Email Engagement Tactics

Email still delivers strong ROI. What’s changed is how leading teams are using it. Here are 7 modern and practical email strategies you can use now and into 2026. 📩 1. AI-Driven Decisioning An example is “next best offer.” Use real-time, historical, and behavioral data to determine the most relevant content, offer, or CTA. Instead of sending the same message to everyone, tools like Movable Ink personalize content based on what users have or haven’t done. 📈 2. Product-Led Lifecycle Messaging Trigger emails based on what users do inside your product. If someone signs up but doesn’t activate, send a reminder. If they complete onboarding but skip a key feature, follow up. Email becomes part of the product experience. 🧱 3. Modular Templates + Guard Rails Stop building emails from scratch. Modular templates let teams assemble emails using approved, no-code blocks. Platforms like Knak help you move faster while staying on brand and rendering correctly across devices. 👁️🗨️ 4. Inbox Retargeting & Re-engagement If someone opens and scrolls but doesn’t click, you can adjust the next email. These behavioral signals help guide follow-ups. A scrolled-but-no-click email may call for a stronger CTA or tighter copy. 🧪 5. Automated Experimentation Go beyond A/B tests. Today’s tools can test dozens or even hundreds of variations at once, subject lines, images, layouts, and more. Platforms like OfferFit by Braze optimize automatically to drive better performance. ⏱ 6. Real-Time Triggers Send the right message the moment someone takes action, like signing up or abandoning a cart. It only works if your data flows smoothly and your systems are well-integrated, but the results are worth the effort. 💰 7. Revenue-Based Measurement Connect email to pipeline and revenue. If your data and attribution are in place, you can measure how nurture programs or product launches actually impact the business. Which do you think is most effective? What would you add? PS: Be sure to check out Knak to scale your email efforts, link in the comments. via Nick Donaldson #marketing #martech #marketingoperations #email

The one thing that's harming your open rate, deliverability, and revenue? Unengaged subscribers. Here are 7 email marketing tactics to win back inactive subscribers and re-engage them with your brand. (Proven and tested by 100+ of our clients) 1) Preference customization. Subscribers can become inactive due to being overwhelmed by your emails. In a form, allow them to customize: - Type of emails - Email Frequency This will help you reduce the overload and increase the chances of re-engagement. 2) Personalized offers. Subs can also become inactive when they don't receive relevant content. Segment inactive subscribers based on: - Behavior - Preferences - Demographics Then send personalized offers for each segment. These will entice them to re-engage with your brand. 3) Reactivation series. Sometimes, inactive subs simply forget why they joined your list. Send emails that: - Re-introduce people to your brand - Mention the benefits of your products - Provide social proof This will remind them why they joined and promote re-engagement. 4) Re-engagement surveys. Each inactive subscriber has specific reasons for disengagement. In a survey, ask them about: - Preferences - Concerns - Suggestions This will give you valuable feedback on what to improve to encourage re-engagement. 5) Interactive content. Subscribers may also become inactive because they find your emails monotonous or unengaging. Add: - Quizzes - Polls - Surveys - Challenges - GIFs To your emails. That way, you'll make them more enjoyable and engaging for your readers. 6) Subject line revamp The quality of your subject line also affects how many subscribers become inactive. Craft subject lines that: - Catch their eyes - Highlight benefits - Spark curiosity - Create intrigue This will increase your open rate and lead to higher engagement. 7) Unsubscribe feedback loop Some subscribers have completely lost interest in your brand. In your unsubscribe form, ask: - Why they're leaving - What they liked/disliked - What they would change This will help you improve the experience of your current subscribers. Was this post useful? If so, please like and comment on it to help others benefit from it too.

