re-engaging inactive email subscribers
TRANSCRIPT
Glyn Thomas
Digital communications, WDM
@glynmthomas
Email reactivation
• Why reactivate?
• Case study – reactivation at WDM
• Should you delete people from your
email list? – discuss!
Why reactivate?
Why reactivate?
Why reactivate?
Case study - WDM
• Who gets the reactivation emails?
• How many emails will be sent?
• What goes in the emails?
• What happens to the people who
respond?
• What happens to the people who don’t
respond?
Case study - WDM
• 19006 subscribers on email list
• 10276 recorded as not having opened
emails in previous 12 months
Case study - WDM
Subject line: Have we offended you?
Hello Glyn,
It looks like you're not opening our emails.
We'd love to hear why.
We want to send you emails that are
relevant to you and we certainly don't want
to spam anyone. Please click on the link
below that most represents how you feel
about our email list.
Case study - WDM
• I do read your emails.
• I don't know who you are and why you are
emailing me.
• I don’t have time to read your emails at the
moment.
• I don’t receive emails from you that interest me.
• I can't read your emails properly.
• I don't normally read emails from organisations.
• You send me too many emails.
• You don't send me enough emails.
• Something else.
Case study - WDM
• Open rate: 17%
• Click through rate: 11%
• Unsubscribed immediately - 2.8%
• A few complaints
Case study - WDM
• 30% said they do actually read our emails
• 6% said they don’t know who we are or why
we’re emailing them
• 47% said they don't read emails because they
don't have time
• 1% said they didn’t find our emails interesting
• 2% said they don't read emails from
organisations
• 4% said we send too many emails
Case study - WDM
• What happened to the people who
responded/opened/clicked the email?
• What happened to the people who
didn’t respond?
Case study - WDM
Email 2
Anyone who still hadn’t opened an email
Yes / No
Case study - WDM
Email 3
You will be unsubscribed soon
Click Yes to stay on the list
Case study - WDM
Email 4
You have now been unsubscribed
Click Yes to stay on the list
Case study - WDM
Learning points / improvements
• 2000 people reactivated and now
open/click/take action/donate
• Subject line popular
Case study - WDM
• Many false negatives: people reading
emails on Blackberries, not
downloading images, having images
turned off by default etc.
• 'No time to read emails' = 'your emails
aren't interesting enough to me' ?
Case study - WDM
• Tone: "how can we improve so we get
you involved again" rather than "you
haven't been active..."
• Data to use: not clicked in past six
months and not taken campaign action
or donated.
• Welcome (back) programme?
5668
Delete email addresses?
Discuss!