What is sunsetting?

Sunsetting is phasing out and removing inactive subscribers from your SMS or email list. 

Cleaning up your subscriber lists can increase click rates and purchasing from your SMS and email marketing by making sure only engaged subscribers are receiving content. If you have many subscribers who don’t open your emails or texts, they could be flagged as spam, and your ROI could plummet.

While you can sunset subscribers without notifying them, it’s better to try to win back their attention first. They gave consent to be on your lists, so they may re-engage if you make them a good offer.

How to sunset inactive subscribers

Follow the steps below to sunset inactive users:

1. Define inactive subscribers

Identifying your unengaged subscribers isn’t as easy as it sounds—some might no longer be interested in receiving emails, but that doesn’t mean you should sunset them right away. You need a defined baseline to help you segment your subscribers into engaged and unengaged. 

For example, let’s say you own an ecommerce store selling skincare products. You send out a weekly newsletter with product updates, promotions, and skincare tips. If a subscriber is inactive, you need to establish a baseline based on different metrics to determine if they truly are unengaged and should be removed from your list or if you should send them a win-back campaign.

2. Create an unengaged segment

You can segment your subscribers based on how long they haven’t engaged with your brand. To know if a subscriber is truly unengaged, it’s recommended to segment your engaged subscribers in the following manner:

  1. Never active segment: Subscribers who haven’t opened emails or made purchases in the last 180 days. If that is the case, suppress or delete their email addresses from your list.
  2. Unengaged, never purchased: Subscribers who have never made purchases and haven’t opened emails in the last 180 days but have opened your email and clicked on a link at least once. You can send them a sunset email and remove their email address from your list if they don’t reply.
  3. Unengaged, purchased: Subscribers who haven’t made purchases in the last 60 days and haven’t opened emails in the last 180 days. They have, however, made a purchase, opened your email, and clicked on a link at least once. You can send them a win-back campaign followed by a sunset email if you don’t receive a response. Remove them from your email list if they don’t reply to your sunset email.

By dividing your subscriber list this way, you can identify which ones can be fully removed from your list and which ones you can send offers to before they become unengaged.

3. Create and send win-back campaigns

Once you segment inactive subscribers, create a re-engagement strategy to spark their interest. To simplify the process, automate your win-back messages so they go out whenever subscribers enter a pre-set segment.

Use these tips to create the right win-back campaign:

  • Clearly state you intend to remove a subscriber from your list: Send a considerate email in which you notify your subscriber that you won’t send them emails anymore if they don’t reply.
  • Include an incentive: If you send your subscribers an incentive-driven win-back email with a percentage-based discount, they may want to re-engage with your brand.
  • Offer exclusive gifts: This may also be a form of an incentive but with an “exclusivity” component to it—your subscribers may feel special because they received something that isn’t handed out often.
  • Keep it short and sweet: Send a short, friendly, and conversational win-back email with an incentive. This way, you notify your subscribers you want them to re-engage but aren’t being too pushy.
  • Differentiate your product: If your win-back email contains the benefits your product offers to a subscriber, reiterate the unique value proposition and highlight how it addresses their specific needs or desires.

4. Automate your sunset segments and flows

A marketing automation platform like Klaviyo can help you recognize inactive subscribers and develop efficient ways to re-engage them. With Klaviyo, you won’t have to manually clean your email and SMS list—it will do it for you.

You only need to create a sunset flow in a few steps:

  1. Define the sunset segment based on engagement criteria. These could be subscribers who have been inactive for 180 days, haven’t engaged with your emails,  made no purchases, and had no checkout, product view, or website activity.
  2. Use pre-built, customizable sunset flows or create sunset flows from scratch.
  3. Create your flows.

Ready to automate the sunsetting process to save time and regain your customers’ attention? Sign up for Klaviyo to segment your subscribers, create sunset flows, win back your audience, and keep your subscriber list fresh.

Additional resources