Newsletter dilemma – do you delete inactive subscribers or reactivate them?
Email campaigns are one of the better ways to establish a more personal connection with people.
On the other hand, I understand that if someone subscribes to 5,000 newsletters, they don’t have time to open – let alone read – all of them. As a result, they might not open your emails for an extended period (e.g., 3 months, 6 months, etc.).
What can you do?
– Send a re-engagement email?
– Reach out with a personal message and ask what they’re missing?
– Remove them from your subscriber list entirely?
At what subscriber count does it make sense to start removing inactive users?
(If you have fewer subscribers, say 1,000, and suddenly need to delete 300, that’s a big percentage compared to having 23,000 and removing 1,000.)
Happy to read your thoughts and experiences.
Replies
This is actually a very nice problem, and I believe that there isn't a perfect answer.
Of the options that you mentioned, all three can be done depending on how much the inactive user is valuable to the newsletter organization. There are two cases: The subscriber is a customer of the product made by the newsletter org, or they are a prospect. If they are a customer, then the inactivity might not be that big of an issue. Simple in-product surveys can also be conducted if they are not engaging via email where it is desired. But if they are not a customer, then they are most probably a prospect. In this case, all three options you mentioned are applicable; The first one is basic, and can be done for hot leads. Second one comes under personalized inbound sales I believe, and while it takes time, it is a very good method applicable for all types of leads. Third one should only be done when the prospect has no intention of being your customer.
To me, it doesn't matter what the subscriber count is. If under a sufficient period of observation, the inactive user doesn't seem likely to provide any value to me, I would have to let them go to make space for the ones who have a better chance of engaging with my content.
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@pranay12 Thank you, Pranay. I will probably remove inactive accounts at the end of the year. It is better for me to have people who are really interested in rather than zombie accounts.
I think sending a re-engagement email could be an interesting strategy. This could be also an interesting features for our Newsletterly application. We would appreciate your feedback thenewsletterly.com
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How your tool does differ from the plugin Ghoswrite? Because I think it does the same.
@busmark_w_nika it's more a all-in-one AI-powered platform for newsletter creation, distribution, and audience growth. Subscriber Management, AI Content Generation, Rich Text Editor, would you be able to test It and give us some feedback? we are in beta version so any feedback would help us a lot. Thanks
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@michael_coppola Does it have any stats dashboard? Because at the moment, I write a weekly newsletter on Substack and it is more like creating articles. (Blog)
Maybe I am not the best target audience.
Removing inactive users always makes sense – it helps maintain a healthy email list and improves deliverability. The key question is whether these subscribers are completely inactive or if they engage occasionally.
If a subscriber never opens emails, it’s best to remove them. Keeping them on your list is pointless, and they likely won’t engage even with a re-engagement campaign.
Sending personalized messages to ask what they’re missing might seem like a good idea, but it risks shaping your newsletter around individuals instead of focusing on content that resonates with the majority of your audience.
If someone opens emails from time to time, they are still worth keeping – you never know when your content might catch their attention again.
This is actually a best practice recommended by tools like Mailchimp and helps ensure your email campaigns remain effective and relevant.
By the way, we just launched a newsletter about AI and Automations, where we share insights, tools, and latest developments. Would love to have you on board! You can sign up for free here: https://mailchi.mp/9708b7f8e3e6/easybits-newsletter 🚀
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@felix_sattler Good point about that! :) My newsletter is more like a blog so probably no need to ask individuals. Just some rough data or an overview would be helpful. Also, thanks for sharing your newsletter :)
I think that on Substack it could have more readers :) Because it is currated.