{"id":89575,"date":"2019-05-02T10:51:50","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T17:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegood.com\/?post_type=insights&p=89575"},"modified":"2023-04-03T06:16:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T13:16:10","slug":"win-back-email-campaign","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/insights\/win-back-email-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Principles for a Successful Win-Back Email Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Win-back email campaigns: Get them right and they are the perfect first step in your email list-cleaning operation. Get them wrong, and you\u2019ll throw away potentially valuable contact information and do yourself considerably more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what\u2019s the right way to conduct a win-back campaign?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I\u2019ll give you five essential principles behind what works and what doesn\u2019t work when it comes to win-back campaigns. Then, I\u2019ll describe the field-tested steps you can take to feel a whole lot better about pressing the Delete button to remove inactive subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a Win-Back Email Campaign?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A win-back email campaign is meant to re-engage subscribers who have stopped engaging with your messages. The aim is to get their attention and convince them to respond so you\u2019ll know they\u2019re still receiving your mail and are still interested in your products or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Are Win-Back Email Campaigns Important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Email is one of the most effective marketing mediums<\/a> at your disposal, yet the average open rate for ecommerce email currently sits below 16 percent (per Mailchimp\u2019s monthly report<\/a> on email campaign stats by industry).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your engagement may be higher than that, but it\u2019s probable that fewer than 20 of every 100 emails you send will ever get opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the subscribers on your list have probably been dormant and disengaged from your email campaigns for months. They haven\u2019t unsubscribed, but they\u2019re either choosing to ignore your messages or are simply not seeing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem isn\u2019t only that those subscribers are missing out on the benefits you\u2019re offering them, but that their presence is driving your open and click-through rates down. That tells spam filters and other components of the email delivery system that your mail may not be desirable\u2014thereby potentially causing your email delivery rate to sink even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an ugly spiral you want to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"chart<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Email open rates can vary significantly depending on the industry, as shown in this study from 2016 by Mailer Mailer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Can I Boost Email Subscriber Engagement?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Everyone wants to know how to build a huge email list, but size doesn\u2019t matter nearly as much as quality. An engaged list is a list that converts. You want subscribers to open your email, click your links, and ultimately buy your products or services\u2014the more the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do you do when you\u2019re paying enterprise-level rates to an email service provider (ESP) to host a large list of people, yet your open rate is hovering just above 10 percent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious and most-suggested solution is to clean the list. Set parameters for who stays and who goes, and then filter out the zombies and remove them. Pruning a 50,000-member mailing list down to 10,000 members can save you several thousand dollars per year in unnecessary expenses and help convince the spam traps that you\u2019re only mailing to people who want to hear what you say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, by launching a win-back campaign before<\/em> you perform list hygiene, you can reactivate a percentage of the prospects or customers you would have lost in the cleaning process. It\u2019s a \u201cdon\u2019t throw the baby out with the bathwater\u201d approach to list management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best time for a win-back #email campaigns is just before cleaning the list<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are Email Win-Back Campaigns Cost-Effective?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say you send a series of win-back emails to the 50,000 subscribers on your list who haven\u2019t responded to anything you\u2019ve sent them in months, and let\u2019s say that win-back effort generates a 6 percent response rate.
That means you\u2019ve just resurrected 3,000 people who now want to hear more about your business. If 10 percent of those buy something from you in the next 30 days, and your average order value (AOV) is $100, then you just claimed $30,000 in sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"graphic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But hold it. What if your average customer lifetime value is $6,500? That means your win-back campaign saved 3,000 customers who could potentially deliver millions of dollars in sales revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You bet! And the best part is you can use your win-back strategy over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do I Create and Manage Win-Back Email Campaigns?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You now know why win-back email campaigns are important and understand the importance of launching win-back efforts prior to list cleaning operations. Next, let\u2019s turn to the nuts and bolts of email win-back campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the factors influencing success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are five win-back email principles you can take to the bank:<\/p>\n\n\n\n