Quick Guide
But First, Why is a Re-Engagement Campaign Important?
A re-engagement campaign does exactly what it says on the tin: it is a type of email marketing strategy designed to reignite interest from subscribers who’ve gone cold – people who signed up but now rarely open, click or convert.
Of course, it’s easy to think of inactive subscribers as dead weight in your CRM system, but the best email marketing campaigns look beyond the metrics and terminology and think about the humans we’re trying to reach.
Your inactive subscribers can be both past and potential customers of your business. While size-dependent, these email recipients can present a lot of missed and latent buying power.
So, in essence, a re-engagement campaign seeks to ignite that relationship again with your old flame (your inactive subscribers). There are a number of ways you can approach it and methods for the best success, which we will get on to…
Can They Be Called Something Else?
Absolutely! Re-engagement campaigns go by a few different names depending on where they sit within your wider retention strategy.
You might hear them referred to as:
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Winback campaigns
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Reactivation campaigns
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Customer retention campaigns
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Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
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Wake-up campaigns
Different labels, same goal: reconnect with subscribers who’ve drifted away.
Re-engagement doesn’t always mean they stopped opening emails. As we said, the best campaigns think bigger picture; email re-engagement campaigns do not have to be limited to a lack of email engagement. You may want to carry this out if a customer hasn’t visited your app or website in a while, or perhaps hasn’t purchased as often.
When used intentionally, re-engagement campaigns play a huge role in maximizing customer lifetime value (CLTV) – helping you get more value from the audience you’ve already worked hard to acquire.
Re-engagement campaigns may sometimes be a part of a broader sunset policy/strategy. This acts as a last checkpoint before you stop emailing long-term inactive subscribers who have shown no engagement over a set period (such as over 6 or 12 months).
If My Subscribers Are Inactive, Why Should I Re-engage Them?
Acquiring new customers is expensive compared to retention – you could spend up to seven times more across paid ads, content, SEO, partnerships, discounts, and promotions. Of course, growing new business by bringing on new customers is always ideal, however, making the most of your current customer list is key.
First of all, you’ve worked really hard to build your email list. Whether loyal and active or completely dormant, your subscribers are people who have explicitly registered interest that they want to hear from your business for one reason or another. So, leaving existing subscribers dormant is a missed opportunity.
Your email list can be thought of as the sum total of your marketing and branding efforts. Everything from product development, advertising, SEO, to giveaways, discounts, and more may entice users to sign up to your email list. This process of customer or subscriber acquisition is costly in time, effort, and money.
TL;DR: Whether you’re in tech, fashion, SaaS, or otherwise, your current subscribers are often:
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Cheaper to convert
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More familiar with your brand
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More likely to trust you
Re-engagement campaigns help protect and extend the value of your entire marketing ecosystem – not just chase the next shiny lead.
Intended Outcomes of a Re-engagement Campaign
Subscribers re-engage
This is the gold standard. When subscribers re-engage, they’re more likely to purchase, renew, or re-enter your customer lifecycle – often with higher intent than a brand-new lead (which can cost up to seven times more than retaining existing customers).
Even small lifts in retention can have a meaningful impact on CLTV. A 5% increase in retention can boost your profits by up to 95%, making re-engagement one of the highest-level strategies in email marketing.
Subscribers unsubscribe
This may seem counterintuitive, but bad? Not at all… Having a list bloated with inactive subscribers can quietly hurt your deliverability rate. If you’ve got a long list of subscribers who aren’t opening your emails and bringing your open rate down, your emails are more likely to be moved into Promotions folders, or worst of all, trigger the dreaded spam filters.
This means that even your best subscribers may stop seeing your emails. And in a world of doomscrolling and inbox overload “out of sight” quickly becomes “out of mind” – which is bad news for both brand recall and revenue.
So if a few people unsubscribe during your re-engagement campaign, don’t take it to heart. Every cloud has a silver lining, and by cutting ties, this can improve your email marketing success as you’re only keeping your loyal followers.
Subscribers do nothing
If subscribers do nothing after your re-engagement efforts, it’s usually time to stop emailing them – after a predefined period of time. Yes, it can feel underwhelming – especially if you’ve spent years building your mailing list.
