15Sep

Step Two: Sending Out A "Just Checking In" Email

Welcome back! Today marks the first step of your email marketing campaign. By now you have already sorted your inactive user list, and have an understanding of why this list is important. Now, it’s time to send out your “just checking in” email to all users on your inactive list.

A “just checking in” email is meant to remind email subscribers that you still care about their business. It should be short, simple, and sweet. There are three different types of just checking in posts that you can use.

The first, is a “vacancy” email. In other words, it’s an email acknowledging that the user hasn’t been interacting with your business lately. Sometimes all it takes is a little reminder to get your users active and listening again. That is why it is important for this email to stand out in users inbox and for the message to be delivered quickly if and when it’s opened. Dropbox has done a great job at this with the example below:

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The second is an “interest email”. This can been an email that provides an interesting article relevant to the users industry or a recent blog post that you have published. The point of this email is to spark interest in your users and to hopefully get them opening your emails again. With this type of email the subject line is very important. It should be interesting and unique, so make sure you take time on this. Here are five good example of subject lines:

 

  1. Question about (subject)?– The subject can either be a recent post of yours or an article that you believe may be interesting to the prospect.
  2. Hi (name), do you have questions about (topic of interest)?
  3. (#) tips about (subject). –Everyone loves lists, they are simple and easy to consume
  4. Ideas for (topic).
  5. Blank subject line.– Now I know we mentioned how important the title is, but sometimes less is more. Studies have shown that blank subject lines are opened 8% more often. This may be a great option if you are running out of time on thinking of a good subject line.

If you want to find out more “interest post” subject line ideas, HubSpot has great examples.

The third type of checking in email is a “we miss you” email. This is the easiest of the three, and may be your best option depending on how much time you have. A “we miss you” email can be really effective just by using plain text. Here is an example from Mailchimp:

Hey Ben,

Look, there’s no easy way to say this, but we miss you. We miss your smile, we miss the way you smell, we even miss the dumb jokes you used to tell. We know it’s only been a few months… but to us it feels more like a few years.

We’ve got tons of new photo goodies you’d love. Stuff you always dreamed of. Wanna check it out?

This is a great example of a way to make your users laugh, as well as a way for them to start opening your emails again.

Whether you choose a “vacancy” or “we miss you” email, a “just checking in” email is a great first step in trying to win your users back. Have you received any emails like this? Share with us what your reaction was in the comments below!

Now that you know what type of email you plan to send in order to re-engage your email database , it’s time to send it out to your inactive list and wait for feedback. Make sure to tune in next week, where we be talking about what to do with your feedback, and step three in your email marketing campaign. Until next time!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Eckenrode

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