Step 1. Identify your inactive subscribers
Not all inactive subscribers are created equal. In fact, in email marketing inactive subscribers generally fall into 3 categories: Unengaged These subscribers were once active and engaged with your brand. But have recently lost contact with you. These have the most potential to be won back with the right email, and should be focused on as a priority. Zombies These subscribers were also once active and engaged with your brand. But have not opened or clicked on an email in a long time. Attempts at re-engagement should be made, however you may also wish to begin ramping down activity for these subscribers. Never active These subscribers made a purchase or signed up to your email communications, but have not been active since. Chances are they never had any interest in receiving marketing communications from you. And are unlikely to engage in the future.Step 2. Segment and send
Now you have identified your subscribers, begin segmenting them into their own categories. This is so that you can send the most appropriate and relevant communications to the specific segment. Increasing the chances of winning them back. Unengaged As these are the recipients most likely to re-engage with you, focus your efforts on this segment first and get a re-engagement campaign sent out asap. As these subscribers have only disengaged recently, check-in emails are the most appropriate communications to send out, to subtly remind the recipient that your brand exists and what you offer. For instance: Product recommendations Use past purchase and historical behavioural data to identify the most tempting products for this recipient, and use dynamic content to populate your email with these items.




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Feedback A feedback email can be another campaign that is to the point. Tell the recipient that you haven’t heard from them in a while, and ask for feedback. This opens communications with the recipient again, whilst also generating useful insight for the brand.

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Never active It’s tempting to simply remove these subscribers from your list, but it’s also worth taking one last shot at winning them back. Last chance email The key to re-engaging with this segment is to get to the point. Last chance emails state that the recipient hasn’t been active in a long while, and will be removed from the email list unless they take action. This way the decision is put into the hands of the recipient. And if they truly wish to engage with a brand, they’ll let them know.
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