Members of Direct Marketing Association (DMA) always follow a strict opt-in policy. In the widespread domain of email marketing, permission based email is the key element that drives revenue and success. However, it has been found that for many marketers a friendly ISP is just not enough. What we need in 2015 is an active subscriber base.

Sadly, when it comes to email deliverability, we’re only concerned about reducing bounce rates. Anything that comes after that is a grey area.

By now, we all know that repeatedly sending emails to inactive subscribers is a practice frowned upon by quite a few ISPs. It is a bad email marketing practice that has been given the label of ‘spamming’.

The email addresses in your email marketing list need to be active, for better open, click, forward and conversion rates. If you’re sending emails to a group of people who’re inactive, your deliverability is going to badly suffer.

lead win-back email campaigns
Example of win-back email campaigns

Email Campaigns Tips

Below is a list of email marketing tactics that will help you on your win-back campaigns and further improve on your email marketing deliverability.

Set an inactivity date

Set an inactivity date to your email list according to the standard inactivity period for the industry you’re in. If you happen to be a year round business, then 90 days is the recommended time frame. For seasonal businesses, the time frame is much longer.

Next, you need to set a cut-off date. This means that after 90 days your list becomes automatically inactive. So what will you do in this period of 90 days in order to keep it active?

A Win-Back Email Campaign!

Frequency is the most basic and important element of a win-back email campaign. However, you cannot create a storm of emails in your subscribers’ inbox to tick frequency off your list. Your win-back email campaign needs to offer real value to your subscriber base.

Provide bold and real offers, like ‘75% off on your next purchase when you bring this coupon code’
OR
‘For selected customers only – buy goods worth $300 and get 20% cashback’.

Improve on your offer and check if there has been a real spike on the fan base of your social media channels, such as Facebook or Twitter.

What happens when they turn into active subscribers?

By now, you may have learnt that mainstream communication did not work for those who recently turned into active subscribers. You need to create a new stream of content and strategies for such subscribers using similar approaches that worked during the win-back campaign.

What happens when the subscribers are still inactive?

Be open, and let your subscribers know that you’re removing them from your list. In the same email, you can remind them of what they initially signed up for, and ways to re-activate their subscription.

Learn more about FrescoData’s expert Email Marketing tactics.

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