Summary
Resending emails to non-openers is a common practice in email marketing, aimed at maximizing engagement and conversion rates from a single campaign. While it can boost short-term metrics like open rates and click-through rates, this strategy comes with inherent risks to email deliverability and sender reputation. The core debate revolves around balancing the potential for increased engagement against the risk of alienating subscribers, increasing spam complaints, or being marked as a blocklist sender. Effective implementation requires careful segmentation, timing, and content modification to avoid negative impacts. It's crucial to understand why emails weren't opened initially and adjust the resend strategy accordingly, focusing on genuinely engaged subscribers. For more on improving your sender reputation, consider this guide on how to improve Gmail sender reputation.
Key findings
- Engagement boost: Resending emails can significantly increase open rates and overall campaign engagement, potentially adding substantial revenue, as seen in some analyses.
- Reputation risk: Blindly resending to a full list of non-openers can negatively impact sender reputation, leading to higher spam complaint rates and blocklisting (also known as blacklisting).
- Strategic segmentation: The most effective resend strategies involve segmenting recipients to target only those who show continued interest or have not opened a specific crucial email.
- Content modification: Altering the subject line, preview text, or even the content of the email before resending is crucial to catch attention and provide a fresh perspective.
Key considerations
- Timing: Allow sufficient time between the initial send and the resend, typically 2-7 days, to avoid annoying subscribers and ensure deliverability. For more on this, review best practices for email frequency.
- Audience relevance: Only resend emails that are highly relevant or critical to the specific segment. Over-resending irrelevant content can quickly lead to unsubscribes and spam complaints.
- A/B testing: Test different subject lines and send times for the resend to optimize performance without risking negative sender reputation.
- List hygiene: Regularly clean your email list by suppressing or re-engaging inactive subscribers to maintain a healthy sending environment and avoid hitting spam traps.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often debate the merits of resending emails to non-openers. While some see it as a valuable tactic to recover missed engagement and achieve campaign goals, others caution against its potential negative impact on sender reputation and subscriber relationships. The consensus leans towards a cautious and strategic approach, emphasizing the importance of segmentation, content adjustments, and monitoring key metrics to ensure that resends are productive rather than detrimental. Many marketers highlight that simply resending the exact same email to everyone who didn't open is a poor practice.
Key opinions
- Idealistic approach: Some marketers believe that platform recommendations (like Mailchimp's) might be idealistic, assuming high subscriber interest that isn't always present.
- Lack of interest: A lack of open often indicates a lack of interest, and forcing content on uninterested recipients can backfire.
- Revenue potential: For certain campaigns, resending can be highly profitable, achieving substantial click-to-open rates and revenue, even if the open rate is lower than the initial send.
- Importance of content: Resending is typically most effective for important emails, not every campaign. This is a common strategy to increase email click-through rate.
Key considerations
- Effort vs. reward: Changing the subject line and segmenting the list makes resending a low-effort, high-reward strategy for many.
- Active segmentation: Resends should only target subscribers who are active within a recent timeframe (e.g., 30-60 days) to prevent sending to truly disengaged users.
- List suppression: Regularly suppressing or re-engaging subscribers who show no engagement over long periods is vital when implementing resend strategies. This aligns with email marketing best practices for unengaged subscribers.
- Strategic timing and content: It's advised to wait at least a couple of days and change the subject line or content. See this guide on resending unopened emails for more.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that Mailchimp might be overly optimistic, assuming high user interest. They believe that for most marketing emails, a lack of open directly indicates a lack of interest from the recipient.
Marketer view
Marketer from Automizy.com explains that checking the 'Resend to non-openers' box and selecting whether to resend once or twice can significantly increase email open rates for a campaign.
What the experts say
Email deliverability experts approach resending emails to non-openers with a strong emphasis on maintaining sender reputation. They highlight the delicate balance between achieving higher engagement for critical campaigns and avoiding actions that could lead to increased complaints or blocklisting (or blacklisting). Experts generally advise against a blanket resend strategy, instead advocating for highly targeted and thoughtful approaches. For more on ensuring your messages reach the inbox, refer to our guide on email deliverability issues in 2025.
