cadences as valuable subscribers and customers.
Putting it all together
For all of the methods, above, test varying time intervals between the emails in the series to identify the optimal cadence for your targeted inactive subscribers. This will ensure that they are not feeling overwhelmed by this “new” attention; while also keeping you fresh in their minds enough to keep them engaged. There’s no excuse for them to ghost you, now!
Read about some good use cases and solutions for Reactivation Email Strategies that you can implement now before those customers and prospects vanish completely, in our guide below.