What strategies for managing inactives in emailing?

The number of inactive email subscribers is often very high. It's not unusual for more than half the members of an email list not to have opened or clicked for more than six months. Yet few advertisers take the bull by the horns. The creation of a reactivation and deactivation program is an opportunity to limit losses due to automatic deletion. But also to take action earlier in the subscriber lifecycle. Here's how it works.

The impact of the inactive

Inactive people in an email list can be a major problem for your business:

• Deliverability problem (your reputation as a sender is partly based on the response rate of your list)
• Decrease in potential revenue
• Statistics that do not represent reality

Focus on inactive users rather than active ones?

Imagine ... if all your inactive assets were worth as much as your active assets! Have you done the math yet? Well, okay, it's probably utopian ... but even if it's only a fraction of them, isn't it worth it? In email marketing, it's often said that it's cheaper to invest in existing subscribers than to acquire new ones. If you measure the performance of your email campaigns correctly, it should be fairly simple to verify this statement. So grab your spreadsheets!

Data audit and sales cycle study

Before you start creating your reactivation program, it is important to know your inactives. This will allow you to identify the main trends and eventually establish different strategies according to their profile:

• Analysis by recruitment source
• Analysis of inactive users' seniority
• Analysis of the number of days before inactivity
• Creation of a typology of inactive people and segmentation on this basis
• Analysis of frequency changes in the emailing program
• Purchase history
• …

In terms of value, the difference between an inactive subscriber who has already purchased and an inactive subscriber who has never purchased is obviously very important. And even if it is interesting to (re)conquer these two categories, the potential of subscribers who have never bought will be much lower and the program deployed will have to be different.

Why don't your subscribers click/open anymore? Ask the question!

Different reasons can create inactivity:

• The content is no longer attractive
• The needs of the subscriber have changed
• The pace does not match expectations
• The emails arrive in spam
• Change of email address
• …

To find out why your subscribers stop opening or clicking on your emails ... why not ask them? It's a way to prove to them that you are interested in their needs ... and to categorize them more effectively. This type of break in the usual flow of your newsletters and other commercial emails will also allow you to get a more important moment of attention.

Reactivate before it's too late, even if it leads to inactivation!

Most reactivation programs are based on sending out exceptional discounts, which are far more generous than those offered elsewhere. While this approach should continue, it's not enough. It's better to make the situation clear to your subscriber, explaining that you'd like to win back their trust (for example, by asking them why they no longer open, see above). I usually define an inactive subscriber as one who hasn't opened, clicked or bought anything in the last six months. However, there's no need to wait that long to take action (definition varies according to sector and nature of business). But you do need to minimize the impact of inactivity as early as possible... and if possible, before your subscribers become inactive. This means..:

• a good welcome program
• the use of a preference management center
• relevant content
• a strong permission
• a simplified unsubscription process

Automated program

The good news about inactive management is that the whole process can be automated. We'll probably go into more detail in another article about various reactivation program scenarios, but here's already a basic example:

1. 3 months after last action: Survey of reasons for inactivity
2. If reaction on the survey: Action based on the response and the subscriber returns to the assets segment
3. 2 weeks after the survey, and if no response: Request to update the subscriber's profile
4. 2 weeks after the previous point, and in the absence of response: Exceptional promotional action
5. 4 weeks after the previous point, and in the absence of response: Without reaction from you, you will not receive any more emails from us within a month.
6. 4 weeks after the previous point, and no response: Your address has been deactivated.

This is an extremely basic example! It's important to optimize the strategy by using AB tests and evaluating the reactivation program every three to six months. Image: The Siesta (Afternoon in Dreams), Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Domaine Public