​[Read the browser version right here]​

The 'Resend To Unopens' Experiment

I tried it for 5 campaigns. ​
Here's what happened.

I used to do this all the time.

Resending to unopens made sense to me because of my own inbox habits: I’d “save” emails in my own inbox to read later.

Then I’d forget to read them.

So getting a friendly reminder (aka. a “resend”) from that newsletter publisher was often welcome.

Well, I recently decided to fire up this “Resend to unopens” strategy again (Kit has a built-in feature to make this easy).

I even posed the question on Twitter:

⚡ Dylan Redekop || Newsletter Strategist 💙💛 @growthcurrency Something I used to do with my newsletter. Then stopped for years. And now experimenting with again... >> Resending to unopens << Why? Anyone else doing this? 6:40 AM • Dec 15, 2024 0 Retweets 3 Likes Read 6 replies

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(Some great, insightful replies to that tweet btw)

So why did I try this hotly-debated strategy again?

Part of it was on a whim, but if I’m being honest…

Since rebooting this newsletter a few months back, open rates have been pretty meh. Plus, I suspected a lot of colder subscribers could use a nudge to sh*t or get off the pot. Engage or be gone.

But mostly… I was curious to see what would happen.

So I rolled the dice...

Considerations to make before resending to unopens

1) News-focused newsletters shouldn’t be resending, especially resending days later when the content becomes rapidly outdated.

2) Resending to Unopens probaby isn’t a good strategy for a daily newsletter, and a good way to get flagged for spam if your open rates are weak and/or you’re getting a lot of spam complaints.

The Experiment

I published 5 newsletter campaigns over the past month.

With each, I scheduled a resend to unopens 3–4 days later.

Here are a few things worth noting before we get into the results:

1. My open rates for the prior 3 campaigns (June 12, Sept 24, Sept 30) were: 45.8%, 42.9%, 39.3%
   ​
2. My unsubscribes for the same campaigns were: 117, 106, 71 (an unsubscribe rate of 2.2%, 1.9%, 1.3.%)
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3. The only content I changed in my resends was the subject line where added “(In case you missed this…)”
   1. One exception where I changed the subject line completely (and it worked well!)

​Check out the experiment results & final takeaway >>​

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Other resources to help you:

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A Free Course To Your First 1,000 Subscribers
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→ Advertise in this newsletter​
​

Peace and platonic love,

Dylan

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