In a world where “social proof” sometimes means showing that you have thousands of subscribers to your list, it can seem counter-intuitive to want to do something about inactive subscribers.
However, inactive subscribers can have an impact on your business. Just being able to say that you have so many subscribers is not a sufficient reason to keep inactives on your list. Indeed, inactives on your list might be holding you back.
Inactive Subscribers are Undesirable
One of the realities of your list is that it can only be so large. When you have a list manager, you usually have to pay based on the size of your subscriber list. So, if you have a large number of inactives, you are paying to send them information that they probably won’t ever see.
Plus, inactives on your list aren’t going to be sales prospects. They won’t be opening your email for good deals, and they won’t be clicking on your affiliate links, or buying your latest product offering. Instead of paying to reach those who don’t care, you should be focusing on your efforts on subscribers who are interested in what you have to say — and more likely to make you a little extra money.
Reclaiming Inactive Subscribers
Before you completely write off inactives, though, it’s a good idea to see if you can reclaim them. Perhaps the inactive subscribers are waiting for something interesting from you to re-engage them.
Aweber offers a process you can follow to attempt to get inactive subscribers interested in your email marketing efforts again. The attempt is accomplished in three steps, using Aweber’s tools to identify inactive subscribers, and segmenting them so that you can reach out. Reclaiming your inactive subscribers requires the use of three separate engagement messages, sent to those who haven’t opened an email from you for a specific time period.
Your re-engagement emails should be easy to understand, and it should be easy for recipients to take action. You can create some sort of value-add, or even ask subscribers to complete a short survey. And, of course, make sure that you have some sort of reward for the re-engaged subscriber.
Removing Inactive Subscribers
Once you finish going through your campaign to reclaim inactive subscribers, it’s time to whittle down the list. You need to let go of those who aren’t interested in your emails anymore. You need to make room on your list for new subscribers who want to read what you send.
Aweber offers some helpful insights on how to proceed. You will want to make sure that you are getting rid of subscribers who truly aren’t interested — and whose email program might be sending your emails right to the spam folder.
As you remove inactive subscribers from your list, you will be able to replace them with subscribers interested in your message, and you will no longer be paying to reach those who have been ignoring your messages for months. Getting rid of the dead weight can increase the ROI for your list, and boost the effectiveness of your list. Every so often, trim your subscriber list so that it is more robust, and so that each email message is more effective.
{Featured image via DeMello Images}
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