2010 is the year of improving engagement – not only to ensure improved deliverability as ISPs tweak their inbox filters, but also to create quality experiences with subscribers and stand out above the inbox noise. What’s clear so far: we know that engaged subscribers are good and that we need to do a better job of re-engaging inactive subscribers or drop them from our lists. But what do we do with the “semi-engaged” subscriber?
Heck, what even qualifies as semi-engaged subscriber? I believe this would vary depending on your business. For example, if I send weekly, perhaps I consider a subscriber “more engaged” if they open/click on anywhere from 1 to 6 emails in a 6-week time frame. Maybe I consider anyone who hasn’t opened in a 20-week time frame to be inactive and everything in-between is semi-engaged.
One intriguing idea for interacting with semi-engaged subscribers is mentioned in “The rules of email engagement,” a post written late last week by Matthew Kelleher on the eConsultancy blog. Kelleher suggests that marketers slow down the frequency of emails to have a bigger brand impact upon subsequent sends.
This makes perfect sense to me, as you may be sending too frequently for this audience to begin with (as illustrated by the ignoring of most emails and the sporadic interaction with them). I would caution, however, to not send too infrequently (i.e. you’ve been sending weekly and suddenly don’t send for three months) as this can cause complaints if folks somehow forget that they’ve opted into your mail. You also risk losing their attention altogether if you take too long to contact them again.
I believe this is also an opportunity, if possible, for you to take a look at what these folks HAVE responded to in the past. Did they react well to specific types of offers or products featured that you don’t cover regularly? For example, if Barnes and Noble paid attention to my email behavior they would know to only send me 15% and 20% coupons and leave me off all the newsletters. They’d also realize I’ve repeatedly only purchased books on childbirth (as I study to be a doula on the side) and come at me with emails covering new resource suggestions in that category.
Don’t have a lot of time or resources for in-depth targeting and segmentation? Just take respondents to some very specific emails and exclude folks who have engaged with the past “X” number of emails. Then send a similar or related campaign/offer to those people again.
This is also a prime audience to line up surveys for, offer requests and rewards for updating preferences and tempt/engage with social media contests.
Again, if constraints keep you from executing on all of the above, simply test out a lower frequency as Kelleher suggests.
What are your thoughts on managing/influencing semi-engaged subscribers?
Kristen Gregory
Email Marketing Strategist at Bronto
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