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We’ve talked a lot about having a clean list and making sure that you aren’t sending emails to old or inactive email addresses.  In committing to cleaning out your email list of readers who no longer engage, many people wonder, “but what if I lose a valuable reader, somebody who might re-engage?”  It’s a valid concern.  As a marketer, I say if a reader doesn’t open a newsletter for six months it’s best to refocus your attention on your engaged readers and on seeking to grow your list naturally.  As the recipient of plenty of email newsletters myself, I have to admit that I sometimes go through phases of activity for various reasons.

I recently saw (over the shoulder of my husband, I will admit) an email marketing newsletter that really wowed me with its simplicity and efficacy.  Here’s what I loved:

The Title:  Do you Still Want to Hear from Us?  It’s simple and straight to the point.  Without opening the email it’s clear that, for whatever reason, it’s time to re-evaluate the relationship.

The Obvious Intention of the Email:  The top of the email states that in order to continue receiving emails the recipient will need to take action.  The main body of the email gives a yes or no option - either you click yes or you click no.  There are two ways to opt out, both via intentional response or inaction.

The Options Given:  Not only does the email contain social media buttons and plenty of opportunity to connect, but it also has a reminder that recipients can change their email address anytime. I love this because I often sign up for things using a relevant email account at the time, but later end up not checking that email address as often.  The reminder to shift the subscription over to an active email address might be enough to bring some readers back into the fold.

What’s great about this email is that it provides a chance for readers to chime in before they are automatically booted from the list.  In this case of this specific email and my husband he’ll absolutely be opting to say on the list.  He considers himself to be interested and engaged with their content. In fact, he often heads straight to their site anytime he sees that there is an update.  Something else that often happens is that I check my email first, show the newsletter to him, and he then ignores his copy. They can’t know that he always responds to their emails because he doesn’t open them.  From an email marketing perspective, that makes him quite the data terror; he might not be alone in that. Opting in lets the company know that he still exists on the other end of the email address and he is still interested in their content.