Summary
Identifying unengaged contacts in Brevo, focusing on email opens, presents a multifaceted challenge. While Brevo documentation provides options to segment based on email activity, utilize contact scoring with opens, and employ advanced segmentation combining opens with other criteria, experts and marketers emphasize the increasing unreliability of solely relying on open rates due to privacy changes like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection. A consensus emerges advocating for integrating a broader range of engagement metrics, such as clicks, website visits, purchases, and even tracking bounces, to gain a more accurate understanding of user behavior and optimize list hygiene for improved sender reputation. Defining appropriate timeframes for inactivity (e.g., 90 days, 3-6 months, or 6-12 months) is crucial, as is acknowledging the impact of evolving privacy regulations.
Key findings
- Opens are Less Reliable: Relying solely on email opens is becoming less reliable due to privacy changes; therefore, consider other engagement metrics.
- Combine Metrics for Accuracy: Combining email opens with engagement metrics like clicks, website visits, and purchases offers a more accurate picture of unengaged contacts.
- Time-Based Segmentation: Segment contacts based on inactivity, such as not opening emails for a defined period (e.g., 3-6 months or 6-12 months).
- Brevo's Native Tools: Brevo offers native tools for segmentation, contact scoring, and advanced segmentation combining opens with other criteria to identify unengaged contacts.
- Event Based Filtering: Use a filter such as `Last Event at` `before` `12 months ago` as an alternative to opens if you can.
Key considerations
- Privacy Landscape: Acknowledge the evolving privacy landscape and its impact on the reliability of email open data.
- Define Inactivity: Carefully define the timeframe for inactivity based on business goals and customer behavior.
- Holistic Engagement View: Aim for a holistic view of customer engagement by integrating diverse data sources and metrics.
- List Hygiene: Implementing list cleaning using lack of opens but also tracking soft and hard bounces is a good idea.
- Re-Engagement Strategy: Consider implementing re-engagement campaign to try and re-engage the users before removing them.
What email marketers say
7 marketer opinions
Identifying unengaged contacts in Brevo using email opens requires careful consideration. While some suggest using open rates as a primary filter (e.g., no opens in 3-6 months or 6 months), others recommend combining opens with other engagement metrics like clicks, website visits, and purchases for a more accurate assessment. It's also crucial to be aware of the limitations of open rate data due to privacy changes like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection. Furthermore, tracking soft and hard bounces alongside open rates can improve list hygiene.
Key opinions
- Opens Threshold: Setting a threshold for open rates (e.g., no opens in 90 days, 3-6 months, or 6 months) can help identify potentially unengaged contacts.
- Combined Metrics: Combining email opens with other engagement metrics such as clicks, website visits, and purchases provides a more complete view of contact engagement.
- Alternative Events: Using a filter such as `Last Event at` `before` `12 months ago` is a good alternative when you can.
Key considerations
- Privacy Impact: Be aware of privacy changes (e.g., Apple's Mail Privacy Protection) that can affect the reliability of open rate data.
- List Hygiene: Track soft and hard bounces alongside open rates to improve overall list hygiene.
- Platform Capabilities: Opens should only be used in platforms that do not give the ability to filter by other metrics.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit suggests using a segment of contacts who haven't opened an email in the last 3-6 months as a starting point for identifying unengaged contacts in Brevo.
8 Apr 2025 - Reddit r/emailmarketing
Marketer view
Email marketer from Quora explains that a good filter is based on email opens. The email marketer shares that they use at least 6 months of no opens as a threshold for unengaged. A separate engagement campaign can then be run to try and re-engage them.
20 Jan 2023 - Quora
What the experts say
2 expert opinions
Experts emphasize that while identifying unengaged contacts is crucial for maintaining a healthy email list and sender reputation, relying solely on email opens is becoming increasingly unreliable due to privacy changes. A more effective approach involves looking at a broader range of engagement metrics, such as clicks and conversions, and then either suppressing or removing users from future mailings.
Key opinions
- Opens are less reliable: Due to privacy changes like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, email opens are becoming a less reliable indicator of engagement.
- Focus on interaction: A more effective approach involves focusing on engagement metrics that indicate genuine interaction, such as clicks and conversions.
- Suppress or Remove: Identify unengaged users based on lack of interaction (opens, clicks) over a defined period (e.g., 6-12 months), then suppress or remove these contacts from future mailings.
Key considerations
- Evolving Privacy: Be aware of evolving privacy regulations and technologies that can impact the accuracy of email open data.
- Sender Reputation: Regularly identifying and removing unengaged contacts can improve your sender reputation and deliverability.
- Alternative Metrics: Invest in tracking and analyzing alternative engagement metrics to gain a more accurate understanding of user behavior.
Expert view
Expert from SpamResource explains that identify unengaged users based on lack of interaction (opens, clicks) over a defined period (e.g., 6-12 months), then suppress or remove these contacts from future mailings to improve your sender reputation.
27 May 2024 - SpamResource
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that relying solely on opens is becoming less reliable due to privacy changes (like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection). They recommend focusing on clicks, conversions, and other engagement metrics that indicate genuine interaction with your emails to identify unengaged contacts.
8 Oct 2022 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
3 technical articles
Brevo's documentation outlines several ways to identify unengaged contacts using email open data. You can create segments based on 'Email Activity' and filter by 'Opened' or 'Not Opened' within a defined timeframe. Contact scoring, assigning points for opens, allows filtering based on engagement levels. Advanced segmentation combines open data with other criteria for a more refined definition of unengaged contacts.
Key findings
- Email Activity Segmentation: Create segments based on 'Email Activity' and filter for contacts who have 'Not Opened' emails within a specific timeframe (e.g., the last 6 months).
- Contact Scoring: Use contact scoring to assign points for email opens and filter contacts based on their total engagement score.
- Advanced Segmentation: Combine email open data with other criteria (e.g., purchase history, website activity) for a more precise definition of unengaged contacts.
Key considerations
- Timeframe Definition: Carefully define the timeframe for inactivity (e.g., 6 months) based on your specific business and marketing goals.
- Scoring System Design: Design a contact scoring system that accurately reflects the value of email opens in relation to other engagement activities.
- Data Integration: Ensure seamless integration of email open data with other customer data sources for effective advanced segmentation.
Technical article
Documentation from Brevo Help Center shares you can utilize contact scoring based on email opens. Assign points for opening emails and then filter contacts based on their total score to identify those with low engagement.
27 Jun 2024 - Brevo Help Center
Technical article
Documentation from Brevo Help Center shares advanced segmentation using a combination of 'Email Activity' (opens) and other criteria (e.g., time since last purchase, website activity) to refine the unengaged contact definition.
17 Jan 2022 - Brevo Help Center