But much like that self-care routine you’ve had saved for months but have yet to try, it’s time to put your needs first. Removing long-term inactive subscribers helps improve open rates, click rates, and deliverability. That said, nuance matters.
If someone is still active elsewhere – purchasing, browsing, using your app – you may choose to keep them, just with adjusted targeting or frequency. Ultimately, you decide how strict your cutoff is – but having one is what matters.
Want some help? Get in touch with the email marketing experts! We’re here to help rekindle your business with the results and ROI you deserve.
How to Run a Top-Tier Re-engagement Campaign
If you need some ideas on how to win back those lapsed subscribers, CodeCrew is here to help! Time to lock in and learn how we set up and run an effective re-engagement campaign…
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Think about why your customers have become inactive
A wise individual once said, “context is king!”. And it’s true, especially when it comes to customer retention campaigns. If you can pinpoint where and why a subscriber signed up in the first place, and why they may have become disengaged, this can help form a laser-focused re-engagement strategy. For example:
Old email address
A subscriber may be a loyal and active customer, but perhaps the email address you have for them isn’t their latest and most up-to-date.
Lack of interest
Perhaps your subscribers’ interests have moved on. Or maybe they’re still in your target market, but your newsletter could be better tailored to shifting priorities.
Bad brand experience
Unfortunately, sometimes we have to entertain this thought; a bad experience may harm brand loyalty, leading to inactivity.
Signed up only for a discount
The subscriber may be primarily motivated to purchase only when a discount or savings is available. Think about discount codes to incentivize their action…
Signed up, but not for them
They may have purchased for a loved one or significant other (think birthdays or Christmas). In these cases, the subscriber may be the customer but not the target demographic.
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Time to segment your subscriber list
Once you’ve determined the reasons why your subscribers may have become inactive, you can begin to segment them to apply a more focused re-engagement strategy.
For the best chances of success, we recommend looking at the recency of interaction and the type of interaction. These are the two core pillars when it comes to inactivity:
Recency
How long has it been since someone last interacted with your brand? That’s what regency is. It matters because the longer the gap, the more “cold” the relationship becomes – and the more intentional you’ll need to be to win them back. If a subscriber hasn’t engaged in 3 to 6 months, they’re going to be a lot easier to win back than those with a bigger gap.
A simple, value-led email may be all it takes. Think of a “what’s new” round-up email, a best-sellers refresher, or a small discount. I’m sure you’ve seen those: “We miss you! Here’s what’s new at [your brand]” or “It’s pay day! Here’s a discount just for you…”
For subscribers who haven’t engaged in around a year, it may take a bit more to get them on board. Think of a more compelling discount, or bigger features or launches that they wouldn’t have noticed. This might be a 20% discount or a new product line (this is especially key if it’s coming around to gifting season or around a year since they made their last purchase).
And if it’s been over 12+ months with zero email engagement, it’s usually time to run a proper winback sequence that ends with a clear permission pass…
Last meaningful action
The last meaningful action is exactly what it sounds like: the subscriber’s most recent action that had sizable or meaningful value and signaled real interest. Because yes – a subscriber may open your emails all the time, but you want them to contribute to your business, right? Not just the health of your email program.
Think of your own email habits. We’ve all opened an email just to delete it. Technically, that’s engagement. Practically? It’s… not the kind you’re after.
So ask: what’s the last meaningful thing they did? (For your brand, not in life… sheesh).
Have they made a purchase?
In this case, they have bought from your business. And if their experiences are positive, they have the potential to do so again. Lead with what’s changed: new products since they last shopped, loyalty perks, or a service-recovery message if a bad experience may have happened.
Keep in mind, not everyone wants to leave feedback. So don’t force it. They might not use the product themselves (if given as a gift) or they may simply not want to fill in a survey – and that’s fine. In most cases, a relevant update + clear next step beats a “tell us what we did wrong” email.
Have they signed up for a free trial or accessed a free demo?
Freebies work – trials, demos, guides, giveaways. You know the drill.
If this was their last meaningful action taken as a customer, re-engage them in that same context: what would help them take the next step.
