The success of your campaigns relies heavily on building a solid email list. Your email list is an investment that can build your business for years to come, but it requires maintenance and your attention to ensure its usefulness. Even when we provide constant care to our lists, recipients of email campaigns can become overwhelmed and unsatisfied leading to email list fatigue. In this article, we will explore what email list fatigue means and how to overcome it to keep your conversions high. 

 

What is email list fatigue?

Email list fatigue occurs when your consumers grow tired of receiving emails. They begin to ignore and delete messages, unsubscribe, or send messages to their spam folders. You can identify email list fatigue by some of the following signs. 

Symptoms of email list fatigue: 

• Low engagement rates (open rates, click through rates, read time, etc.)  
• High unsubscribes rates 
• Reduced visibility to subscribers (high unsubscribe rates and spam complaints will likely impact your reputation and deliverability) 
• Increased spam reports: This is particularly detrimental to email campaigns as email service providers (ESPs) will automatically push your sends to spam folders and otherwise attempt to bury them in inboxes. 

There are several reasons why your consumers may be experiencing email list fatigue. We’ve compiled a list of some of the causes below. 

Causes of email list fatigue: 

• Your contacts are tired of or annoyed with your emails  
• Sending emails too frequently or infrequently 
• The email campaigns are no longer relevant to them  

• Abandoned email addresses are still on your list  
• Sending emails at low engagement hours 

A fatigued email list will bring down your engagement metrics and result in a lower conversion rate than a healthy, active list. 

 

How to overcome email list fatigue. 

Now that we have a better understanding of what email list fatigue is, we can plan for how to combat it. We have five simple steps to recover from email list fatigue and reengage with your consumers. 

 

#1.  Scrub your email list 

List hygiene is important to maximizing the outcomes from email campaigns. Sending out campaigns to abandoned and disengaged contacts won’t result in future business, so it’s important to periodically scrub your contact list of defunct addresses as well as contacts that never engage with your content. It only takes a few minutes but can make an instant difference in your campaign engagement.  

 

#2. Refresh your email list

After you scrub your email list, it’s time to add new contacts.  

Take a quick scroll through your network on LinkedIn and Outlook to identify relevant addresses to add to your email campaign mailing list. You can shuffle through un-utilized business cards or check lead forms for interested prospects; ultimately, you should leverage your connections to improve the quality of your email list.  

 

#3. Segment your email list

List segmentation allows you to better target your emails. Sometimes your campaigns are not always relevant to the receiver, and eventually they tune out completely, adding to list fatigue. If you segment your list by demographics, firmographics, engagement level, or purchase history, you can ensure that your contacts are only receiving campaigns that are relevant to them. For example, adding your highly engaged contacts to a single list can tap into their interest with more sends and tailored offers.  

To get the full scoop on how to segment your list, check out our article Email List Segmentation: Why and How you Should Implement it. 

 

#4. Keep it growing 

The best way to avoid email list fatigue is to grow your email list. Nothing combats disengagement like adding fresh contacts to your campaigns. Easier said than done, right? There are low-effort ways to start increasing your subscriber list today: 

• Add an opt-in button on your website and LinkedIn 
• Promote your newsletter across social channels 
• Include opt-in as a part of promotional offerings 
• Call-out on customer invoices as free, informational service  
• Ask for referrals or engaged subscribers to forward sends to their network 

Want to learn more? Dive into our guide How to Grow your Email List Organically.  

 

#5. Re-engagement campaigns

Before giving up on disengaged contacts or spearheading new contact acquisition campaigns, first try to warm them up again with a re-engagement campaign.  

• Ask for feedback, either directly or through a survey, and if possible, offer an incentive for their time.  

• Share thought-provoking resources relevant to your customers’ industry  
• Offer promotions, coupons, or giveaways  
• Friendly outreach on their subscription preferences 
• Announce new tools or website updates 

 

How Extu can help. 

At Extu, we provide content and automation tools to help boost your sales enablement strategy. From providing free marketing campaigns, product one-pagers to resellers, and automated email sends and social media posting, we make connecting with new prospects effortless so your team can spend more time on the higher-level conversations that close deals.