How to Create Re-engagement Emails: Complete Guide

Ever noticed how your email list loses subscribers over time?

You’ve spent so much effort to get those leads, but many eventually stop engaging. That’s where re-engagement emails come into play.

They’re your secret army, bringing those sleeping subscribers back into the fold and giving them a nudge to come back and engage with your content.

So, how do you craft effective re-engagement emails?

Let’s get down in the trenches and examine the strategies you can use to breathe life back into your email list!

What is a Re-engagement Email?

These emails will recapture the interest of these inactive subscribers and encourage them to re-engage themselves with your brand. They serve as reminders to assure customers that you’re still here and that your content or offers will be ready whenever they decide to come back.

Are Re-engagement Emails the same as Winback Emails?

In many ways, it is very easy to get confused between re-engagement and winback emails. Yet, they are not exactly the same; the objectives of these two kinds of emails differ a little:

Re-engagement emails

A re-engagement email targets those subscribers who have stopped opening your messages. It’s a reigniting email that can trigger their interest in getting in touch with you again.

Customers who haven’t opened your emails in the past 30, 60, or 90 days fall into this category.

On the other hand, winbacks usually target customers who have already purchased from you but have not come back recently. Their objective is to remind them to check your website again using an offer or a reminder of what they are missing.

All winback emails are some form of re-engagement email, but not all re-engagement email focuses on bringing back previous customers.

This is derived from a meta-analysis of 49 different studies about shopping behavior in e-commerce. It’s a clear sign that many shoppers leave before completing their purchase. This provides a crucial opportunity for online retailers to refine their checkout experience and win back potential customers.

Here’s a comprehensive report where Klaviyo compares abandoned cart flow metrics for the average e-commerce brand to abandoned cart flow metrics for brands performing in the top 10% of their users.

Why Should You Run Re-engagement Email Campaigns?

Any email marketing strategy needs to have a re-engagement email campaign, and here’s why:

1. Improve Email Deliverability: Sending emails to inactive subscribers can damage your deliverability rate if you do it too often. Running re-engagement email campaigns helps to pinpoint the unengaged contacts that ought to be culled, thereby increasing deliverability in general.

2. Maximize ROI: Re-engaging existing subscribers will always be cheaper than acquiring new subscribers. When you use the re-engagement emails, you are touching an audience already familiarized with your brand. Therefore, you can skip the intro and get right straight to providing offers. It will save you time and effort—therefore, it saves you money!

3. Clean Your Email List: Engaged subscribers tend to convert more. Cleaning out the list of inactive subscribers will give you a healthier and more engaged email list.

4. Boost Engagement: Re-engagement emails remind subscribers of the value of your brand. Effective emails can re-ignite interest in your customers and boost open and click-through rates.

When Do You Need a Re-Engagement Campaign?

So, you might be wondering. How do you know that it’s the right time to have a re-engagement campaign?

Take a look at these telltale signs that it is the right time:

1. Open rates have decreased: In case your subscribers start opening fewer emails, you need to start sending a re-engagement email campaign.

2. Click-through rates are dropping: Low engagement means that your audience is no longer interested in your messages. Hence, a re-engagement email can revive their interest in your content.

3. Sales have flattened: When the sales have slowed down, it is most likely that a decrease in interest from your email list has caused it. In such cases, re-engagement emails play a crucial role in revitalizing interest and boosting sales again.

Subscribers’ behavior should be tracked and pinpointed at which time they most often become inactive. Certain businesses’ subscribers become inactive after 30 days, while other companies wait for 90 days to launch a re-engagement campaign.

Tips for Successful Re-Engagement Campaigns

Now that you know how important re-engagement campaigns are, let’s discuss how to write them effectively!

1. Segment Your Inactive Subscribers

Not all inactive subscribers are the same. Some have never engaged, while others may have been your most loyal fans at some point.

