Re-engagement (aka. win-back) emails can be an effective way to re-engage subscribers as long as you use the right data, know what keywords are effective in subject lines, and test to learn the optimal number and frequency of messages.
Follow these best practices to help improve your chances of re-engaging subscribers.
- Prior to sending a re-engagement campaign, identify valid email addresses using BriteVerify or Everest's List Validation. Do not send email to invalid email addresses.
- Highlight your available social media channels for subscribers uninterested in receiving email.
- Use a shorter template and subject lines (e.g. “We Miss You” or “Was it Something we Said?”) that differs from your current emails to capture the reader's attention.
- Focus on one clear call to action.
- If the email addresses have not been mailed for an extended period of time and the file size is large, send re-engagement campaigns from a different IP (dedicated or shared) than that which is used to mail to active, engaged subscribers.
- Create a throttling schedule based on the total size of the re-engagement campaign and deploy in smaller quantities to monitor complaints, unsubscribes, and unknown users.
- Don’t send only one type of re-engagement email. Test a variety of different content and calls to action to try and re-engage subscribers.
- Send more than one email in a re-engagement series and test to determine what number of emails receives the best response. Send two messages with different messaging if you are unsure where to start.
- If providing an incentive, test different offers. $ off incentives may perform better than % off. Make this offer truly compelling and hard to pass up.
- Experiment with tone and sentiment that fits your brand.
- Test to determine whether your campaigns see a lift with value drivers (e.g. $ off, % off, and free shipping) or with emotional drivers (e.g. urgency, inclusivity, VIP, and social proof).
- If possible, use any existing additional data (beyond last engagement) to personalize the email and increase the chance of re-engagement.
- Remind subscribers about the value of receiving emails from your brand.
- Review your re-engagement campaign content and metrics regularly to ensure that they continue to drive positive results.
- Solicit feedback. Understanding why these subscribers stopped engaging can help inform future email program strategy and reduce subscriber inactivity.
- Don’t remove subscribers immediately after sending a re-engagement campaign. Provide some time for subscribers to respond and re-engage with your brand.
- Be clear in your messaging at what point email will cease should they not respond. Give them information about how to re-subscribe if they change their mind in the future.