For SaaS or B2B industries, show outcomes: use cases, quick wins, and outline how their competitors are succeeding with your tool is likely to incite action. For consumer brands, spotlight what they missed: new releases, best-sellers, helpful content, and (when appropriate) a well-timed incentive.
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Email your inactive audience
Once you’ve got your methodology set out, it’s time to craft your re-engagement emails and begin sending them to your inactive segments.
It’s crucial to point out that a re-engagement campaign is more than just a one-off email. You can include a full flow of retention and win-back emails over a period of time, usually 6 to 9 months after they’ve become unengaged for the chance at re-engagement.
As email marketing service professionals, here are some of our go-to emails to try out in your workflow:
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A value-led reminder (here’s what’s new / what you missed)
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A product/content highlight tied to past behavior
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A time-bound incentive (if / when needed)
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A preferences check (get them to tell you what they want to see more of)
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A final permission pass (stay subscribed or we’ll stop emailing you)
The gentle nudge or value hook
This works best for subscribers who’ve only recently gone quiet.
Following a “we miss you” tone or including the latest news, new product highlights, and helpful popular content can be worthwhile to include. Ultimately, keep it on brand and tailor it to your customers. (If you’re an insurance firm, maybe don’t hit them with ten emojis and “hey bestie”.)
Start without an incentive if you can – it’s the cleanest way to win back engagement without discounting your margins.
The incentive offer
If gentle nudges don’t get your subscribers moving, it’s time to bring out the big guns. We’re talking clear-cut offers like “20% off latest season products” or “get 3 months free on us”. Add a deadline – it gives the email a reason to exist today, not just someday.
It’s simple, straight to the point, and made to make an impact. If following this tactic, consider what can be feasibly offered and if this affects brand identity. A 99% discount, for instance, may appear desperate, spammy, and make your full price feel…negotiable.
While slightly OTT, you’re aiming for compelling, not please love us. Also, your language matters. Overly salesy copy and aggressive discounting can hurt deliverability. If you suspect spam placement is part of the problem, tackle that before you assume your audience just isn’t interested. Check out our guide here for more help.
The permission pass or final goodbye
This is the final email in a winback campaign. It should give subscribers a clear choice: stay subscribed or unsubscribe.
Your email copy should offer two CTAs for readers to choose their own adventure. If a subscriber fails to open or respond to the deadline you set, they can be added to your sunset list (e.g. removed from your mailing list).
If a user chooses to stay subscribed, it may be worthwhile to offer an opportunity to update their preferences. Product drops? Education? Sales only? A mix of all of them? Let them choose. People change. Make it easy for them to tell you what they want now.
This allows you to collect more data on how to personalize and best serve your customers – hello, more engagement!
Top Tips for Re-engagement Success
Preferences are priority
Offer your inactive subscribers the opportunity to tailor their preferences. If they feel you’re sending too many emails, simply offer the choice to reduce the frequency of your messaging (for instance, from daily to weekly or monthly). This may mean less contact, but a happy subscriber is better than a lost subscriber.
Personalize and surprise
This should go without saying, but personalization still wins! Use names, dates, last viewed products, last purchased categories – anything that makes the email feel like it’s for them. And yes – an unexpected subject line draws attention (but avoid spammy practices!)
Avoid negative recency bias
There are occasions when customers are engaged with your brand, but just not on a specific platform. Think back to your Myspace account. When did you last log onto that? You might have been following your favourite band on there, but just because you haven’t kept up with them on the platform doesn’t mean you’re not religiously streaming their sophomore album every day on repeat…
The point: look at the wider picture. If they’re browsing your site or using your app but not opening emails, don’t treat them like a total ghost – a different tactic is worthwhile. In these cases, a highly-personalized message such as, “We noticed you stopped by the website but haven’t opened our emails in a while: are we sending you the right things?” is ideal.
Want More Email Marketing Tips?
At CodeCrew, to say we’re passionate about email marketing doesn’t even scratch the surface. We’re the experts here to make your results take off into the stratosphere. A tad exaggerated? Not one bit…
We’ve helped hundreds of brands achieve email marketing success. If you want to learn more about how to set your campaign up for success, check out our email marketing best practices guide. We’ve put together helpful resources for everything from boosting open rates and how to write killer subject lines, to how to solve common issues like poor deliverability.
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