Ep 51: Reviving Your Email List: 7 Steps to Re-engaging Subscribers

Powered by RedCircle

Reviving Your Email List: 7 Steps to Re-engaging Subscribers

I recently made a mistake that cost me a whole lot of money, a whole lot of connections, and has me apologizing to a whole lot of people… maybe even you. If you're on my email list, I'm just gonna go ahead and say, I am so sorry. I promise I was not ghosting you on purpose. I recently found an error that meant more than half of my email list wasn't getting my regular emails. What the community gal has not been connecting and nurturing her list?!

But I want some good to come out of this mistake. I know many of us are guilty of ghosting our email list, whether intentionally or unintentionally, like me. You have every good thought and intention of staying in touch, but weeks or months go by and nothing gets sent. It's just not a priority. Then when you finally decide to email your list, you sit in fear of what to do or say, and more weeks and more months go by while you contemplate how to redeem yourself after disappearing.

So, here's what I did and my key takeaways for you so that you can get to re-engaging your list faster.

Step 1: Throw a Pity Party (But Set a Time Limit)

I was upset. The more I thought about what people probably thought of me, the more I thought about the lost sales, the more mad I got at myself. Because mistakes like this, they don't just impact me, but they impact my team. I let them down and I let you down because I made a commitment that I didn't keep. So instead of rushing through, I actually let myself sit in that feeling, but I gave myself a deadline to be done. All pity parties should have a start and an end time.

Step 2: Segment the List

The more personalized you can make your messaging, the better. In my case, there were those that were getting the emails and those that weren't, but you could also segment by buyers and non-buyers or any other information that you have about them. Remember that this first email after a long time with no emails is an important email. They need to see the relevance and the value really quickly, or they're going to unsubscribe.

Step 3: Tell the Truth

No one wants your B.S. reasons for why you didn't email them. Chances are most of them didn't even realize you weren't emailing them. Honestly, we're not as important as we think we are, but they do wanna know why you're in their inbox now. So here's what I did. I owned the mistake. I gave a clear explanation of what happened and a brief apology, and then I quickly began to move on to the next steps.

Step 4: Remind Them How They Know You 

Chances are they subscribed to get some type of freebie or they heard about you on a podcast, as a guest expert, or as a speaker in another program or at an event. They don't remember who you are, so I briefly shared who I am and I validated my expertise by mentioning how they may know me. I reference that they may have heard of me from Stu McLaren, Jennifer Allwood, Sam Ovens, or any number of other speaking events or programs that I've been a part of.

Step 5: Provide Value

I run a little peer Mastermind for Christian women in business with some brilliant minds. One of those minds made sure that I knew I needed to give them value in this very first email, not just an apology. I turned my mistake into key takeaways and lessons for them, similar to what I am doing now. I shared with them how they can avoid the same mistake that I made by checking their email tags and comparing your list size to your send stats. I made it a lesson for them and provided a lot of value in that email. 

Step 6: Set Expectations for the Future

You want to let your subscribers know what to expect in terms of frequency and the content of your emails going forward. AKA, resell them on the benefits of staying subscribed. You've heard me talk about this before when it comes to members inside of your programs, but you are always reselling the value of that program. in this case, the email list.

Step 7: Repeat

Don't just communicate this once. I took a couple of weeks to share this message. For me, I had a note at the top of all of my weekly emails that told them to scroll to the bottom for more details on why I'm in their inbox if I haven't been for a while.

Redeeming Yourself 

Ghosting your email list can have serious consequences for both you and your community. But, by following these 7 steps, you can redeem yourself and re-engage your list. And to all of my email subscribers, I am truly sorry for the mistake and I hope you'll give me another chance. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.