How To Activate Inactives
By Randall Litchfield
In economic times like these, you need every email subscriber as active as possible. The first rule for treating inactives is, don't purge them from your list. You worked hard to get their permission and, once you say goodbye, it's for good. The second rule is to stop treating them in the fashion that made them inactive in the first place - i.e. like everyone else. Make inactives their own segment and work at re-engaging them. Here are four things you can try:
- 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.
- Update Their Profile - Using incentives, drive inactive subscribers to your profile update page where they can change email addresses, update format preferences, demographics and interests. This updated information may better enable you to send them targeted and relevant emails.
- Test Different Styles of Subject Lines - Creative subject lines could be one of your most effective strategies in getting recipients to re-engage.
- Understand Their Behavior - Examine their customer profiles with the data at hand. A large percentage of your inactives may share a common trait. They may even be signalling you that they are about to become inactive. By learning the telltale signs, you can prevent inactivity with the right offer made at the right time.
