How to Refresh a Neglected Email List

Ten years ago, I wrote a book called The Gold Is In the List about why email is the best way to stay connected to your audience. Then social media happened, and we all abandoned our newsletters for the promise of magic algorithms.

Although some of the book's technical aspects are no longer applicable, the central concept is just as viable now as ever, and people are not wondering whether they should dust off their old list or start from scratch.

As the book's name implies, there are gold nuggets in that dusty list, but don’t drop it into some email program and blast people after months or years of inactivity.

Like you, I let my list stagnate, especially when my open rates fell below 15% (this is a different conversation), but in 2022, I decided to start again. I imported my list into Substack, started writing regularly, and eventually, that became The Hungry.

I made many mistakes and worked through some significant challenges. If I were to do it again, this is the best advice for re-igniting an old email list you haven't touched in a long time.

Respect Old Friends

Many people on that list may not remember anything about you or know why they joined your list. The last thing you want is a large group of people telling Gmail that your message is spam because they don’t remember you.

Make your first email back a "Hey, remember me?" message where you reacquaint yourself with them. Make it short and tell them that you’ll be sharing again, telling them exactly what to expect from future updates.

Show Them the Exist, Gracefully

A lot of people will want to unsubscribe. Do not take it personally. Instead, lead gracefully by stating unambiguously that if they no longer wish to receive messages, they can unsubscribe, no hard feelings. Make the unsubscribe link big and bold.

Also, let those who still want to be on the list know that they don’t have to do anything except wait for your next update.

Ask About Them

In that first message back, ask them a question, and make it about them. Depending on your audience, the question might differ, but it should ask them a question they’d be eager to answer.

When subscribers reply to your messages, it tells Gmail that your dormant email account is still valuable to people, and they will be less likely to send your messages to the Promotions tab or, worse, the SPAM folder.

Act Like Nothing Happened

The next few days might be a blood bath of people unsubscribing. That’s ok because they would have dragged your open rate down with them if they decided to ignore you instead of unsubscribing.

In the next week or two, send another email and make that one a standard message as you would any future messages, with one exception.

People who read this one may have ignored the first message, and like before, we don’t want them screaming to Gmail that you’re an agent of SPAM.

At the top of this email, include a single sentence reminding people that you’re back at it again, but if they don’t want to continue, they can unsubscribe.

Lead with grace and authenticity; people may surprise you with their attention, and you may stop a few from unsubbing.

28 Days Later

After you’ve sent 4 to 6 emails to your list, there will be a group of people who haven’t opened any messages. These are your cold subscribers, and they can kill your open rate and deliverability.

Most email service providers have a way to segment cold subscribers. Most email service providers have tools for this, and once you know who the cold subscribers are, you can send a specific message to them.

Send these addresses a short but kind email about potentially being removed from the list if they don’t open a message, and your headline should be an alert.

“Oh no! You’re at risk of being unsubscribed!”

Use that one or find your own words, but be direct. The idea is to get them to open the email so the automation removes them from the Cold Subscriber segment. Again, lead with grace, but it’s ok to be more direct and short in length.

“It looks like you haven’t opened my emails in a while. If you’re still interested in receiving messages from me, do me a favor and reply to this email, letting me know you still want us to hang out like this.

Or if you don’t want to see these messages, it’s totally cool. You can unsubscribe below—no hard feelings.”

One Last Chance

Wait another week to check your Cold Subscriber segment*, and then send one last polite but direct message.

“Thanks for being a subscriber in the past, but after a few attempts to reconnect, it seems you’re not interested in receiving these messages anymore. I went ahead and unsubscribed you from the list. If you ever want to try again, you can resubscribe here: [your URL].”

Without any ceremony or grief, remove all those cold subscribers from your email list. It may be a huge chunk, and that’s ok. Those were your people at one point, but they aren’t anymore. Think of it as making room for the people that do want to hear from you now.

Now, go about your business as usual and watch your open rate soar!