Refreshing and Reactivating Inactives
by Lauren Amundsen

In our Holiday 2009 issue, we looked at defining inactive subscribers and understanding why they’ve become inactive. Here are three ways to reboot those inactives.

• Once you’ve segmented your inactives list, consider lifestyle-related issues. Are the subscribers bored by the content, or is the content simply not relevant to them any longer? If the content is irrelevant, why might that be? Look at broader social trends such as environmental responsibility or the decline of conspicuous consumption. If your content is out-of-whack with what your subscribers’ friends and family are doing – and tweeting, and blogging – then you’ll be fighting an uphill battle.
  
  
• If the problem doesn’t lie with the overall email campaign, try sending inactives an email asking why they haven’t been responding. Would they like to update their preferences regarding content and frequency, or their preferred mode of communication (RSS feeds, mobile messaging, etc.)? Try changing some aspects of the messages sent to inactives, such as a test message with a different "From" address or a new subject line angle.
  
  
• When your inactives seem to have simply lost interest, jolt them out of their brand malaise by throwing them something special. A coupon to get something for free (or at least, for a greatly reduced price) is an excellent way to re-engage consumers. Using the coupon puts the consumer back into the habit of doing business with you, and increases the likelihood of them clicking through on the next email they receive.