How do you re-engage with an email list?
It's clear from listening to many episodes of the IH podcast that having an email list and regularly engaging with it is important. Although I have one, I rarely engage with it even though I have a steady amount of content I put on my blog and things I create on there.
I'm curious if ya'll have any strategies of re-engaging with a list? I almost want to delete the entire list and start over because I don't want them to think what the heck? Who the heck is this guy and why is he in my email?
My instinct says maybe start with a reminder and straightforward explanation (by way of apology without actually apologizing). I have a need for this also, but honestly have not actually done it yet. Too busy this week to follow through, but it's an action item on my list for early next week.
Thanks Jim for the excellent feedback! Yeah, I like the authentic approach like, "yes, I've dropped the ball".
Wondering if there's anything I can do to follow up with that to provide value and make it feel like it's worth their while to stick around.
As part of that you could always ask them what they would like to see by including an inline survey. Gets them more involved and gives you some sense of direction.
Hey Michael, have you wondered why you did not engage with the people in this list before? (Lack of time, no need to fuel growth, fear of losing face ...) curious about this, my recommendation would depend on the root cause.
So there's a couple lines of thinking you could go along here.
If you want an active email list, you definitely need to provide value. Whether that be teaching them a new skill every email, being incredibly funny in your interactions, or something else along those lines.
If your product has a small but devoted legion of followers, you could give them updates on new features to your product or things in the pipeline. I like to include a link to a good song I recently discovered at the bottom of my emails, it actually doesn't usually get many clicks, but it makes me feel like I'm giving them something beyond just an advertisement.