What is the best way to re-engage with an old, unmanaged email list?
Summary
What email marketers say14Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Gmass explains reducing the frequency to your unengaged contacts can help improve your deliverability. It's one signal mailbox providers look at when deciding whether to send your emails to the inbox, spam, or promotions tab.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that most ESPs forbid renting or purchasing lists.
Email marketer from OptinMonster shares that personalizing re-engagement emails with the subscriber's name, past purchase history, or browsing behavior can make the message more relevant and increase the chances of a positive response.
Marketer from Email Geeks mentions most ESP's wouldn't allow lists over a year old and doesn't recommend warmed domains.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that list rentals/purchases are never a good idea.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that sending a 'last chance' email, informing subscribers that they will be unsubscribed if they don't take action, can prompt some inactive users to re-engage while also cleaning your list of truly unengaged subscribers.
Email marketer from Litmus explains cleaning your email list and removing unengaged subscribers is key to maintaining a healthy and engaged audience. Removing inactive subscribers results in better deliverability and more accurate reporting, as they won't negatively impact metrics.
Email marketer from Neil Patel shares that offering exclusive discounts, free resources, or early access to new products can entice inactive subscribers to re-engage and become active customers again.
Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that creating a targeted email campaign with personalized content, compelling subject lines, and a clear call-to-action can incentivize subscribers to re-engage with your brand.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign recommends A/B testing different subject lines, content, and calls-to-action in your re-engagement emails to optimize performance and identify what resonates best with your audience.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests to send a re-engagement/re-optin message in small batches if required to send to old lists.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum explains that using an email verification service to remove invalid addresses before sending a re-engagement campaign prevents bounces and protects your sender reputation.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests sending re-opt in messages in small increments on existing domain and evaluating the data's performance.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog explains that segmenting your list based on factors like last activity, demographics, or purchase history helps to personalize re-engagement efforts, making them more effective.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains re-engagement requires you to send to a fraction of your dormant addresses each day, and remove the people you can’t reach. If you have too many unengaged folks, you'll need to keep the pace fairly slow.
Expert from Spamresource explains you will need to do some cleaning to start and you can use email verification services, such as Kickbox, ZeroBounce, and Email Hippo, to remove invalid emails. Clean your list and protect your deliverability.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that emails grow stale and suggests to cut old lists free or run them through Kickbox before sending.
Expert from Email Geeks states she has never heard of domain rental and does not recommend it.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost explains that sending a re-engagement email campaign to win back inactive subscribers involves crafting compelling content, clearly stating the benefits of staying subscribed, and offering an easy way to unsubscribe if they're no longer interested. This helps maintain a healthy list and improves deliverability rates.
Documentation from Klaviyo explains that implementing a sunset policy, where inactive subscribers are automatically removed from your list after a certain period, helps to maintain list hygiene and improve overall email deliverability.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that sending email to people who don't know you is bad. People will complain about your email and Junk Email Reporting (Junk) traps may also find your email. Your reputation as a sender goes down, and your ability to deliver email goes down, too. You need to get permission before sending email.
Documentation from Gmail Help explains that including a list-unsubscribe header in your emails makes it easier for subscribers to opt-out, reducing the likelihood of them marking your emails as spam and improving your sender reputation.
Documentation from Mailchimp explains that using pre-built segments in your email marketing platform can help you target inactive subscribers with tailored re-engagement messages, improving open rates and click-through rates.