How to Revive a Neglected Email List with Personalization

“It is better to have 100 raving fans on your list than 10,000 ‘we don’t really care about your company’ email addresses.”

Your email list.

It is still one of the best strategies for connecting and communicating with your customers and prospects.

Did you know that 91% of adults in the US say they like to receive promotional emails from the companies they do business with?

That’s a lot of people. And potentially a lot of new business.

But somewhere along the line you’ve fallen off track. You’ve stopped sending a monthly newsletter to your email list. Now you’re sitting with a list of names and fear the consequences of sending an unannounced email.

Sound familiar? This isn’t uncommon. We work with partners all the time who have neglected email lists. Many are waiting for an exciting email topic that will awaken and refresh the now dormant list before they’re willing to press send.

I fell victim to the email list abandonment myself and let my emails lapse for close to 6 months. When I finally sent my “warm-up” email I received 16 unsubscribes. But I also received some “thanks for the information” and “see you soon at Inspire”. The people who want to hear from me are still on my list and that is exactly who I want there.

What Happens if too Many People Unsubscribe?

The good news is that there will be some people on your list who really do want to hear from you.

And yes, you will likely get a whopping percentage of unsubscribes. But that is okay.

I believe that it is better to have 100 raving fans on your list than 10,000 “we don’t really care about your company” email addresses.

It is incredibility important for your company’s digital marketing muscle that you begin to nurture a solid list of people you can further build rapport with. I’m going to share with you exactly how you can warm up your neglected email list.

The Best Strategy for Warming Up Your Email List

The secret is personalization. We’ve found the best strategy to warm up your neglected email list is to send a short, personal email with something valuable.

For example:

“Hey,

You haven’t heard from us in a while, but I wanted to reach out and send you some content that you might find valuable. We just published an eBook about moving to the cloud. You can download it here.

If you want to opt out of our list, you can unsubscribe at any time. However, we do have more valuable content that we will send out occasionally. Let us know what you want to learn and we will do our best to investigate, research and publish content on that very topic.

Feel free to contract me directly

– John Smith”

Why This Works

Typical newsletters are great for big product companies – like Microsoft, Cisco, IBM – because they have tons of content and can consolidate it into a monthly (or even weekly) snapshot. Their brand alone will get people to open.

Personalized emails are perfect for smaller companies that are not publishing lots of new content and do not have strong brand awareness. The intention of the newsletter for those companies is to build a personal relationship.

You do this through a regular, consistent pattern of friendly, personalized emails that include something interesting. This could be an eBook, an industry-expert webinar, a TedTalk, or credible third-party articles.

What’s In It for Me?

The most important thing is to not make these emails salesy. They should, however, make YOU (and by association your company) three-dimensional.

Your email list isn’t interested if you’re launching a new website or rebranding with a new logo – what’s in it for them? All you have to do is send ONE piece of content, ONE time, that resonates with the reader and they will not want to unsubscribe for fear of missing something valuable.

Why Personalized Emails are Also a Personal Win

Your list will be building a personal relationship with you. This allows you to establish yourself as a thought leader – someone in the industry who is knowledgeable, professional and interesting.

You will find this can open new doors for you and increase your ability to persuade and influence others within your own organization.

Keeping it Simple

Once you have decided to move forward with your list, keep it simple and keep it regular. For an SMB, once a month is probably enough.

Don’t try and cram every piece of knowledge into your first email, or get bent out of shape about branding it to look like a newsletter.

That is the “big bang” approach and it’s difficult to maintain. It typically fades after a couple of months. Many of the companies that I have worked with who have tried to emulate a “big company” newsletter spend a couple of months building the first issue, are late with the second newsletter, and by their third are evaluating whether they should switch from a monthly to a quarterly message.

Instead, a few short sentences and a simple template with your face and contact information at the bottom is perfect.

Take a chance and revive your neglected email list with personalization. I predict you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.