What to Do If You've Ghosted Your Email List
So… we’ve all done it, whether it be a friend, that guy from art class, or an important work email, I think we can all raise our hands and admit to ghosting. Maybe it really wasn’t on purpose. I get it. Life gets in the way and we just, forget.
It’s true. Maintaining a strong connection with your email subscribers is crucial for the success of any business. However, there are times when life gets hectic, and your email marketing efforts might unintentionally take a back seat, leading to you "ghosting", or leaving your beloved email list behind. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, don’t freak out! In this article, I’ll guide you through the next steps to recovering and rebuilding trust with your subscribers.
1. Acknowledge that you ghosted them 👻
I know. Admitting it is the first, and honestly, the hardest part. Be honest with yourself and your subscribers about the time you took away from emailing them consistently. Pretending it didn’t happen will just have them confused as to why you’re all of a sudden trying to re-engage and may lead to a big fat unsubscribe… which ISN’T what we want here. Start with drafting a sincere apology to explain your reasonings behind the time you took away, whether it was due to life challenges, business changes, or something else. I promise it’s worth it to just be honest.
2. Assess the Damage 🛠
Understanding the impact of your absence from your email list is critical. You may want to look at some analytics on your email platform like open rates and subscriber engagement during and after the ghosting period. This will provide some important info and insight into how much trust has been lost and help you decide on your re-engagement strategy. Again, don’t freak out if you had some people unsubscribe- it’s OK! We’re about to get you back on track!
3. Come up with a Re-engagement Campaign 📧
After you've acknowledged the ghosting and assessed the damage, it's time to reconnect with your subscribers. Developing a well-thought-out re-engagement campaign that focuses on rebuilding trust with your subscribers and gaining back interest is going to be super-duper helpful here. Consider offering exclusive content, discounts, or other incentives to entice subscribers to re-engage with your emails. Share this on your social platforms and craft up a few emails to send out that let them know about your offers!
4. Set Realistic Expectations 📆
Be open and honest with your list about the frequency and type of content they can expect to see moving forward. Setting clear expectations helps regain trust and allows them to decide if they still want to be a part of your list. Be realistic about your capacity to show up to deliver the content you’ve promised them. Then, continue being honest if something comes up again in the future. Again, people just want you to be open with them, it makes you so much more relatable and you may be surprised at how many people will still stick around.
5. Keep maintaining & growing your list 💪🏽
Share on other platforms about your re-engagement plan. Let others who may not even be aware of your email list know that they can subscribe and get content from you sent right to their inbox. This is also a good time to keep an eye out for metrics in your email platform. Is your plan working? Do you need to switch up your strategy? It may take some time but trust me, re-building your email list will always be worth it. Stay engaged and responsive to those who are supportive so you can foster a loyal and engaged email community!
That’s it for now, friend. Looking for more support with your email marketing? Check out my services page to see where we could work together to transform your email marketing from an impossible task to a thriving avenue for revenue 💵💛
-Kelsey 💘