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What is a Wake The Dead campaign?

A wake the dead campaign is an eDM initiative to contact long-inactive and unengaged subscribers in your database. Usually, a wake the dead campaign will prompt readers to engage with the content as a way to confirm their subscription. Any recipients who fail to open the campaign will be confirmed as inactive or ‘dead’. The campaign will also give you an opportunity to rebuild broken relationships, increase engagement, and keep your data clean.

Over time, many of the subscribers in your database will become disinterested and disengaged.

This is a natural depreciation, but it’s not the end of your relationship with these people. A targeted ‘wake the dead’ campaign will allow you to sort the wheat from the chaff.

3 Reasons To Run a Wake The Dead Campaign

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1. Save credits!

The campaign will identify any ‘unrevivable’ subscribers. After identifying them, you will be able to unsubscribe (or suppress) them, saving you email credits for future mail outs. It also keeps your database cleaner; enabling more accurate reporting and segmentation in the future.

Keeping your data up to date has the added benefit of improving your brand’s sender reputation and deliverability. Old, long abandoned email addresses may be recycled as spam traps, leaving your brand vulnerable to being flagged as spam if you send to them.

2. Prompt inactive subscribers to re-engage.

Some of your inactive subscribers might just need a little nudge to re-engage. Often these inactive subscribers are full of untapped potential. Aim for a personal tone in order to encourage your inactive subscribers to re-engage.

3. Capture new (and up-to-date) information on your subscribers with the promise of more relevant and personal content.

Use the campaign to simultaneously drive your audience to update their details. Include a link to an ‘Update Your Details’ form (or survey) in order to collect any new or updated information.

Not only will you collect their current contact details, but you can also prompt your subscribers to divulge the kind of content they’re most interested in. Putting in the effort to really get to know these subscribers will nurture your relationship with them, improving the chances of reviving contacts which were previously inactive.

Make sure you’re able to follow through – implement segmentation and dynamic content in reaction to the newly acquired details.

So, do you want to wake the dead? Consider making it part of an overall Sunset Policy, and check out our tips.

In the meantime, why not get an idea of how big a slice of your database is actually inactive? You can achieve this easily with our recently unveiled Profile 360. Sign up for a free demo to check out our new engagement scoring tool.

Harness the Power of Email Marketing

Email marketing is not a one size fits all technique. It takes proper planning and review in order to be successful and achieve the desired outcomes for your business.

Is your business currently using email as part of your marketing strategy? Do you need help with the creation and automation of your emails, or would like to increase engagement of them? Here at Swift Digital, we can help you with your email marketing by providing tips on email marketing best practices to make your email campaign a success!

To find out how your business can get the best out of Swift Digital’s platform, contact our team today on 02 9929 7001.

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