A Mailing List Re-engagement Program can be used to target contacts on your mailing list who are no longer interacting with (opening or clicking) your Mailings.
Before you start, you should be familiar with:
Why set up a Mailing List Re-engagement Program?
Inactive contacts can adversely affect your email engagement rate and it can be a waste of resources to send emails to contacts who are no longer interested or interact with your emails.
To solve this problem, we recommend sending an email to your Customers to check if they want to stay on your Mailing List.
How does it work?
The Mailing List Re-engagement Program works by sending an email to your Customers who haven’t been engaging with your emails.
You can choose how you identify subscribers who aren’t engaged. This will vary based on your organisation and the types of mailings you send. For example, you might want to class a Customer as ‘not engaged’ if they haven’t opened an email in the last year.
REMINDER: Apple automatically marks any emails that go through its mail servers as opened. Tracking clicks as well as opens can provide a more accurate picture.
Consider having two different rules for email opens and clicks. For example, you could add anyone who has not opened an email for over a year to the program but separately add anyone who didn't click any links for two years.
You should build the email to give the Customer the option to stay on the Mailing List or to unsubscribe. If the Customer does not open the first email, they’ll be sent a reminder. All Customers who ignore both emails can be grouped into a list in Dotdigital.
Before you start
Before you start to build any Dotdigital Program Template, you’lll need:
- A synced address book. Contact Support if you need to set up a new synced address book.
- Calculated Metric Data Fields. To do this, follow the steps in the Calculated Metrics section of the Data Fields in Dotdigital article.
For the Mailing List Re-engagement Program, you’ll also want to prepare:
- One triggered email campaign aimed at Customers who have not engaged with your emails. Your email should ask the Customer if they want to stay on the mailing list or unsubscribe. It should include an unsubscribe link and a stay on our mailing list link to confirm they wish to stay on the mailing list.
TIP: Add a descriptive link name for your ‘stay on our mailing list’ link so you can find this more easily later.
- A ‘Thank you’ landing page on your website. This is where you’ll direct Customers who click the stay on our mailing list link.
- A Contact List. This is where Customers who don’t engage with either email will be grouped. You can then upload these contacts into your Spektrix system and Tag them.
- One triggered email campaign which will go to Customers who do not open the first email campaign as a reminder.
How to set up a mailing list Re-engagement program
Navigate to the Program Templates section in Dotdigital.
Find the ‘Mailing List Re-engagement’ Template.
REMINDER: When building your Program don’t forget to regularly click Save to save your progress.
1. Set the Spektrix Sync Exit Condition
Follow the instructions in the Dotdigital Program Templates article to set the Spektrix Sync Exit Condition.
2. Add another Exit Condition
Additionally to the Spektrix Sync Exit Condition, create another Exit Condition.
From the menu bar at the top, click EXIT CONDITIONS.
- Choose Add an Exit Condition
- Click Create New.
- Drag and drop Data fields into the Include contacts that match all the rules in this group section.
- Click on [click to select a datafield].
- Choose NEVERBOOKED and from the dropdown choose is no.
- Click OKAY and then Apply twice.
This will remove any customers who purchase tickets.
3. Create a Start Condition
Click on the blue start node.
Apply the following settings.
Enrolment Scheduling
- Click on Set schedule.
- Choose daily.
- Set the time of day you want contacts to enrol.
- Click Apply.
Enrolment Rule
- Click Set Rule.
- Choose Segment, then click Create New.
- Drag and drop the Opens metric into the Include contacts that match all the rules in this group section.
- Drag and drop the Clicks metric into the Include contacts that match all the rules in this group section.
- Combine them using the Or option.
- Click Apply.
Enrolment Limit
- Click Set Limit.
- Choose Enrol contacts in program only the first time they meet the start criteria.
- Click Apply twice.
4. Add an Email Campaign
- Click the green email campaign node.
- Select or create the triggered email campaign you want to send to Customers who are not engaged. Your email should ask the Customer if they want to stay on the mailing list or unsubscribe.
5. Set a delay
- Click the orange delay node.
- Set the delay node to a minimum of 7 days.
6. Create a Rule
Click on the purple decision node.
Apply the following settings:
Condition
- Click on Select Condition.
- Choose Present in the selected segment.
- Click Create New.
- Drag the Clicks metric into Include contacts that match any of the rules in this group section.
- Select Email, Specific links, They have clicked specific links.
- Choose the email campaign you added into the Program from the list.
- Select the ‘stay on our Mailing List’ link.
- Make sure the dropdown says they have clicked the selected campaign at least 1 time at any time.
- Click Okay and then click Apply twice.
Maximum wait time
- Choose Immediately.
- Click Apply.
7. Add an Email Campaign
- Under the Yes branch, select the green email campaign node.
- Select or create the triggered email campaign you want to send to people who didn’t respond as a second reminder.
8. Set a delay
- Click the second orange delay node.
- Set the delay node to a minimum of 7 days.
9. Add contacts to a List
- Click the pink add contact node.
- If you have already set up a list for this Program, choose it from the menu. Otherwise, click New List.
10. Activate the Program
To start your Program click the Activate button.
WARNING: You will not be able to start your Program if there are any validation issues.
Validation issues will be listed under the validation button.
You can't edit a program while it is active, but you can deactivate the Program at any time to make changes.
Reporting
Using Dotdigital Campaign reports you can keep an eye on your deliverability rates.
You can choose how you want to manage the list of Customers who do not re-engage.
For example, you may wish to contact Support to ask for the team to import these customers into Spektrix and apply a Tag. To learn more about importing Customers into Spektrix, take a look at Importing Customers into Spektrix. Once imported, you could then use this Tag to exclude them from regular Mailings and only include them in larger announcements. Or, you may want to remove them from communications altogether.
Further Reading
To continue learning about Dotdigital, take a look at the Communicate with your Customers category on the Support Centre.