Sellers who sell to IT can't wait to tell me how the rules that apply to every other persona are different for IT. They insist that IT buyers process information differently. That their analytical nature means they need more details, more complexity, and more depth in emails. 👉 On the surface, that assumption seems logical. If someone is highly technical, wouldn't they want as much information as possible? 📌 That’s where behavioral science comes in. Human behavior follows patterns, no matter the persona. Outliers exist, but they are minimal. The data is clear, when it comes to email engagement, cognitive ease wins. IT buyers aren’t special (I mean, we’re all special, but you know what I mean). Sellers who sell to IT personas love to say: ❌ "IT buyers are analytical, so they need more information in emails." ❌ "They’re smarter than the average buyer, so they can handle complex messaging." ❌ "They won’t take me seriously unless I include a ton of detail upfront." It’s all BS. Sellers think they’re doing what their buyers want. They believe IT buyers need longer, more detailed emails because they’re technical. they base those assumptions on flawed intuition and limited experience, not actual data. The data tells a different story. IT buyers are human. They scan emails just like everyone else. If you overload their brain with too much information, they won’t engage. 👉 Here’s what actually works when emailing IT buyers: - Keep it short. If your email is over 100 words, it’s probably too long. - Simplify your language. Big words don’t impress, clear ones do. - Make the ask easy to say yes to. No one wants to decode what you’re asking. Data trumps intuition when you’re building cold email strategies, even in IT. If you want to earn a response, honor what buyers actually respond to, not what you think they want. Even buyers themselves don’t always know what makes them engage, but behavioral science does. 📌 What’s one cold email myth you’ve had to unlearn? ✨ Enjoyed this post? Let me know in the comments & follow Leslie Venetz for more.

𝐒𝐮𝐛 𝟏𝟎% 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝟎.𝟓% 𝐂𝐓𝐑. 𝐀 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥. Something had to change! Here’s what we did 🌟  ↴ Community Insights: ↳I reached out to operators in ClubPF ⚓︎, Pavilion, and other communities, and LinkedIn to learn from their email campaign strategies. Focused Segmentation: ↳ We noticed that the top marketers and ops professionals were creating highly engaged audience segments. We reduced our audience size by 90%, focusing on: → Last email opened from sales/marketing → Recent website visits → Event registration/attendance → Asset downloads or form submissions Building Engagement: ↳ We enriched contact details and evaluated titles, companies, goals, challenges, and content engagement across emails and our website. Gathering Feedback: ↳ We contacted 20+ engaged contacts to understand their email preferences, knowledge gaps, and content consumption habits. Strategic Expansion: ↳ We expanded our list by 5-10% weekly, monitoring performance closely. Within 3 weeks, we saw: 20%+ open rates 1.5%+ CTRs By the end of the quarter, our segmented email campaigns achieved a 30%+ open rate! Key Takeaways 💡: 👉 People-First Approach: Engage internally with the best team and externally with your audience. 👉 Data-Driven Decisions: Use engagement signals to create focused segments. 👉 Continuous Improvement: Regularly gather feedback and adjust strategies. ✨ This journey was about putting people first, aligning our team, and delivering value to our audience. The results speak for themselves! S/o to Ritakshi J. Sagar Mishra and Soumyajit Chakladar - we worked week after week to make this happen! Picture Context - Winter in Boston in 2010. Sometimes this is what being a GTM Operator feels like 🤣 #EmailMarketing #GTM #datadriven

IT Channel, SaaS and B2B companies already have databases. Most of you have invested in CRMs. But a main culprit why your marketing campaigns don't fill the CRM: One message goes to everyone. And then you hope for replies. What's missing: SEGMENTATION. Segmenting your database changes the game. This is what your marketing teams must do: start with just 3 segmentation buckets. - Industry (Manufacturing, Banking, Finserve, Fintech, IT/ITES, Pharma etc.) - Role (CIO, IT head, CISO etc.) - Relationship (prospect, client, dormant client) Then, customize your messages to each bucket: - Call out the exact challenge they’re facing right now - Show them how you’ve solved it for someone like them - Suggest one simple call to action to contact you And make use of testimonials: Eg: if you have a co-operative bank testimonial, it will resonate well with audience in that vertical. CRM works better when your segmentation is better. You need to use what you already have, with focus. Specific campaigns always feel relevant to your audience. And relevance always gets replies. Whether it's email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp or any other platform. So in your next review, ask your marketing team to spend a couple of weeks on segmenting your database. (they will need that much time) It's the need of the hour for your company. ---- Rajeev Mamidanna Fixing what most tech founders miss out - Brand Strategy, Marketing Systems & Unified Messaging in 90 days & helping you with continuous Marketing

