What is re-engagement?

Email marketing re-engagement is the process of reaching out to subscribers who haven’t interacted with your emails in a while. The goal is to win back their interest or encourage another purchase. 

Re-engagement is achievable through re-engagement campaigns, win-back flows, or post-purchase emails.

How to re-engage subscribers

Take these steps to set up a successful re-engagement campaign:

1. Understand your brand’s buying cycle

Consider your average time between purchases. If you sell razors, your buying cycle will be a lot faster than a brand that sells luxury watches. This buying cycle will determine when it’s time to re-engage your subscribers and customers. 

Use predictive analytics to identify your brand’s buying cycle by analyzing customer data such as average time between purchases, churn risk, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). With those in mind, your marketing automation platform can predict when and how many customers are likely to order so it can send an effective re-engagement message according to the actual buying cycle. 

2. Create your unengaged segments

Split your unengaged profiles into specific segments—those who have previously made a purchase and those who haven’t. This is how you can start to experiment with messages that are tailored to people who have and haven’t purchased.

To maintain your sender reputation, regularly clean your lists by removing invalid emails and contacts that haven’t engaged with your brand even after you’ve sent a win-back campaign. 

3. Build the campaign or flow

  1. Segment your dormant subscribers: Group dormant customers based on criteria like purchase frequency, engagement levels, and time since the last interaction. Create segments for high-value customers, non-customers, and low-intent buyers, and message each group accordingly.
  2. Write inviting messages: Make your emails feel genuine and remind your customers of their away time in a friendly, welcoming tone, letting them know you’ve missed them, before trying to win them back.
  3. Offer strong incentives: You can always include discounts, free shipping, or exclusive deals to encourage re-engagement, but make sure to test different offer levels to find the minimal monetary incentive that makes your customers come back.
  4. Test timing and frequency: Send 2-5 win-back emails at different times, beginning 3-6 months after inactivity, if that timeline aligns with your brand’s buying cycle. Comb through data to identify when your customers are most likely to engage with your messages.
  5. Use clear CTAs: Make your call-to-action buttons easy to spot so you can guide your audience back to your website or product collection with minimal effort on their end.
  6. Allow your subscribers to leave: Make it simple for recipients to unsubscribe or manage preferences if they’re not interested. 

The importance of re-engagement initiatives

  • They keep your brand top of mind: One message is often enough to remind subscribers about your brand and keep it top of mind the next time they need your products.
  • They help you gather data: Re-engagement initiatives help you understand audience preferences and clean up your contact list.
  • They can lead to more sales: Well-timed product features and discounts can encourage purchases and increase customer lifetime value.

Automate win-back flows with Klaviyo by relying on accurate customer behavior data. Through predictive analytics and flow automation, Klaviyo identifies at-risk customers and sends targeted emails with personalized messaging and incentives—like dynamic coupon codes the recipient can only use once. 

Sign up for Klaviyo and set up customized win-back flows, create urgency, and include offers to re-engage dormant customers, all while optimizing for the right timing and frequency to maximize effectiveness.

Additional resources