That’s why you need to segment your list based on engagement, purchase history, or the amount of time they’ve been inactive. By this, you’ll be able to craft a specific series of re-engagement email campaigns that address those particular needs and motivations.

Pro Tip: You should keep two different re-engagement email campaigns going for inactive people who have been inactive for 30 days versus those who haven’t engaged in six months. The longer they have gone without engaging, the more proactive you might have to be with your approach.

2. Craft a Brain-Tickling Subject Line

An effective subject line is all about making an impression. Use it well to capture attention and provoke curiosity.

Here are some email re-engagement subject line examples:

“We Miss You! Here’s 10% Off to Welcome You Back”
“Still Interested? Let’s Reconnect!”
“Is This Goodbye? We Don’t Want to Lose You”

Your subject line should be urgent, curiously worded, or even a little bit humorous in order to get the subscribers to open your email.

3. Personalization of Your Message

Personalization means much more than the use of a recipient’s name.

You can use their past actions. For example, those products they viewed or bought make your re-engagement email feel very personalized for them. Additionally, you could remind them of items left in their cart or recommend related products that might interest them.

Example: “Hey [Name], we noticed you haven’t checked out our latest collection. Here’s something we think you’ll love!”

Read this next: How to Set Up an Effective Klaviyo Abandoned Cart Flow

Sometimes, they just need a little prod to get subscribers re-engaged. Reward them with exclusive discounts, freebies, or a limited-time promotion that encourages them to engage with your brand again.

Example Incentives:

15% off their next purchase
Free shipping on their next order
A special gift with your purchase

Your offer should be good enough to encourage them to act.

5. Make Them Remember Your Worth

Remember why they subscribed in the first place. Highlight exclusive offers you’re sending to a subscriber, such as early sale access or unique discounts and some good old content. Remind them of your value and why staying inactive would mean missing out on that value.

Example: “We have great updates, insider tips, and discounts in line for you only.”

Sometimes, subscribers just become silent because they are no longer interested in what you’re offering. Use your re-engagement email as a chance to ask for feedback.

Make a quick survey or just ask a very simple question like, “What would you like to see more of?”

By giving them a voice, you show that you care about their preferences, which may reignite interest in your brand.

7. Use a Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Each re-engagement email should have a clear and compelling call to action.

The call-to-action can be anything, be it “Claim Your Discount,” “Take Our Survey,” or “Browse New Arrivals.” Ensure your call-to-action really stands out and gets subscribers to take the action you want them to take.

Pro Tip: Use action-oriented language and keep your call-to-action buttons catchy and easy to click.

8. Draw Inspiration from Re-engagement Email Examples

Learn from the examples of re-engagement campaigns of successful brands.

You can get inspiration from some of the campaigns that other brands have used to reactivate inactive subscribers. It is all about what has worked before and what you should do for your audience. Make sure to use subject lines, incentives, personalization, and attention-grabbing designs.

9. Test and Optimize

Again, it’s important to keep in mind that no two audiences are the same.

So test different elements within your re-engagement emails, such as A/B testing subject lines, offers, or CTA buttons. Doing this will help you better understand what works best for your audience. Then, using the data and insights you gathered, fine-tune your email campaigns.

10. Know When to Say Goodbye

After sending a series of re-engagement emails, and still no response? Let go…

Not all subscribers will re-engage again and resonate with your messages, and that’s okay!

If that happens, it may be time to scrub those dead contacts from your list. This will improve your deliverability and help you focus on subscribers who are genuinely interested in your brand.

Re-engagement emails are one of the most effective ways to revive interest among inactive subscribers. Moreover, it’s the proven strategy of injecting some much-needed energy back into your email list.

By segmenting your audience, tailoring your messages, offering irresistible incentives, and fine-tuning your campaigns, you can create re-engagement emails that resonate with your subscribers.

The goal is to rekindle that connection and remind them why they were drawn to your brand in the first place. So, start crafting those re-engagement emails today—you might be surprised by how much impact they can have!

How to Create Re-engagement Emails that Actually Work