| Twelve Tips for Targeting Inactive Subscribers |  | |  | | | | |  Why Are They Inactive? | Why does an eMail subscriber become inactive? We are not including bounced addresses in this definition. Here are a few causes of inactivity:
- Disinterested/Changed Interests - Subscribers, who for various reasons, are no longer interested in your products, services or news/content. They have not unsubscribed out of laziness or lack of trust in the process. They may be waiting for their situation or interest level to change/return.
- Badly Written Subject Lines - Your subscribers are busy and have many choices among competing eMail messages to satisfy their needs.
For example, a few months ago I subscribed to an eNewsletter that provides "personalised" marketing news and articles. The subject line reads the same every day: "Norman, Here is Your Personalised Marketing News."
While the content of the eNewsletter may be personalised, this subject line does nothing to entice me to spend time opening it. I have not opened a single eNewsletter since receiving the first few.
- Dormant Email Accounts - are eMail accounts that are still active but the user rarely, if ever, accesses the account.
- Spam/Content Filters - Perhaps your message includes content that is causing it to be stopped by a spam filter at the ISP, corporate or end-user level. Since a bounce message may not be returned, your eMails will continue to be sent but never reach the intended recipients.
- Bulk Folders- Your eMails are delivered but to a "bulk" or "potential spam" folder in the recipient's in box. Many recipients often choose to ignore these folders assuming that all eMails in the folder are actually spam messages.
- Image Filters - Many ISPs and eMail clients now include filters that disable images from loading and display warnings that the message may contain inappropriate images. As a result, some recipients simply delete the message rather than enabling the images and opening the message (disabled images also means that the eMail will not be counted as an open).
| | | How To Determine Who Is "Inactive" | There are no hard and fast rules regarding what qualifies an inactive account. Here is a quick method to help determine them:
- Pick a time period, such as the most recent six months, to reasonably indicate your intended recipient’s interest in your eMail messages.
- Ensure this time frame encompasses a fair number of messages sent; a minimum of 10 is probably a safe bet.
- Run your most active report, download it to a spreadsheet and sort by number of eMails sent.
- Delete all recipients that have received fewer than 10 messages. Then delete anyone that has opened AND clicked a link.
- You now have your list of inactive subscribers.
- Create an "inactive" demographic field in your eMail marketing system and spreadsheet and then upload these records.
- You now have the ability to segment your campaigns with specific messages and frequency to your inactive members.
| | | 12 Tips for Targeting Inactive Subscribers | | The point of identifying your inactive recipients is to treat them differently - not to delete them, ignore them or cry over their inactivity. Your goal, after identifying and segmenting your "active" and "inactive" subscribers, is to spend more productive time on actives and while attempting to re-engage inactives. Here are some tips on how to re-engage your inactives: | | | 1. Special Offers | | If you are a retailer, for example, consider a special offer such as discounts or free shipping. If you are a B2B marketer you might offer a special white paper that will motivate the recipient to re-engage with your communications. | | | 2. Survey Inactive Subscribers | | Consider surveying these recipients to help provide insight into their inactivity so giving you ideas to reactivate them and reduce inactives in the future. | | | 3. Update Profile | | Using incentives, drive subscribers to your profile update page where they can change eMail addresses; update format preferences; demographics; and interests. This updated information will enable you to send targeted and relevant eMails to them. | | | 4. Understand Their Demographics/Profile | | Perhaps a large percentage of your inactives opted in when registering for a white paper, seminar or promotional offer. Or perhaps a majority are in one sector while your content is now more oriented towards another. To reduce their number try requalifying them to ensure you direct relevant content to them in future. | | | 5. Try Different Send Days/Times | | If you always mail on the same day or time of day, try different distribution times to reach people working to differing timetables. | | | 6. Modify Frequency | | Having segmented your list by actives and inactives consider adjusting your broadcast frequency. If you normally send twice per month, you may want to test sending three times to active subscribers but only once to inactives. | | | 7. Create Different Content | If your analysis has uncovered some common threads among inactives, consider packaging the content differently for this group.
For example, a recruitment business might logically find many subscribers becoming inactive after completing their job search. For these subscribers, the company could focus its eNewsletter content on managing people, career progression and the hiring process.
Uncovering this type of trend should lead to providing relevant eNewsletters or dynamic versions based on a subscriber’s profile or stated preferences. | | |  | | 8. Try Different Formats | | Test using a text version, for example, that is very simple but with specific links and messaging intended to drive action. | | | 9. Test Different Styles of Subject Lines | | If you've used a particular style of subject line, try a different approach with the inactives. Creative subject lines could be one of your most effective strategies in getting recipients to re-engage. | | | 10. Monitor Seed/Proof Lists | | Send your messages to proof and seed lists for key domains. Monitor if content or images are causing your messages to be filtered or treated differently with specific ISPs and companies. If problems are detected, consider developing different versions of the messages that may not trip filters. | | | 11. Send a Postcard | | If you have your subscribers' mailing addresses, consider sending them a postcard that offers an incentive if they'll update their eMail preferences and profile. | | | 12. Move Re-engaged to Active Status | | After each eMail message sent to the inactives, change the demographic status of those recipients that clicked a link to "active." This helps keep your focus on converting the inactives and tracking your success in those efforts. | |  | | | | | | |
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