Your inactive email subscribers are actually GOLD

Some emails are that strong, they work without opening

Picture this: You get an email from Zalando with the subject line "Flash Sale: 30% Off Everything." Do you:

A) Click the email, scroll through the entire message, then visit the website
B) Delete it immediately
C) Close the email app and open the Zalando app to check your wishlist

If you picked C, congratulations – you're wonderfully, beautifully human. And you've just become a living example of why open rates can be as misleading as “one size fits all” labels.

That "unopened" email just triggered a website visit, an app session, and potentially a purchase. But just by looking at your email report, you could be having a dramatic breakdown, convinced it was a total failure. Meanwhile, that email did its job like a boss – it reminded the subscriber that Zalando exists, there's a sale happening, and they should probably go check it out right now.

Your subscribers aren't robots who dutifully click through every marketing email in sequence. They're busy people who see your subject line, get the message, and take action in whatever way is most convenient for them at that time.

The real reason your list goes cold (and it's not what you think)

Here's a uncomfortable truth: sleeping contacts don't just come from email fatigue. They also come from email starvation.

Picture this tragic love story: Someone signs up for your emails because they're genuinely interested. Maybe they bought something, maybe they were browsing and thought "Yeah, I want to stay in the loop with these folks." Then... crickets. Tumbleweeds. The email equivalent of being left on read.

Weeks go by. A month passes. When you finally grace their inbox with your presence, their first thought isn't "Oh great, I've been waiting for this!"

It's "Who is this again?"

Congratulations, you've just created the dreaded "Who are you and why are you in my inbox?" moment.

Consistency beats perfection when it comes to staying memorable. Your subscribers agreed to hear from you – not once in a blue moon when you have something "really important" to say, but regularly enough that your brand stays on their mental radar.

Don’t forget to nurture the long-game subscribers

That subscriber who hasn't opened an email in three months but also hasn't hit unsubscribe? They're not dead weight, collecting digital dust. They're playing the long game like a chess grandmaster.

These legendary humans have given you something more precious than gold: permission to exist in their world. They've survived your subject line experiments, your 6 AM send times, your "FLASH SALE ENDS IN 3 HOURS" phase, and that time you accidentally sent the same email twice. And somehow, miraculously, they're still there.

Maybe they're not in buying mode right now. Maybe they're saving for a house, dealing with a new baby, or just not in your target season. But when they are ready to buy, guess whose brand is going to pop into their head first? Yep – yours. The brand that kept showing up, consistently and helpfully.

Long-term subscribers who stick around without unsubscribing are often your most valuable assets. They represent genuine, sustained interest in your brand – even if they're not clicking every link right now.

Send smarter, not less

"Send less" has become the default advice for email marketers worried about engagement. When the actual correct answer is “send smarter".

Every brand probably has a maximum email frequency – that point where you start annoying people and unsubscribes spike. Most email marketers fear reaching this ceiling. But here's what they're missing: every brand also has a minimum frequency threshold.

Send too little, and you become forgettable. Your brand fades into the background noise of your subscribers' lives. When you do finally send something, you're starting from zero awareness instead of building on consistent touch points.

The sweet spot isn't about sending less – it's about sending with purpose. Each email should either provide value, build a relationship, or advance your business goals. Preferably all three.

How can you find your sending minimum?

Here's how to find your floor:

Start with subscriber expectations. What did you promise when they signed up? Weekly updates? Monthly newsletters? Daily deals? Honor that commitment as your baseline - for every target group.

Consider your business cycle. A daily deals site needs daily emails. A luxury furniture brand might thrive with weekly sends. Your industry and business model should inform your minimum frequency.

Test going dark. Try reducing frequency for a segment of your list and watch what happens to brand recall, website visits, and sales. Sometimes the data will surprise you.

Track leading indicators. Don't just watch opens and clicks. Monitor direct website traffic, brand searches, and sales attribution across all channels. Do you see visit spikes around the time you send your newsletter? And how does that actually compare with your opens?

Test sending more. Try amping up your frequency for a specific audience. What is the effect on your opens and clicks? Do you see a spike in unsubscribes? If not, your audience can probably handle getting more emails. If your overall numbers stay consistent with more emails, that means you’ve just created more traffic to your website without any negative side effects!

The goal isn't to find the exact number of emails that maximizes opens. It's to find the frequency that maximizes business results while maintaining a healthy, engaged list over time.

Think marathon, not sprint

Here's where most brands face-plant spectacularly: they treat email like those flashy advertising campaigns instead of what it actually is – relationship building.

A campaign is like a summer blockbuster. Big budget, lots of noise, clear beginning and end, then everyone moves on to the next shiny thing. But email marketing? Email is like your favorite comfort show that you can rewatch forever. It's not trying to blow your mind every episode – it's just consistently there, making your day a little better.

Think about your favorite podcast. You don't subscribe because every single episode is earth-shattering. You subscribe because you enjoy the hosts, you like the format, and you want to be part of an ongoing conversation. Some episodes you love, some you skip, but you stay subscribed because you value the relationship.

This is why brands that only email when they're selling something feel so... icky. They're basically that friend who only calls when they need to borrow money. No wonder people hit unsubscribe faster than you can say "limited time offer."

The brands that nail email marketing understand they're in the relationship business. Every email is a touchpoint in a longer conversation. Every send is an opportunity to reinforce their brand values, share their personality, and remind subscribers why they connected in the first place.

Your subscribers gave you permission to show up in their lives. Use it wisely, but don't be afraid to actually use it. Consistently.