How do I re-engage inactive subscribers with a Mother's Day email?

Re-Engaging Inactive Subscribers with Mother's Day Email

Inactive subscribers are a double-edged opportunity: they represent people who once opted in and may still buy, but blasting them with promotional emails damages deliverability and generates unsubscribes that eliminate future revenue opportunities.

Defining Inactive

Define inactive as subscribers who have not opened an email in the last 60 to 90 days. This window is recent enough that the subscriber may still remember signing up, while long enough to confirm genuine disengagement rather than temporary inbox inattention.

The Re-Engagement Email Approach

• Send timing: Two to three weeks before Mother's Day, before your general campaign launch. This separates the re-engagement interaction from the main campaign.
• Subject line style: Curiosity or relationship-focused rather than promotional. We have not talked in a while, thought you should see this.
• Offer type: A meaningful offer such as 15 percent off for returning subscribers specifically frames the discount as a welcome-back reward rather than a standard promotional code.
• Suppression after send: Subscribers who do not open the re-engagement email should be excluded from the main Mother's Day sequence to protect deliverability.

What to Do with Non-Responders

Subscribers who do not open your re-engagement email are likely permanently disengaged. Move them to a suppressed list and send a final goodbye email offering the option to stay subscribed or formally unsubscribe. This practice improves deliverability metrics and removes subscribers who would have unsubscribed eventually anyway.