In email marketing, growing your list of subscribers is often portrayed as the ultimate goal. But what about the subscribers that are on your list, but completely inactive?
Let’s admit it - all of our inboxes keep filling with emails we have signed up for at some point. Many we never open, but are too lazy to unsubscribe from. For a customer, that’s a minor bother. For an email marketer, it’s unacceptable.
The solution? Launching a killer re-engagement campaign to win back unresponsive subscribers. According to recent research, reconnecting to lost customers is five times more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Here is how to create and deploy an effective campaign to re-engage your subscribers, and make the most of this opportunity.
When first setting up email marketing strategies, many businesses gravitate towards prominent platforms like Mailchimp. If you’re noticing many inactive subscribers and are thinking about launching a re-engagement campaign, first check whether you are using the right tools for your purposes, and maybe consider migrating to Mailchimp alternatives.
Especially after you’ve been using the same platform for a while, you can benefit from re-evaluating its segmentation, personalization, and automation features and comparing to other providers.
Even the best re-engagement campaign will have little lasting impact if your subsequent email marketing efforts remain mediocre. Making sure that you have the right tools at your disposal is the first step in taking your email marketing game to the next level.
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Why did your subscribers become inactive in the first place?
To a certain level, people just lose interest. Data shows that email list decay costs businesses up to 22.5% of their subscribers per year, with an additional 10-25% lost to inactivity. Perhaps they found an alternative to your solution, didn’t understand its benefits, or simply forgot about you.
Or maybe you really need to improve your email marketing strategy.
Personalization and providing engaging, relevant content are essential in today’s email marketing landscape. So is keeping up with trends like video email marketing and interactivity.
When you set out to re-capture your subscribers’ interest, you need to make sure that this time, you can keep it. Going over your current email marketing strategy is essential for that.
Before you get started on drawing up your re-engagement campaign, you need to clean your list and segment your inactive subscribers.
Breaking inactive subscribers up into different segments allows you to personalize the content you send them to regain their interest - and increases your chances of success.
Looking at subscribers’ most recent activity, the date and way they originally signed up, their purchase history, and demographics like location, gender, and age allows you to split them up into interest groups. On this basis, you can decide which way to go to regain their attention.
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What sort of message will recapture your audience’s hearts? Here are three possible routes to take.
Before sending content, ask for consent. This shows your customers that you are considerate, responsible, and mindful of their time and personal space.
In your message, remind subscribers of who you are, what services you provide, how you got their contact details, and what sort of content you will be sending in the future.
Asking for permission to keep contacting them, along with offering an option to unsubscribe is best-practice behavior - especially if subscribers haven’t heard from you in a while, or if you are planning to increase the volume of marketing emails in the future.
Some might take you up on the suggestion to say goodbye, but the majority of recipients will likely retain a positive impression instead.
If your analysis of previous customer behavior shows that they have purchased your services or products in the past, an excellent strategy to recapture their interest is to send a special offer or voucher their way.
They might not have thought of you in a while, but if they suddenly find a 30% coupon in their inbox, chances are they’ll have at least a quick look at your website.
What is it your subscribers want? Which topics interest them? What sort of content are they looking for?
Go right ahead and ask them.
Sending out a message that allows customers to personalize their content preferences - or opt out - shows that you care about their personal interests and want to avoid spamming them with useless content. Brownie points!
Getting this sort of feedback from your subscribers is invaluable for improving your list segmentation, marketing automation, and content personalization.
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Retaining the attention and interest of customers is a never-ending effort. Providing quality content, using the right marketing tools, and sticking to a well-thought-out strategy are key elements to succeed in doing so.
Designing an effective re-engagement campaign is a crucial step in winning back customers you might lose otherwise. And rather than chasing after new subscribers, it allows you to re-activate the potential of those you already have.
