How To Re-engage a Neglected Email List You Allowed To Turn Cold
by Caroline Onyedinma
Feb 25, 2020 Leave a Comment
The feeling you get when you've ghosted your email list for too long...
But you use The I'm Sorry Email Strategy to get them to take you back ...
And they forgive you!
Do you ever feel icky about emailing your list after long periods of being disrespectfully AWOL?
I'm sure we've all been guilty at one point of, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone Syndrome” when it comes to emailing our subscribers.
Maybe you've been running the Internet streets, chasing any shiny object with a 6 figure claim but haven't bothered to check back on your faithful subscribers already secured on your list to see how they're doing.
Whatever happened to all those sweet nothings you whispered in your welcome email when they first opted in?
Remember those promises of weekly value and assurances that you will do better than their last guru?
Sure, they’d been burnt from online business relationships that had turned sour, but they thought you were different, maybe, just maybe, you were the one.
So you impressed your subscriber with your free lead magnet and they decided to give you a chance.
And then you did ‘em dirty!
You ghosted!
I’m talking about the Ultimate Subscriber Silent Treatment without even so much as a Dear John email sequence explaining it’s not you, it’s me.
What makes it even worse is your neglected subscriber sees you kicking it, alive and well online, chasing new younger leads in the club Facebook Groups.
While you’ve got perfectly good faithful leads waiting for you to give them some at your on your list home!
Can anyone feel me?
But now you’re about to launch a new course, coaching program, or service and Gloria Gaynor's prediction with her 80s hit was spot on ...
So you're back,
From outer space!
Now it's launch time and you need to re-engage with your email list to drive and generate sales.
But you've allowed you're email list to grow cold and in their saltiness, the survivor song lyrics continue ...
at first, I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live without you by their side.
But as time went on I grew strong and learned how to get along.
I will survive!
I guess email subscriber revenge is a dish served sang cold when your subscribers have Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive playing on Spotify repeat!
Not to mention their rowdy rendition of Destiny's Child, Survivor!
Can you relate?
So now you feel icky because you fear a Bye Felecia reception from your salty abandoned subscribers when you try and roll back into their inbox with a random email, right?
I hope you know it's not good list etiquette to pop up out of the blue, act brand new, and try and sell to them, right?
RIGHT?!!
Because if you do get ready to meet ...
When I voiced the same fear to my copywriter colleague, he told me to do what any successful business owner should when you need to make amends.
Apologize sincerely and expeditiously ( ** In my T.I. voice**)!
So, if you want to get back into your neglected email subscriber’s good graces you gotta send them an...
I'm Sorry, Please Take me Back Email Sequence!
Yasss, virtually get down on Bended Knee and ask for forgiveness with all the energy of Boyz to Men Style in that famous video.
Me: 🎶 Gonna swallow my pride. Say I'm sorry. Don't point the finger. The blame is on me 🎶
List: 👀👀
This re-engagement email strategy works especially well when you’ve been inconsistent with emailing your list or strangely absent but need:
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Webinar sign-ups
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Online challenge participants
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Make people aware of your new eCommerce product line
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Engagement of your Facebook live stream
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People to read your blog post
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People to take your quiz
Here is the structure of the email:
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Acknowledge your neglect
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Apologize for being absent,
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Explain why you went AWOL (overwhelm, helping clients, etc)
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Introduce a business win or client success that occurred while you were gon
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Ask them to forgive you for your neglect.
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Tell them you will seek to better and set future expectations.
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Tell them you’re back to share how you brought about this success so they can experience the same results.
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Present the free challenge or webinar as an event where you will happily reveal the secrets of your new ( or your clients') fandangled success.
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Invite them to the challenge/webinar/content as a no strings attached reconciliatory gift.
It worked for me like a charm. My list accepted my apology and took me back with open arms and as a reconciliatory gift, I invited them to my Free 5 Day Kajabi challenge where I showered them with a ton of value.
Sure, I got a few unsubscribes.
I can just picture that unforgiving segment clicking the unsubscribe link as they sang gleefully to Destiny’s Child, Now That's She's Gone!
Now that she's gone
You wanna come back
Is that a fact
You got it like that
You made me wait too long
I'm gone
Don't sweat it. They'll always be those that have moved on. It's understandable.
If you're about to go into launch mode but you’re guilty of neglecting your list don't lose hope.
Send out that I'm Sorry Email ... EXPEDITIOUSLY.
And resolve to do better in the future.
The replies and sign-ups I had from the larger people that ACTUALLY opened the email ( the magic is in the subject line hook) … had me singing a new launch song:
REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD.
And Join me on the hook, guys … REUNITED, HEY, HEY!
