An email marketing campaign will never be successful if you don’t have a well-stocked mailing list to send your messages to. After all, your emails won’t have much effect if no one is reading them! But, once you have plenty of subscribers on your list, don’t just assume that your work is done. How many of those subscribers actually engage with your emails on a regular basis?
The chances are that many, or even the majority, of your subscribers are inactive. That is to say, they don’t engage with the emails you send (open, read, click through etc.) on a regular basis, or even at all. These subscribers shouldn’t be ignored. They should play an important part of your email marketing strategy and, if targeted correctly, they could become active subscribers and customers for years to come. However, not all inactive subscribers are created equal. By identifying the types of inactive subscribers that you have, you will be able to better target your emails to reactivate them. Here are some of the types of inactive email subscribers you may have:
Subscribers Who Have Never Been Active
These are people who have signed up to receive your emails but, for one reason or another, they have never opened or clicked through them. These subscribers can be difficult to engage with, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Many of these subscribers are inactive because they didn’t realise they signed up, or don’t remember signing up, to your mailing list. You can ensure this doesn’t happen by sending all your new subscribers a welcome email. This will remind them that they signed up, and help them decide whether they want to remain on your list.
This welcome email from Tesco Baby Club lists all the benefits of being a member, which is hopefully enough to encourage their subscribers to regularly engage with their emails:
If you have a significant proportion of subscribers who have never engaged with your emails, they could be going straight into the spam folder. Make sure that they emails you send don’t contain any spam triggers, and ask your subscribers to add your email address to their safe senders list. TopCashback include this message at the top of their emails:
Inactive Subscribers Who No Longer Shop With You
These are those subscribers who may have engaged with your emails and shopped with you in the past, but now no longer do so. These subscribers should be easier to reactivate because something about your company must appeal to them in order for them to have shopped with you in the past.
There could be a number of reasons why these subscribers no longer read your emails or shop with you. It could be that the emails that you are sending are not relevant or appealing to them. Look back at the things that they previously bought, or things that they’ve previously browsed on your website, and send out emails based on those things. A ‘we miss you’ email, including a discount, could also be enough to catch their eye and encourage them to re-engage with your business.
Cocorose offered their lapsed customers 25% off their next purchase:
Inactive Subscribers Who Still Shop With You
You may have some customers who no longer open, read or engage with your emails, but they still shop with you on a regular basis. It’s not completely necessary to reactivate these subscribers; after all, they are still spending money with you. However, it might be worth sending an email asking if they want to remain on your mailing list. That way, your list isn’t bogged down with inactive subscribers.
Chipotle send this email to their inactive subscribers:
Managing your inactive subscribers should play an important part of your email marketing strategy. However, make sure you first identify the types of inactive subscribers you have, and target them appropriately.
