Words I like: 

"The more you can engage your audience, the more you can sell." - Dan Kennedy

Hey Insider,

Have you ever sent an email and heard… nothing? 

No replies. No clicks. Just silence.

It happens to everyone. 

People get busy. They forget. Their inbox fills up.

This is a major reason as to why many small business owners we talk to develop the belief that ‘email marketing is a waste of time’.

They sent out 2-5 emails to a very cold, un-engaged, dead list

Expecting a miracle to happen.

Think of it like this — you run into someone from high school

Haven’t seen them in 10-20 years

And the first sentence they ask you is to go on a date

Don’t ask how you’ve been, uninterested in life events, don’t even know if you are single.

That’s kinda what it's like to shoot an email out to a list with an offer after months or even years of not being in contact.

But don’t worry! 

With a simple re-engagement strategy, you can wake up your email list and bring back your subscribers.

And before you think this isn’t for you, here are some results we’ve generated with this strategy.

Alex and Trevor – list of 1200.

Campaigns being sent per week = ZERO.

What we did…

12 day campaign.

4 days were warm up

4 days were teasers with high value add

4 days was promo with urgency and scarcity

Result? $34,000 made in just 5 days.

Don’t have an email list of 1200?

We did a very similar campaign with Jason S.

Less than 800 people on his email list.

Campaigns being sent per week = ZERO.

What we did…

Four day promo campaign to reignite his people.

Result = 32 booked calls.

So how to re-engage an inactive email list and win back subscribers

Here are some tips:

Step 1: Find Out Why They Stopped Engaging

Before fixing the problem, you need to know what went wrong.

Here are some common reasons people stop reading emails:

They get too many emails in general.

They forgot who you are because you didn’t send out emails.

The emails don’t interest them anymore because they 

(a) don’t need your product or service or 

(b) found someone who helped them find the solution they were looking for

One of the most common, your emails land in their spam or promotion folder.

Take a look at your email stats. 

Check for:

• Open rates (Are people opening your emails?)

• Click rates (Are they clicking on links?)

• Unsubscribes (Are people leaving your list?)

Once you know the problem, you can fix it!

Step 2: Send a “We Miss You” Email

A simple “We Miss You” email can do wonders.

Keep it friendly. Keep it short.

Here’s an example:

Subject: We Miss You! A Special Gift Inside 

Hey [FN],

We noticed you haven’t opened our emails in a while. We totally get it—life gets busy!

But we don’t want you to miss out. So here’s something special just for you: [Offer or Freebie]

Click here to grab it: [Link]

Hope to see you soon!

[Your Name]

Make it fun. Make it personal. Give them a reason to come back.

This is a perfect way to not only get them back engaged, but to provide value through a training, lead magnet, article, ect.

Step 3: Offer a Special Deal

We’ve seen the best success via email re-engagement with a ‘special offer’.

We call it our OTO – ‘one time offer’.

It give readers a reason to re-engage, unsubscribe, or just learn more about who you are and what you do for your clients.

Here are some ideas:

• A limited time offer with special bonuses

• Price is going up on X date – save while you can

• A free webinar or training

• Challenges

If they open the email and click the link, they’re back!

It really comes down to the headline to get the click. 

Don’t make it too salesly. Make it inviting to bring the subscriber back in.

Step 4: Clean Up Your Email List

Not everyone will come back. 

One of the reasons we encourage doing a 4 day - 14 day promo cycle is because we want to have a chase to see who is highly engaged, who is somewhat engaged, and who is not engaging at all.

Some emails may be old or unused. 

Some could be a fake email someone gave.

Keeping them can hurt your email deliverability.

Here’s how to clean your list:

1. Send a “Last Chance” email – Tell them you will remove them if they don’t respond.

2. Wait a few days – Give them time to reply.

3. Remove inactive subscribers – If they don’t open, delete them.

It may seem scary, but a clean list is a healthy list.

A healthy list has better deliverability, better open rates, and what matters most – more sales!

Step 5: Make Your Emails More Engaging

Once your list is re-engaged, keep them interested!

Here’s how:

Use short emails – No one likes long, boring emails.

Provide value – free trainings, community invite, latest news, etc.

Add personality – Write like you talk. Be fun. Be real.

Ask questions – Get people to reply! (so good for boosting email reputation)

Write appealing subject lines – Make them curious and want to click. 5 words or less.

The goal is to keep them opening and clicking!

Step 6: Send Emails Regularly

Don’t disappear again. Keep emailing your list!

Depending on your audience and how often they open email…

Here’s a good schedule:

• Once a week – Keeps you top of mind.

• Twice a month – If you don’t have much to say.

• Daily (if your audience loves it!)

Whatever you choose, be consistent.

Before you choose hoever, i thought it might be important to not assume but to use stats to decide.

99% of consumers check their email daily.

58% check it first thing in the morning.

61% prefer brands to reach them via email instead of social media.

Take this information and do as you will with it… 

We suggest sending emails 5-7 times a week.

As long as the open rate is above 20%, you know your readers want to hear from you!

Final Thoughts

Re-engaging an inactive email list isn’t about blasting out offers and hoping for the best. 

Trust me, we’ve seen small business do this and the results were not pretty.

Re-engagement is about rebuilding trust, adding value, and staying consistent.

It takes time, effort, and genuine connection to keep it strong.

By following the tips you have read above, you’ll wake up cold subscribers, increase open rates, and drive more sales. 

And remember, a smaller, engaged list is always better than a large, dead one.

Now, go wake up that email list and win back your subscribers!

Let me know if you have any questions about developing your re-engagement effort.  Just simply reply to this email with any questions you have!

If you want to get a custom strategy for your business to revive your dead email list and get access to our ‘OTO Templates’→ apply to work with us here.

Til next week,

Nina Brennan
Scaling Lean

Ps 👉 Subscribe to my YouTube Channel now for weekly drops on the latest and hottest email marketing tips, tricks and trends.