How to Create a Sunset Flow in ShopAgain
In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to design a sunset flow in ShopAgain, aimed at phasing out inactive customers. This final engagement attempt could rekindle their interest, and if not, it helps you clean your customer list by suppressing the unresponsive ones. This proactive approach keeps your list in good health and protects your sender reputation.
Continuous email sending to subscribers who show no engagement might make email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, and more) perceive you as an unreliable sender. To avoid landing in the spam folder, it's essential to clean your lists regularly.
Instead of immediately giving up on these inactive contacts, try first to reignite their interest using a Winback flow, and if that doesn't work, offer them a final opportunity to stay subscribed through a Sunset flow.
The first step before crafting a sunset flow is to establish a Winback flow, focusing on re-attracting customers who have drifted away. This flow commonly includes enticing promotions and superior content, along with a clear unsubscribe/manage preferences link.
Defining "unengaged" customers is vital for this flow, and this definition depends largely on your email sending frequency. If you send emails daily, a three-month inactive period could be a red flag, while for monthly emails, a six-month period of inactivity may be more suitable.
Activation of a sunset flow is dependent on the addition to a specific segment. This segment should be characterized by the following non-engagement parameters:
No email opened in the last 90 days
No email clicked in the last 90 days
If you don't email daily, consider extending the 90-day duration to a longer period, say 180 days.
After defining your sunset segment, the next step involves designing a flow that activates when a contact is added to this segment.
Customize your message to align with your brand. Aim for a personal tone by using the recipient's first name and discuss any new product offerings since their last interaction. Consider offering a discount to potentially rekindle their interest. Use plain text emails for a more personal and less promotional feel.
Also, ensure you provide prominent unsubscribe and manage preferences links. This offers subscribers the chance to adjust their communication settings, rather than opting out entirely.
Generate a new segment that includes the tags for unresponsive subscribers who have gone through your sunset flow without clicking or opening an email recently.
This segment requires regular monitoring and periodic suppression. Aim to conduct these clean-up activities at least two to three times per year.
To manage your segment, follow the steps below:
Navigate to the sidebar and click on 'Audience' to expand the options.
Click on 'Segments' to view the list of created segments.
Click on the name of the sunset segment to view the list of users in it.
To ensure the health of your email list and maintain your sender reputation, you should exclude this sunset segment from your regular campaigns. This way, you won't inadvertently email individuals who are not engaged. Here are the steps to do so:
Create a new campaign or select an existing one.
In the 'Target Users' section, select the 'Exclude Segment' option.
From the dropdown, choose the sunset segment that you've created.
Recognizing the Right Time to Sunset Subscribers
Continuous email sending to subscribers who show no engagement might make email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, and more) perceive you as an unreliable sender. To avoid landing in the spam folder, it's essential to clean your lists regularly.
Instead of immediately giving up on these inactive contacts, try first to reignite their interest using a Winback flow, and if that doesn't work, offer them a final opportunity to stay subscribed through a Sunset flow.
Crafting a Sunset Flow
1. Develop a Winback flow:
The first step before crafting a sunset flow is to establish a Winback flow, focusing on re-attracting customers who have drifted away. This flow commonly includes enticing promotions and superior content, along with a clear unsubscribe/manage preferences link.
2.Determining Inactivity
Defining "unengaged" customers is vital for this flow, and this definition depends largely on your email sending frequency. If you send emails daily, a three-month inactive period could be a red flag, while for monthly emails, a six-month period of inactivity may be more suitable.
3.Construct a Sunset Segment
Activation of a sunset flow is dependent on the addition to a specific segment. This segment should be characterized by the following non-engagement parameters:
No email opened in the last 90 days
No email clicked in the last 90 days
If you don't email daily, consider extending the 90-day duration to a longer period, say 180 days.
4.Initiating a Sunset Flow
After defining your sunset segment, the next step involves designing a flow that activates when a contact is added to this segment.
5.Customizing Message Content
Customize your message to align with your brand. Aim for a personal tone by using the recipient's first name and discuss any new product offerings since their last interaction. Consider offering a discount to potentially rekindle their interest. Use plain text emails for a more personal and less promotional feel.
Also, ensure you provide prominent unsubscribe and manage preferences links. This offers subscribers the chance to adjust their communication settings, rather than opting out entirely.
6.Generating a Suppression Segment
Generate a new segment that includes the tags for unresponsive subscribers who have gone through your sunset flow without clicking or opening an email recently.
7.Monitoring and Suppressing the Segment
This segment requires regular monitoring and periodic suppression. Aim to conduct these clean-up activities at least two to three times per year.
To manage your segment, follow the steps below:
Navigate to the sidebar and click on 'Audience' to expand the options.
Click on 'Segments' to view the list of created segments.
Click on the name of the sunset segment to view the list of users in it.
8.Excluding the Segment from Campaigns
To ensure the health of your email list and maintain your sender reputation, you should exclude this sunset segment from your regular campaigns. This way, you won't inadvertently email individuals who are not engaged. Here are the steps to do so:
Create a new campaign or select an existing one.
In the 'Target Users' section, select the 'Exclude Segment' option.
From the dropdown, choose the sunset segment that you've created.
Updated on: 17/08/2023
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