When it comes to email deliverability, not all contacts are created equal. Your email marketing strategy should reflect this. Segmenting your audience based on their engagement levels allows you to tailor your email cadence and content, maximizing deliverability and giving your contacts the best experience.
Establishing an Engagement Hierarchy
Use this common framework to segment your list based on their engagement levels.
- Tier 1: Highly Engaged (Champions/Power Users)
- Definition: Open most emails, click frequently, visit your website, potentially make purchases or actively use your product/service.
- Cadence: Your most frequent send schedule. These contacts want to hear from you and are least likely to be marked as spam.
- Content: Exclusive offers, new product announcements, in-depth content, beta programs, personalized recommendations.
- Tier 2: Moderately Engaged (Regular Readers)
- Definition: Open a good portion of emails, click occasionally, show consistent interest.
- Cadence: Regular send schedule, perhaps slightly less frequent than Tier 1.
- Content: General newsletters, valuable blog posts, product updates, standard promotions.
- Tier 3: Low Engagement (Passive Subscribers)
- Definition: Open emails infrequently, rarely click, may have signed up for a one-off resource.
- Cadence: Reduced frequency. You’re trying to keep them on the list without risking deliverability. Maybe once a month or bi-monthly.
- Content: High-value content, “best of” summaries, special invitations to exclusive events that might pique their interest.
- Tier 4: Unengaged (Dormant)
- Definition: Have not opened or clicked on any emails in a significant period (e.g., 6 months to a year), but haven’t actively opted out.
- Cadence: Subject to re-engagement campaigns (as described in “Suppressions & Sunsetting”). If no re-engagement, then move to suppression.
- Content: Re-engagement campaigns.
Suppression and Sunsetting Unengaged Contacts
Sending emails to unengaged contacts is detrimental to your sender reputation. ISPs track engagement metrics (opens, clicks) to determine whether your emails are valued by recipients. Continuing to send to those who consistently ignore your messages signals that your content isn’t relevant, and your emails are more likely to be sent to spam. Enter sunsetting.
Sunsetting is the process of gradually reducing the frequency of emails to unengaged subscribers and eventually removing them from your active mailing list. This protects your sender reputation by demonstrating that you are only sending to an engaged audience.
Recommendations for Suppressions and Sunsetting:
- Define “Unengaged”: Establish clear criteria for lack of engagement. A common definition is a contact who has not opened or clicked on any email in a significant period (e.g., 6 months to 1 year), despite receiving a reasonable number of emails from you.
- Last-Ditch Re-engagement Campaign: Before fully suppressing, consider a targeted re-engagement campaign for your unengaged segment.
- Subject Lines: Use compelling subject lines that explicitly ask for engagement (“Do you still want to hear from us?”, “Don’t miss out!”).
- Content: Offer exclusive content, a special discount, or simply ask for their preferences.
- Call to Action: Make it very clear what action they need to take to remain on your list.
- Frequency: Send 1-3 emails over a short period (e.g., 1-2 weeks).
- Automated Suppression: If a contact doesn’t respond to the re-engagement campaign, automatically move them to a suppression list. These contacts should no longer receive regular marketing emails.
- Hard Suppression After 1 Year of Inactivity (or sooner): For contacts who have received a significant number of opportunities (e.g., 20+ emails) but have not opened anything in a year, it’s highly recommended to permanently suppress them from all future marketing communications. They are actively hurting your deliverability.
Ultimately, a great email deliverability strategy is a continuous process. It starts with how you get contacts and continues through every stage of their journey with you. By building a high-quality list from the get-go, keeping it clean, welcoming new subscribers with a great email series, and then sending emails based on how engaged they are, you can build a strong reputation as a reliable sender. Remember, a clean and engaged list is your most valuable asset—and consistent, smart list management is the key to always landing in the inbox.
To learn more about our Deliverability Services, contact us. Current customers, reach out to your customer success manager or account manager directly!