How do I identify unengaged contacts in Brevo using only open rates?

While you can filter by contacts who 'have not opened any of my emails' within a certain timeframe (e.g., 6-12 months), it's recommended to combine this with other filters. Add a condition for 'number of emails received' to ensure they've received enough campaigns to be considered unengaged.

How does Apple Mail Privacy Protection affect identifying unengaged contacts based on opens?

Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) pre-loads email content, which can artificially inflate open rates regardless of actual user engagement. This means that an 'open' reported in Brevo might not signify a true interaction, making open rates less reliable on their own for identifying unengaged contacts. For more details, see our article on why email open rates can be high despite low engagement .

What other metrics should I combine with opens to identify unengaged contacts in Brevo?

Beyond opens, consider using metrics like clicks on links within emails, website visits after clicking an email, purchases attributed to email campaigns, or specific custom events (e.g., app usage). Brevo allows you to segment by these behavioral attributes for a more accurate picture of engagement.

What should I do with unengaged contacts once I've identified them in Brevo?

Once identified, you can segment these contacts into a separate list in Brevo. Consider running a re-engagement campaign to try and reactivate them. If they remain unengaged, you should suppress them from future marketing sends to protect your sender reputation. For strategies, refer to our guide on best practices for unengaged subscribers .

What are the best filters for identifying unengaged contacts in Brevo, focusing on email opens? - Sender reputation - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

Keeping an email list clean and engaged is crucial for maintaining good sender reputation and ensuring your messages reach the inbox. Unengaged contacts can negatively impact your email deliverability, leading to lower open rates, increased spam complaints, and even blocklisting. Identifying these contacts is the first step towards a healthier email program.

In Brevo, effective segmentation allows you to pinpoint subscribers who are no longer interacting with your emails. This process is essential for preventing your sender score from declining and avoiding the dreaded spam folder. I've found that regularly segmenting my list helps me focus my efforts on subscribers who truly value my content.

While many engagement metrics exist, email opens have historically been a primary indicator of interest. However, with changes like Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), relying solely on opens requires a nuanced approach. Understanding how to apply these filters within Brevo, while acknowledging their limitations, is key to success.

My goal is to outline the best strategies for identifying unengaged contacts in Brevo, specifically focusing on how email opens can (and should) be incorporated into your filtering strategy. This helps me maintain a robust and responsive email list, ultimately improving overall campaign performance.

The role of email opens in engagement

Email opens have long been a foundational metric for gauging subscriber engagement. A high open rate typically signifies that your subject lines are compelling and your audience is receptive to your messages. Brevo, like most email service providers, tracks email opens using an invisible pixel loaded when a message is viewed. This mechanism helps me understand initial recipient interest.

However, the landscape of email tracking has evolved significantly. The introduction of Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) has complicated the accuracy of open rates. MPP pre-fetches images, including tracking pixels, regardless of whether a user actually opens the email. This can artificially inflate your reported open rates, making it harder to distinguish true engagement from automated activity.

Understanding Apple Mail Privacy Protection

Apple MPP, introduced in iOS 15, macOS Monterey, and iPadOS 15, impacts open rate accuracy by pre-loading email content. This means a user's email client may report an open even if the recipient never actually viewed the email. Brevo outlines how it handles Apple Mail Privacy Protection and bot activity in their help documentation. This change makes it challenging to rely solely on opens for identifying truly unengaged contacts.

While opens are still valuable, I view them more as a signal of intent rather than definitive proof of engagement. For more reliable insights, I combine open data with other metrics. You can learn more about how opens should be used as an email metric in our other resources.

Despite these challenges, open rates remain a useful filter, especially when combined with other data points. My approach involves segmenting contacts who have not opened a certain number of emails over a specified period, typically six months to a year. This helps me identify potentially dormant subscribers who might be dragging down my sender reputation.

Building unengagement filters in Brevo

Brevo's segmentation features provide powerful tools for identifying unengaged contacts. When creating a segment, you can combine various conditions to define unengagement. While opens are a good starting point, I always recommend integrating other behavioral data to get a more accurate picture.

For a filter primarily focused on email opens, a common approach is to identify contacts who have received a certain number of emails but haven't opened any of them within a defined timeframe. For example, Brevo's guidelines on optimizing your contact list suggest blacklisting unengaged contacts rather than deleting them, highlighting the importance of proper segmentation. This strategy allows for potential re-engagement attempts later without risking your sender reputation now.

Using Brevo filters for unengaged contacts (focus on opens)

Condition 1: Select 'Email activity'.
Condition 2: Choose 'Has not opened any of my emails'.
Condition 3: Set the timeframe, for instance, 'in the last 180 days' (6 months) or 'in the last 365 days' (1 year).
Condition 4 (Optional but Recommended): Add another condition for 'Number of emails received' > 'X' (e.g., 5-10 emails). This ensures you're not flagging contacts who simply haven't received many emails.