We analyzed over 27 million cold emails. Here are key insights into mailbox activity and performance: 📊 open rates: - Across all non-agency campaigns globally, the average open rate is 26%. - Open rates remain stable across workdays but drop 6-9% on weekends. 📊 reply rates: - Smaller, highly targeted campaigns (1-50 prospects) have a reply rate nearly 3x higher than mass campaigns with 1001-5000 prospects. - Campaigns with a bounce rate under 2% enjoy a 60% higher reply rate than those with 20%+ bounce rates. - Initial emails have the highest reply rates (~1%), with subsequent follow-ups seeing diminishing returns (30% as effective by the 5th or 6th email). 📈 mailbox volume and performance: - Mailboxes sending 1-20 emails daily have reply rates four times higher than those sending 101-200 emails daily. - 21-50 daily emails see a balanced performance, with over twice the reply rates of high-volume senders. 🔑 key takeaways ↳ Personalized, concise, and well-segmented campaigns drive higher engagement. ↳ Maintaining a low bounce rate and optimizing email volume per mailbox is critical for maximizing results. ↳ Send no more than 3 messages in sequence. Have you noticed similar patterns in your campaigns?

Every professional should start an email list, but not everyone should write a weekly newsletter. Here's what you should do instead: 1. Choose a topic that you know well. That could be UI design, real estate floor plans, buying businesses, e-commerce, or something else. Something that your friends and co-workers ask you for help on. 2. Write a 5 email series (in a Google doc) teaching that topic. Each email should be 250-500 words. Write like you're explaining it to a friend. Ask 2-3 friends to review it for you. 3. Create a landing page in ConvertKit for the course. There are 30+ templates to choose from and it's easy to set up. Write the headline around the value you're delivering. 4. Load your emails into a ConvertKit email sequence connected to your landing page. Now any new subscriber will get the emails on autopilot, timed to when they subscribed. 5. Link to the landing page from your social media bios. Now anytime you are active on social you're driving people back to your email course. 6. Ask for replies on what questions readers have or anything else you should add. Filter those into a label in GMail. Then once a month spend an hour and make any suggested updates or improvements. That's it! You can go back to practicing your craft on a regular basis, without the burden of creating consistently. But you've done three things for yourself: 1. You have public documentation of your expertise. That will lead to many more opportunities that you can't predict. 2. You're saving yourself time. When someone asks you "hey, what are your best tips on learning [your topic]?" you can send them to your free email course rather than having to explain it all one off to them. 3. You're building an audience. If you ever decide to double down on content creation you've given yourself a head start. At first you'll have 25 subscribers, but if the course is valuable that will quickly grow to hundreds. I know people who have used this strategy and picked up thousands of email subscribers before they took it seriously. Those subscribers resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in business for their agency. 10-20 hours of work to set this up will pay dividends for years to come!

