List health

Win them back, or let them go properly

A re-engagement sequence has two acceptable outcomes, and one of them is an unsubscribe. Dormant contacts who never open are dragging your sender reputation down, and removing them protects every email you send afterwards.

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In short

A re-engagement sequence targets contacts who have not opened or clicked in roughly 90 to 180 days, using three emails over two weeks, and ends by suppressing everyone who still does not respond. The suppression is the point as much as the recovery: sustained non-engagement is a signal mailbox providers use, and Gmail expects bulk senders to hold complaints under 0.3%. A smaller list of people who open reaches the inbox more reliably than a large one that does not. Full copy below.

90–180Days of no opens or clicks before someone qualifies

3 emailsOver about two weeks, then suppress

0.3%Gmail's complaint ceiling — dormant contacts push you toward it

SmallerIs better. An engaged list outperforms a large one

The sequence

1Email 1 — day 1

SubjectIs this still useful, {{first_name}}?One click either way and we'll sort it.

Hi {{first_name}},

You signed up for {{list_description}} a while back, and we've noticed you haven't opened anything recently. That's completely fine — inboxes are busy and priorities change.

So rather than guess: do you still want these?

One click keeps you on. Do nothing and we'll quietly stop emailing you in a couple of weeks.

Yes, keep them coming

Why it is shaped this way: Ask directly and make the positive action a single click. Being upfront that inaction results in removal is not a threat — it reads as respectful, and it produces a much cleaner signal than a discount would. A confirmed 'yes' from a dormant contact is worth far more than a click on a coupon.

2Email 2 — day 7

SubjectHere's what you've missedThe three things people found most useful this quarter.

Hi {{first_name}},

Still here, so here's the case for staying: the three things subscribers found most useful over the last few months.

If any of that is worth your time, stay with us. If not, the unsubscribe link below works instantly — no hard feelings.

Keep me subscribed

Why it is shaped this way: Email two makes the argument rather than repeating the question. Show your genuinely best work from the period they were absent. If your best three pieces are not enough to justify staying, the honest conclusion is that they should go — and you are better off knowing.

3Email 3 — day 14

SubjectThis is the last oneWe're removing you after today unless you'd rather we didn't.

Hi {{first_name}},

This is the last email we'll send. After today you'll come off the list automatically.

If that's the right outcome, you don't need to do anything — and thanks for the time you did give us.

If it isn't, one click puts you back.

Stay subscribed

Why it is shaped this way: Genuinely the last one, and it must be true. A final email that promises removal and is followed by a newsletter next Tuesday is worse than never sending the sequence — it earns a spam complaint from someone who was politely trying to leave. Suppress everyone who does not click, on schedule, without exception.

What goes wrong with this sequence

Not actually suppressing at the endThe whole sequence is pointless if the non-responders stay on the list. The recovery is a bonus; the removal is the objective. Build the suppression step into the flow rather than leaving it as a manual task, because manual list hygiene never happens twice.

Leading with a discountA discount recovers coupon-hunters, not readers. They open once, buy at a discount, and return to dormancy — and you have kept a contact whose engagement pattern still harms you. Ask the question instead.

Relying on opens to define dormancyApple Mail Privacy Protection auto-opens messages, so a chunk of your 'opens' are machine-generated and a genuinely dormant contact can look active. Define dormancy on clicks, or on clicks plus site visits, and treat opens as weak supporting evidence at best.

Running it too rarelyOnce a year turns this into a large, alarming purge that visibly dents your list size and makes everyone nervous. Run it quarterly on a rolling window and it becomes routine maintenance nobody has to have a meeting about.

Questions

When should someone enter a re-engagement sequence?

After 90 to 180 days with no clicks, depending on your sending frequency. A daily newsletter can use 90 days; a quarterly B2B list should use longer, because a contact who has not clicked in 90 days may simply not have been sent much. Define the window against your own cadence rather than copying a number.

Why remove people instead of just not emailing them?

Because most platforms bill for stored contacts, and because a contact you keep is a contact someone will eventually include in a send. Suppression makes the decision permanent and machine-enforced. On send-based billing, storage costs nothing, so the argument is purely about deliverability — which is the stronger argument anyway.

How much of the list will I lose?

Typically a meaningful fraction, and that is the point. The number that matters afterwards is not list size but clicks and inbox placement, both of which usually improve. If losing the contacts feels expensive, that is a sign they were being counted as an asset when they were functioning as a liability.

Does this actually improve deliverability?

Yes, indirectly but reliably. Mailbox providers weigh engagement, and sustained non-engagement across a large share of your recipients pushes more of your mail toward the spam folder for everyone — including your best customers. Removing the dormant portion raises the average and protects the sends that matter.

Can I win people back with a survey instead?

You can, and a one-question survey works well as email two. It gives you segmentation data and it is a lower-friction ask than a purchase. Just make sure the sequence still ends in suppression for people who do not respond to any of it.

Keep exploring

Email deliverability guideWhy engagement drives inbox placement, and what else moves it.Suppression & complianceGlobal suppression, preference centres and opt-out handling.Email verificationClean the list before you send, not after it bounces.Email segmentation guideDefining dormancy properly, and what to send each group.All templatesWelcome, cart recovery, launch sequences and more.

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