So you’ve spent a lot of time crafting the perfect email campaign. You’ve done your A/B testing, written the copy that’s going to appeal to your target demographics, and carefully managed your email list. All that’s left to do is hit send and see how it performs.

But what about a week later when you realize the results weren’t quite what you expected? What do you do about all those people who never even opened the email?

Now you’re in a tough spot. To resend, or not to resend. That is the question. And it can be a hard one to answer.

With any resend campaign, you’re running a risk that your customers are going to get annoyed and unsubscribe. But the good news is that there’s a right way and a wrong way to conduct a resend campaign. And a well-executed resend campaign can make a big difference in overall open rates.

Here’s why you should be doing resend campaigns and how to do them well.

Why You Should Be Doing Resend Campaigns

Just because someone didn’t open your email the first time doesn’t mean they’re not interested. Maybe they were busy when they first saw it in their inbox. Maybe they got a bunch of other emails at the same time and yours just got lost in the shuffle. Or maybe they just didn’t see it.

There’s always a decent chance that if they see the email again at a better time, they might be inclined to give it a look.

And the stats back that up. Just resending your email campaign to people who didn’t open it can raise your open rates by 8.7%. That’s a significant boost, especially when you consider that those extra opens can translate into more engagement and sales.

So if you can boost your open rates on every campaign by just resending it, why doesn’t everyone run resend campaigns?

Well, there are also some risks associated with resend campaigns. That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re running your resend campaigns the right way.

How To Do A Resend Campaign Well 

Any time you send an email campaign, you present an opportunity for people to unsubscribe or mark your emails as spam. Obviously, when you resend those emails you’re giving them an additional chance to do so. And if your emails are consistently reported as spam, you run the risk of having future emails sent right to the junk folder.

So when you’re running a resend campaign, it’s important to make sure that your emails aren’t becoming a nuisance.

First, make sure that you’re spacing out your messages. Don’t schedule your resend campaign for the day after the original campaign. Waiting just a few days before resending reduces the chance of your emails being marked as spam.

Two to three days seems to be the optimal time to resend your emails in terms of both boosting open rates and reducing abuse complaints. What time of day you resend also seems to make a difference. If you sent the first message in the morning, sending it at night can boost open rates. But for some reason, it also seems to result in higher abuse complaints. So be careful when making those kinds of adjustments.

You see, even minor changes in your emails can have a significant effect on how your messages are received.

For instance, there does seem to be a large difference in open rates based on which day of the week you send your emails. If the first email was on a weekday, try sending the second on a weekend. Switching up the day of the week results in higher click rates and lower abuse complaints.

You might be tempted to change the subject line when resending a campaign. It seems like a good chance to adjust the email to engage the readers, after all. And that’s true. Changing the subject line can increase open rates. But it also seems to increase the number of complaints based on the data.

Ultimately, any resend campaign is going to run the risk of unsubscribes and spam complaints. It’s important to keep a close eye on your statistics. Make small adjustments at first on a limited resend campaign so you can get an idea of how it’s going to resonate with your audience. You don’t want to launch a large-scale campaign only to see a huge increase in abuse complaints.

Ultimately, planning and testing are key as with any email campaign.

But with the right preparation, resend campaigns can be a great way to increase the success of your marketing campaigns and boost sales.

Further Reading:

Wyatt Redd