Key opinions
- Reputation is key: Prioritizing sender reputation is paramount. Aggressive resending can lead to higher complaint rates, which negatively impacts deliverability.
- Engagement signals: Non-opens often signal disinterest, and continuing to send to these recipients can increase the likelihood of hitting spam traps or being marked as spam.
- Strategic adjustments: Any resend must be accompanied by strategic changes, such as a new subject line or a different angle, to justify the second touchpoint.
- List health: Regular list hygiene and suppression of unengaged subscribers are crucial counterparts to any resend strategy, maintaining the overall health of your email program.
Key considerations
- Timing matters: A wait period of two to seven days is generally recommended before resending to non-openers to ensure proper pacing.
- Segmentation precision: Resends should be highly segmented, focusing only on subscribers who have shown recent engagement with other emails or are critical to a specific campaign's success.
- Monitor feedback: Closely monitor engagement metrics and complaint rates after resends. A spike in complaints is a clear sign to adjust or cease the practice. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools are essential for this.
- Vary subject lines: Always change the subject line and potentially the 'from' name to make the resend feel fresh and relevant, as advised by experts in the field. Read more on this from ActiveCampaign's blog.
Expert view
Expert from SpamResource suggests that maintaining consistent engagement monitoring is crucial, as a lack of opens typically signals disinterest rather than just a missed email, and continuing to send to unengaged subscribers can harm sender reputation.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks notes that while resending can increase overall campaign visibility, it's a practice that must be balanced with strict list hygiene to avoid alienating subscribers and negatively impacting long-term deliverability.
What the documentation says
Official documentation from various email service providers and industry bodies often addresses the practice of resending emails to non-openers. While generally acknowledging its potential to increase engagement, documentation consistently emphasizes the need for responsible and strategic implementation. Key advice centers on respecting subscriber preferences, avoiding spam triggers, and leveraging segmentation tools. They often provide guidelines on appropriate waiting periods and the importance of modifying content to make the resend valuable rather than repetitive.
Key findings
- Segmentation capability: Many platforms provide built-in features to easily segment and target non-openers for resends.
- Engagement metrics: Tools are available to measure email marketing engagement levels, which should guide resend decisions.
- Statistical benefits: Some documentation presents historical data showing a positive impact on open rates from strategic resends.
- Best practices for deliverability: Documentation often couples resend advice with broader deliverability best practices, such as maintaining healthy lists and respecting subscriber choices, emphasizing that these two things go hand in hand with things like diagnosing and improving email deliverability.
Key considerations
- Defined process: Platforms provide structured processes for identifying non-openers and initiating resends, often with options for frequency.
- Time sensitivity: Some documentation suggests resending within a relatively short period, like a day of the original send, to maximize impact, though this can vary depending on content and audience.
- Subject line variation: A common recommendation is to modify the subject line for the resend to capture attention.
- Audience selection: Documentation often advises prioritizing resending to audiences who are most likely to engage, often by filtering for recent activity or specific engagement metrics. This helps in re-engaging inactive subscribers.
Technical article
Mailchimp documentation outlines a process for resending an unopened campaign by using segments to specifically target subscribers who didn't open the initial email, which can help increase overall total opens for that campaign.
Technical article
Mailchimp's data from a 2016 report indicates that implementing a resend campaign can effectively increase email open rates by an average of 8.7%, demonstrating a tangible benefit of this email marketing tactic when used correctly.
Related resources
15 resources
Related pages
How to re-engage inactive email subscribers and when should you stop sending?
How to manage deliverability when re-engaging inactive email subscribers?
How to improve low Gmail email open rates?
Should you resend emails to hard bounces, and how are hard and soft bounces defined?
Email marketing best practices for unengaged subscribers: opt-out, suppression, or re-engagement?
Why Your Emails Are Going to Spam in 2024 and How to Fix It
How to Increase Email Click Through Rate [Step By Step Guide]
Email Deliverability Issues: Getting Your Messages to the Inbox in 2025
Spam traps: what they are and how they work
How to diagnose and improve email deliverability and open rates?
