An average email list decays by 25% every year.

And, According to Marketing Sherpa 75% of email
subscribers are inactive.

Let’s understand why this happens?

  • List grows -
    you send
    more emails
    to the list

  • List grows
    further - continue
    sending emails
    to entire list

  • Long term
    subscribers increases
    - They become
    uninterested
    gradually

  • Engagement
    drops- falling
    open rates
    and clicks

  • Diversified List
    growth techniques
    re - implemented

drO p in engagement
= Poor reputation
= Poor deliverability

Here’s why?

  • Inactive subscribers hurt engagement rates
  • Low engagement rates hurt inbox placement rate
  • Over time, ISPs take a note of inactive subscribers and reclaim the accounts
  • ISPs then recycle them or convert them into spam traps

So now, what to do with these subscribers who have lost interest? Do you leave them and move ahead?
Do you continue sending them the emails? Or Do you re-engage them?

Well, before you jump start answering these questions, here are some reasons
why subscribers stop opening emails and disengage.

Top reasons why subscribers disengage

Disengagement email Disengagement emails
  • Overload of information with overdose of emails
  • Deceptive subject lines with no real value in the offer
  • Confusing design without proper hierarchy
  • Not optimized for mobile
  • Repetitive or irrelevant content
  • Signed up for one time offer
  • Prefer obtaining information from alternative source
  • Change of circumstances like job or re-location

And, according to one of the top
surveys, these are some actions
subscribers take after losing
interest from permission emails:

Email Marketing Stats

% of respondents

  • Click Unsubscribe
  • Click Spam
  • Delet Email
  • Ignore, Do nothing
  • Set up Email filter

So, once the subscriber list decays, it leads to death of your channel eventually & how can you prevent such a scenario?

Plan up & strategize

  • Segment the
    disengaged.

  • Wake them up
    with a catchy
    offer and
    subject line.

  • Segment the
    re-engaged
    and follow up
    with the rest.

  • Purge the ones
    on whom divine
    medicine
    wouldn't work.

  • Make on
    boarding
    program stronger
    with accurate
    testing.

So, if you decide to make your email program, here’s how it might typically look like:

best practice for Re-engagement email

Re-engagement
email best practices

Make your divine jackfruit bring life to the list

  • Develop a dialogue and action There is a difference between promotional monologue and informative dialogue. Do not bombard the subscribers with emails because of which they disengaged. Probe and resolve queries. Check the campaigns of their interest from past data.

  • Flex your value muscle Don’t just drive re-engagement emails with coupons or incentives. Offer a great deal of personalized value which instigates action along with the coupons or incentives.

  • Workout on your design & copy A great piece of witty copy with a master stroke of subject line and an appealing image with awesome mobile friendly design will add value to your re-engagement campaign.

  • Don’t setup before testingA re-engagement program should always be automated, but only after it’s tested, reviewed, and refined before roll-out. Make your re-engagement strategy bulletproof.

  • Define the inactivity While you are segmenting the disengaged, make sure you define the inactive period. For some it could be 6-9 months of no action, for some it could be 1 year or longer. Decide how many days gap from the last action makes your inactive period. Remember, if you haven’t defined the disengaged properly, your email list might further stop engaging.

  • Be bold Not all the re-engagement campaigns center around incentives. Sometimes if you see there is a total inaction despite multiple trials, be bold and unsubscribe those emails. If you want to go the extra mile, just confirm that you will unsubscribe them as you don’t want to bother them anymore.

  • Change it out like “totally”Remember, win back campaigns are for winning back your subscribers. They are already tired and sick of seeing what they have been for so long. Change your email strategy right from the subject lines to design to copy to imagery – almost everything. Some brands win a great response with going playful. You can also move to plain t

  • Put the list on the bench and do nothing No news is good news :) Rather than expanding a lot of efforts on how to win back the inactive subscribers, put them aside off the list. Say nothing and send no email for certain time. Reach out to this after a certain time frame and see if some of these inactive subscribers turn active. You can also move to plain text emails if HTML emails don’t work.

Measuring
the success
of the
divine jackfruit

  • Are you increasing the percentage of active users in your database? Divide active users over total users, and monitor this number as you start to attempt re-engagement.
  • Are you decreasing your spam complaint rate? This is often a natural byproduct of proactively removing inactive users from your database. You decrease the chances of over-mailed users marking you as spam.
  • Are your deliverability rates improving? As you reach a healthier balance between active and inactive users, you should see your deliverability rates improve. This might take time, though, so don’t expect immediate results.

How to prevent
the deadly
vicious circle? Tips for reducing future Inactivity

  • Checkout the sources that are fetching more inactive subscribers
  • Checkout your op-in practices and make sure you aren’t automatically opting in users
  • Probe on your welcome program and check if you remind them how they signed up
  • Have a strategy to chart out inactive subscribers, the earlier the better
  • Turn off the email fatigue sending innovative emails. Try using accordion, menus, sliders and other interactive email advancements from Uplers