Most loan officers follow up twice on a $4,000 commission. Tech sales reps touch prospects 12+ times on a $500 deal. I watched a SaaS rep last week hit his prospect eight times across email, text, LinkedIn, and phone to close a $299/month software deal. His commission was maybe $360. Same day, a loan officer tells me he gave up on a qualified buyer after two phone calls. That's a $4,000 commission. Gone. Not to mention the potential lifetime value of that client relationship. Because two attempts felt like enough. Here's what tech sales knows that mortgage still struggles with: Multi-channel sequences work. Not just calls. Not just emails. Everything. Touch 1-2: Call/text within 60 seconds Touch 3-4: Call + follow-up text (day 2) Touch 5-6: Value email + text check-in Touch 7-8: Call attempt + educational content Touch 9-10: Social touchpoint + targeted text Touch 11: Final push - call, text, email Touch 12: Breakthrough or move to nurture Most of this can run on autopilot. Automated emails nurture while you work. Scheduled texts deploy while you sleep. The automation isn't replacing you. It's warming them up for when you actually connect. But mortgage still treats follow-up like it's 1995. Two calls, maybe a voicemail, mark it dead. Then drop 'em in that slick monthly email newsletter system. Meanwhile, that "dead" lead is closing with the loan officer who didn't give up after two tries. Their system kept nurturing - email, text, calls - until the prospect was finally ready to engage. Maybe that was touch #7, maybe touch #12. Doesn't matter. What matters is they were still there when the lead was ready. At $4,000 per loan, every non-responsive lead is a missed opportunity to print money. But you're treating follow-up like you're selling magazine subscriptions. Tech figured this out. Steal their playbook. #mortgage #sales #rebeliQ

Cold email changed more in 12 months than it did in the previous 5 years. Most people are still playing the old game. If you're still blasting 5k contacts with HTML emails from a list you scraped last quarter - that's why no one's replying. Here's the thing: Buyers got smarter. Inbox filters got brutal. And spray-and-pray isn't just ineffective - it'll kill your domain. I've helped 20+ companies drive pipeline through outbound in 2025. Here's what works now: 1️⃣ Stop chasing volume. Start chasing precision. Smaller lists. Better segmentation. Built around ICP + signals - not guesses. If you can't explain why someone's getting your email, don't send it. 2️⃣ Personas don't convert. Signals do. Stop targeting "VP of Sales at SaaS companies." Start targeting triggers: - new exec hire - website visitors - new tech installed - job post hinting at pain - funding round with no sales headcount 3️⃣ Deliverability isn't optional anymore. Your copy doesn't matter if your emails don't land. That means: - email validation before every send - Google/Outlook inboxes only - no images - no HTML - no links 4️⃣ Your first line either earns the read or gets deleted. "Hope you're doing well" = instant delete. Referring to their actual pain point = they keep reading. If your opener doesn't prove relevance in 10 words, they'll never see your CTA. 5️⃣ "Just bumping this" doesn't work anymore. Your follow-ups need to add value. Share a relevant insight. A short case study. A referral angle. That's what gets responses now. 6️⃣ Track replies, not opens. Open rates are a vanity metric. Positive replies and booked meetings are the only numbers that matter. If it's not intent-based, stop tracking it. 7️⃣ You don't need 20 tools. You need 5 that work together. Here's the lean stack you can implement: Clay (enrichment, scoring, personalization) Sales Navigator (data) LeadMagic (validation) Instantly.ai / Woodpecker.co (sequencing) GPT / Perplexity (copy generation) I've turned all of this into a 2025 cold email cheat sheet. It'll save you hours of trial and error - and probably save your domain too. Enjoy!

Prospecting at scale is out. Prospecting with precision is in. For years, sales teams have been told that more activity = more pipeline. More automation, more leads, more emails, more sequences, more touches. Sales engagement trained teams to value activity over accuracy. But I am seeing new-age sales teams outperform legacy tactics by flipping the script: scaling relevance, not just volume. Today, it is not about how many touches you make. It’s about how intentional each one is. 🎯 Targeting the right accounts in your long tail. 🎯 Reaching out at the right time, based on real signals. 🎯 Crafting messages that reflect why now matters. I believe the future of prospecting isn’t about brute force. It’s about intelligent focus. And the best teams are turning data into insight and insight into precise action — and using AI to make it all happen.