Re-engaging inactive email subscribers

Glyn Thomas

Digital communications, WDM

@glynmthomas

Email reactivation

• Why reactivate?

• Case study – reactivation at WDM

• Should you delete people from your

email list? – discuss!

Why reactivate?

Why reactivate?

Why reactivate?

Case study - WDM

• Who gets the reactivation emails?

• How many emails will be sent?

• What goes in the emails?

• What happens to the people who

respond?

• What happens to the people who don’t

respond?

Case study - WDM

• 19006 subscribers on email list

• 10276 recorded as not having opened

emails in previous 12 months

Case study - WDM

Subject line: Have we offended you?

Hello Glyn,

It looks like you're not opening our emails.

We'd love to hear why.

We want to send you emails that are

relevant to you and we certainly don't want

to spam anyone. Please click on the link

below that most represents how you feel

about our email list.

Case study - WDM

• I do read your emails.

• I don't know who you are and why you are

emailing me.

• I don’t have time to read your emails at the

moment.

• I don’t receive emails from you that interest me.

• I can't read your emails properly.

• I don't normally read emails from organisations.

• You send me too many emails.

• You don't send me enough emails.

• Something else.

Case study - WDM

• Open rate: 17%

• Click through rate: 11%

• Unsubscribed immediately - 2.8%

• A few complaints

Case study - WDM

• 30% said they do actually read our emails

• 6% said they don’t know who we are or why

we’re emailing them

• 47% said they don't read emails because they

don't have time

• 1% said they didn’t find our emails interesting

• 2% said they don't read emails from

organisations

• 4% said we send too many emails

Case study - WDM

• What happened to the people who

responded/opened/clicked the email?

• What happened to the people who

didn’t respond?

Case study - WDM

Email 2

Anyone who still hadn’t opened an email

Yes / No

Case study - WDM

Email 3

You will be unsubscribed soon

Click Yes to stay on the list

Case study - WDM

Email 4

You have now been unsubscribed

Click Yes to stay on the list

Case study - WDM

Learning points / improvements

• 2000 people reactivated and now

open/click/take action/donate

• Subject line popular

Case study - WDM

• Many false negatives: people reading

emails on Blackberries, not

downloading images, having images

turned off by default etc.

• 'No time to read emails' = 'your emails

aren't interesting enough to me' ?

Case study - WDM

• Tone: "how can we improve so we get

you involved again" rather than "you

haven't been active..."

• Data to use: not clicked in past six

months and not taken campaign action

or donated.

• Welcome (back) programme?

5668

Delete email addresses?

Discuss!