Re-engagement email campaign: win back inactive subscribers and customers

What a re-engagement email campaign does#

Every list slowly fills with people who no longer read your email. Some changed address, some lost interest, some only wanted a single discount. A re-engagement campaign sorts them into two groups: people who come back, and people you should stop emailing.

Both outcomes are useful. Returning customers bring orders you would otherwise lose. Removing the rest protects your sender reputation, because mailbox providers watch how recipients react to your mail. Yahoo’s sender guidance says that sending to people who do not read your messages, or who mark them as spam, will harm delivery and reputation ^S1.

How to define an inactive subscriber#

Many guides define inactive as “has not opened in 90 days”. That definition has become unreliable. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection downloads remote content, including tracking pixels, in the background by default, regardless of whether the person engages with the email ^S2. Apple users with the feature on can look like they opened everything. Google also notes that it does not track open rates, and that low opens are not necessarily a sign of a delivery problem ^S3.

Base the definition on actions a mail client cannot fake:

Pick a window that matches how often people buy from you. If Ninefold customers tend to reorder each season, the shop might call a customer lapsed after 120 days without an order, and call a subscriber inactive after six months without a click or order.

Win-back emails and re-engagement emails solve different problems#

The two terms are often used interchangeably, but they target different people and ask for different things. Split them into separate segments and campaigns.

Customers who stop buying often still click, so start with win-back for anyone with an order history, and keep the stricter re-engagement path for subscribers who show no activity at all.

A three-email sequence for lapsed customers#

Keep the sequence short. Each extra email to people who are not reading is another chance for a spam complaint. Space the messages about a week apart.

Rebuild the audience before each email. Anyone who orders or clicks after email 1 has answered, so drop them from emails 2 and 3 and return them to your regular campaigns. Leave out people who joined recently and are still getting your welcome series, since they are new rather than lapsed.

Email 1: show what has changed

Lead with something new rather than a discount. For Ninefold that is the new outerwear collection and a restock of its merino crewneck. Subject line: “The coats are back, and so is your size”. One button to the collection.

Email 2: give a reason to return now

Add an incentive with a real end date, such as 15% off for seven days or free delivery on the next order. Subject line: “15% off your next order, until Sunday”. Mention the restocked pieces again, since people who clicked on email 1 have already shown interest.

Email 3: ask whether they want to stay

Write it plainly: you noticed they have not been reading, and you would rather send less than send to someone who is not interested. Offer three links: stay subscribed, switch to a monthly email, or unsubscribe. Subject line: “Should we keep writing to you?”. A clear exit reduces spam complaints, because people who want to leave can do so without reaching for the spam button.

Start from the win-back template for email 1 or 2, and check each subject line with the subject line checker.

Set a sunset policy to protect deliverability#

A sunset policy is the rule that decides when an unengaged address stops getting your regular email. Spamhaus describes it as a way to clear old, unengaged addresses from your database, and warns that abandoned mailboxes can be turned into recycled spamtraps that mailbox providers use to judge list hygiene ^S4.

Mailbox providers support this directly. Google suggests considering unsubscribing recipients who do not open or read your messages, and automatically unsubscribing those with multiple bounces ^S3. Yahoo recommends monitoring inactive recipients and sending a reconfirmation email to them periodically ^S1. Both ask senders to keep spam complaints below 0.3% ^{S1 S3}, and Google recommends staying below 0.1% ^S3.

A simple policy for a small shop:

1. Define inactive with clicks and orders, as above, and review the segment once a month.
2. Send the three-email sequence to newly inactive contacts.
3. Move anyone who still has not clicked or bought into a suppression list or a separate, dormant audience that regular campaigns skip.
4. Never re-import dormant contacts into a big campaign later. If you want to try them again, send a small reconfirmation email first.
5. Remove hard bounces and honor unsubscribes immediately, outside the policy.

A smaller list of people who read your email usually earns better inbox placement than a large list that ignores it. See why emails go to spam and email deliverability basics for the wider picture.

How to measure a re-engagement campaign#

• Reactivated contacts: how many people in the segment clicked or ordered during the sequence.
• Orders and revenue: for win-back, orders within your attribution window and revenue per recipient.
• Unsubscribes: expected and healthy here. A clean exit is better than a silent, inactive contact.
• Spam complaints: the number to watch most closely. If complaints rise, shorten the sequence or narrow the segment.

Running a win-back campaign with Tellnod#

Tellnod is an MCP connector for writing, previewing and sending marketing email inside Claude or ChatGPT. Rule-based flows that send a win-back automatically are planned and not available yet; today you send each email of the sequence as a campaign, in one conversation:

1. “Email Ninefold customers who haven’t ordered in 120 days about the new outerwear collection and the merino crewneck restock.” Tellnod counts the segment and removes unsubscribed and bounced contacts.
2. Review the preview on desktop and mobile, and ask for changes in plain words, such as “Make the headline shorter”.
3. “Send me a test.” Check it on your phone.
4. Check the approval card: audience, exclusions and send time. The campaign is scheduled only when you press Confirm, and you can cancel until it sends.

A week later, ask “Draft the second email for the same customers, with 15% off until Sunday” and repeat the preview and approval. The results card shows delivered, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and bounces, plus orders within 7 days of a click once your store is connected. Sending pauses automatically if complaints pass 0.1%. Tellnod is free up to 500 contacts and 2,000 emails a month; see pricing, or connect Tellnod to try it.

FAQ#