Inactive subscribers aren't necessarily lost causes. Some are just waiting for the right email. A well-designed re-engagement campaign can recover 5-15% of dormant contacts — and cleanly remove the rest.
This Week’s Lesson
A re-engagement campaign (also called a 'win-back' or 'sunset' campaign) is a short series of emails sent specifically to inactive subscribers before they're suppressed from your main lists.
The classic three-email structure: Email 1 — 'We miss you.' Acknowledge the inactivity, remind them of your value, make it easy to re-engage with a simple click. Email 2 (if no response) — 'Are you still interested?' Give them a clear choice: stay subscribed or unsubscribe. Email 3 (final) — 'This is our last email to you.' Inform them they're being removed, with an option to opt back in.
Subject line approach for re-engagement: direct, personal, and low-pressure. 'Are we breaking up?' outperforms 'Important update about your subscription' consistently. Honesty and a touch of humor work better than formality.
What counts as 're-engagement'? An open is not enough (Apple MPP inflates open rates). A click, a reply, or a direct website visit from a link is the proof of real intent.
Contacts who don't respond after all three emails should be suppressed — not deleted. Keep their addresses in a suppression list so you never accidentally re-add them from an imported list.
Re-engagement campaigns deliver a secondary benefit: they improve your sender reputation by cleaning the inactive weight off your list before your next major send.