Example Brevo segmentation filter for unengaged contacts (opens)

Email activity > Has not opened any of my emails > in the last 365 days
AND
Number of emails received > is greater than > 5

This setup allows me to create a segment of contacts who have consistently failed to open my emails over a significant period, even if they've received a fair number of them. This is a strong indicator of low engagement.

Remember that segmentation isn't a one-time task. I regularly refine my filters to adapt to changes in subscriber behavior and email client policies. For deeper insights into who might be unengaged, consider how to define unengaged subscribers for removal.

Beyond simple opens: refining your strategy

While email opens are a useful indicator, relying on them exclusively for defining unengaged contacts, especially in the era of MPP, is insufficient. My strategy always involves looking beyond simple opens to capture a more comprehensive view of engagement. Clicks, website visits, purchases, and even app activity provide more definitive proof of interaction.

Brevo allows you to segment contacts based on various behavioral attributes beyond just email metrics. By integrating data from your CRM, website, or app, I can build more robust filters that accurately identify truly inactive subscribers. This holistic approach prevents me from mistakenly suppressing valuable contacts who engage through other channels.

Focusing solely on email opens

Accuracy challenges: Susceptible to inflated numbers due to Apple MPP and bot activity.
Limited insight: Doesn't capture engagement beyond the email client, such as website or app interactions.
Potential for false positives: May flag active customers who simply don't open emails but interact elsewhere.

Incorporating other engagement metrics

Holistic view: Provides a more accurate understanding of true subscriber interest across all touchpoints.
Improved deliverability: Helps remove truly unengaged contacts, boosting sender reputation.
Targeted re-engagement: Allows for more effective win-back campaigns based on real behavior.

My advice is to establish a threshold for engagement based on a combination of factors, not just opens. This could involve looking at clicks, website visits, purchases, or even custom events you track in Brevo. For example, good email engagement thresholds for deliverability monitoring often involve a mix of metrics.

Ultimately, the best filters are those that align with your specific business goals and how your customers engage with your brand across all channels. Remember that a clean list means better deliverability and ultimately, higher ROI on your email marketing efforts. Learn about alternative metrics to email open rates if you're looking for more ways to gauge engagement effectively.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Regularly segment your Brevo list to isolate contacts who haven't opened emails in the past 6-12 months, ensuring they've received a minimum number of campaigns.

Combine 'no opens' with other inactivity metrics, such as no clicks, no website visits, or no purchases, to create a more accurate unengagement definition.

Implement a re-engagement campaign for identified unengaged contacts before moving them to a suppression or blocklist, giving them a chance to reconfirm interest.

Common pitfalls

Relying solely on email open rates as the only indicator of engagement, especially given the impact of Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), which can inflate numbers.

Deleting unengaged contacts immediately without attempting a re-engagement series or moving them to a 'do not mail' list, risking losing potential future customers.

Failing to regularly review and update your unengagement filters, which can lead to sending emails to truly inactive subscribers and harming sender reputation.

Expert tips

Consider creating different levels of unengagement, such as 'mildly unengaged' (no opens for 3 months) and 'highly unengaged' (no opens or clicks for 12 months) to tailor your re-engagement efforts.

Utilize Brevo's automation workflows to automatically identify and move contacts to an unengaged segment based on your defined criteria.

Analyze engagement patterns within specific segments or campaigns to refine your unengagement thresholds over time, making your filters more precise.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says they use Brevo and initially filtered for contacts with at least 3 emails received in the last year but no opens within that same period.

2024-12-15 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says they prefer basing engagement on event activity like clicks, page views, or sales rather than just opens, as 'Last Event at before 12 months ago' works well on most platforms.

2024-12-16 - Email Geeks

Summary of best practices

Identifying unengaged contacts in Brevo, while challenging due to evolving privacy features like Apple MPP, is a critical component of maintaining strong email deliverability. By combining email open data with other behavioral metrics, you can create robust segments that accurately reflect subscriber interest.

My strategy involves setting clear thresholds for unengagement, usually based on a period of 6-12 months without opens or clicks, alongside a minimum number of emails received. This allows me to isolate truly inactive subscribers who might be harming my sender reputation or increasing the likelihood of hitting spam traps or other blacklist (or blocklist) issues.

Ultimately, a proactive approach to email list hygiene ensures your campaigns reach the right audience, fostering better engagement and improving overall email program health. Remember, a clean list is an engaged list, and that’s the foundation for successful email marketing. Discover more about email list hygiene and managing unengaged subscribers.