Sunset Automation 101
If we learned anything from Adele and Taylor Swift, it’s that breakups suck. And why would you intentionally break up with a customer? Isn’t the goal kind of long-term commitment? Well, the purpose of a breakup sequence is kind of twofold:
- Re-engage people who haven’t otherwise engaged with you
Maybe they haven’t opened your emails over the past 60 days, haven’t clicked on anything, or haven’t made a purchase. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. It really depends on your type of eCommerce store, how often you’re emailing your list, and how big your list is. - To clean up your list
If you’ve been noticing declining open rates and click-through rates, it’s time for some housekeeping. Create a list segment of people who haven’t engaged with you and send out the sunset/breakup flow. Best case scenario, they come back as a customer. Worst case scenario, they don’t re-engage, and you remove them from your list. (It’s a win-win.)
Good riddance to bad contacts
Fear the unsubscribe? You really shouldn’t. Contacts that don’t engage negatively affect your overall send score with your Email Service Provider. Cleaning up the dead weight means that you automatically disqualify leads that aren’t ever going to commit, so you’re only sending to people who want to hear from you.
And how does this affect performance?
Open rates increase, click-through rates increase, and, ultimately, sales increase.
While the sunset flow isn’t one of the Six eCommerce Core Email Marketing Pillars, it is still important to have if you have a sizeable list size of 10,000 or more. Sometimes, it’s even necessary for smaller lists, depending on how engaged your list is and how active you are with your email marketing.