How to create an automation for re-engaging subscribers

Re-engagement campaigns help you maintain a healthy, engaged subscriber list. By targeting inactive subscribers with automated check-in emails, you can encourage them to re-engage, or cleanly remove them if they don’t.

In this article, you’ll learn how to:

• Use one of our quick start templates to build an automation that identifies unengaged subscribers.
• Send a re-engagement email sequence to these subscribers.
• Automatically mark the subscribers as inactive if they don’t respond.
• Find answers to common questions about re-engagement workflows.

To simplify the process of building automations, beehiiv offers a library of pre-built templates. In this walkthrough, you’ll use the Re-engagement flow (90-day inactivity) template and learn how to customize each step of the workflow to fit your needs.

1. From your account dashboard, go to Audience > Automations.
   
   
   
2. Scroll down to the Quick start templates. Locate the Re-engagement automation flow (90-day inactivity) option and click Use template. 
   
   
   
3. The template will open on the Workflow canvas, where you’ll see the Unengaged trigger is Inactive, signaling that the automation is not yet live. 
   
   Use the controls at the bottom left of the canvas to zoom in or out to view the workflow in its entirety. You can also click and hold on the canvas to move it around. 
   
   Click on the trigger card to open the Properties panel.
   
   
   

4. By default, the Unengaged trigger is set to 90 days without opens or clicks.
   
   To customize this, click the arrow and choose between days without opens, days without clicks, or days without opens or clicks. You can also adjust the number of days, if desired.
   
   
   
5. (Optional) Click + Add condition on the trigger panel to include any additional requirements that your subscriber would need to meet before entering the automation. When done, click Save or just click off of the conditions module to return to the main canvas.
   
   
   
6. When the trigger is configured as desired, click on the Activate button.
   
   
   
7. Once activated, the trigger will have a green outline on the canvas. Use the 3 dots icon to access options to Change, Deactivate, or Delete the trigger. 
   
   
   
8. (Optional) To include multiple trigger options, click the + to the right of the trigger. Each added trigger creates an OR condition, meaning subscribers only need to meet one of them to enter the workflow.
   
   
   

9. Back on the workflow canvas, move down to the next step of the automation, the Send email action. Click on the pencil icon to open the email editor.
   
   
   
10. You’ll see a preview of the email that you can customize for your needs. The control panel on the right will be open on the Write tab. Use the copy that’s already provided as a base to craft a message that addresses that they haven’t been engaging with your emails lately. 
    
    
    
11. After your email is ready, click the Details tab in the right panel to edit the sending details. 
    
    Email details you can edit:

• Subject line: This should be clear and address that you haven’t heard from them. 
• Preview text: Follow up your subject line sentiment with a bit more details.
• Author of the post: Click the arrow to select an author for the post, and choose from your available team members, or click Create Guest Author to add a new one. 
• Reply to address (Enterprise only): Click the arrow to select a reply-to email address from the dropdown list.
  
  
  

12. To adjust the look of the email to match your brand aesthetic, click the Style tab. 
    
    The Style panel is organized into two tabs for Basic and Advanced. Upon accessing it, the Basic tab will be selected by default with the Colors options exposed. Click the arrow icon to close it and then choose from Colors, Typography, Spacing, or Borders.
    
    For additional customizations, switch over to the Advanced tab to access settings for the Background, Email Header, Body, Widgets, and Email Footer. 
    
    
    
13. When using the automation email editor, changes are not saved automatically.

• Click Save in the top navbar to save your email edits.
• Click Preview to see how the email will look on desktop and mobile.
• Click the Preview arrow to send a test email. 
• To exit the email editor after saving your edits, click the arrow icon in the left corner of the top navbar. 
  
  
  

14. You’ll be brought back to the automation workflow.

15. Moving down the re-engagement workflow, a Time delay is the next step. Click on the card to open the Properties panel on the right.
    
    
    
    
    The Time delay is the amount of time that will pass before the next step is taken. Since we just sent an email, we’ll want to give them a few days to open it at their leisure. You’ll see it’s set to wait for 3 days, which you can adjust as you wish.

• Click the arrow icon to select from Minutes, Hours, or Days. 
• Adjust the ‘Wait for’ amount as desired. 
   

16. After the time delay you specified earlier, subscribers will reach the True/false branch, which splits them into different paths based on the conditions you set.
    
    Click the card to open the Properties panel for the branch. By default, this re-engagement template sets the condition to: Days without opens or clicks is greater than 3. To change this, click on + Edit conditions. 
    
    
    
17. Adjust the condition by using the dropdown menus and number field. To include multiple criteria, click on + Add condition. When done, click Save or just click off of the conditions module to return to the main canvas.
    
    
    

18. With the branch condition set, it’s time to create the false/no path. For this example, we’ve set the condition to be Days without opens or clicks is greater than 7. 
    
    False branch/path: Subscriber is active 
    If the subscriber opens or clicks on the email in the 7-day window, they are considered engaged. The template’s false path uses the Update subscription action to reflect this status in your account, and then that is the end of the automated journey for the subscriber. 
    
    Click on the Update subscription card in the false path to open the Properties panel.
    
    

    

19. Configure the Update subscription action as desired. 
    You can:

• Keep or transition subscription status to: Select from Active or Inactive (depending on your flow).
• Keep or update custom field(s) to: Add a custom field to the subscriber’s profile by clicking on + Add custom field. 
• Apply the following subscriber tags to: Assign subscriber tags to the subscriber’s profile by clicking the arrow and choosing one of your tags, or select to create one. 
• Remove the following subscriber tags: Remove subscriber tags from the subscriber’s profile by clicking the arrow and choosing one of your tags, or select to create one. 
• Click + Add Conditions if you want to apply this node only under specific conditions.

20. Set up the True path as desired. 
    
    True  branch/path: Subscriber is inactive 
    If the subscriber does not open or click on the email in the 7-day window, they are considered unengaged. In this path, the automation gives the subscriber a few more chances to re-engage by repeating the same sequence of steps: Time delay > email send > evaluation.
    
    You’ll add another Time delay, followed by another Send email, and then insert another True/false branch to evaluate engagement again.
    
    This repeated cycle gives you the flexibility to extend the re-engagement period before taking further action.

21. You can continue building out your re-engagement sequence by repeating the core pattern: send an email, wait, and evaluate engagement.
    
    To extend your workflow, simply repeat these steps:

• Customize the email message: Refer back to steps 9-14 above.
• Include a time delay: Refer to step 15.
• Set up the True/false branches: Refer to steps 16-20.

Repeating this sequence gives inactive subscribers additional opportunities to engage before you take final action, like removing them from your list.

Is there a limit to how many follow-up messages I can send to re-engage my audience?
There is currently a limit of 45 steps in our automated journeys. However, if you need this limit to be raised, you can reach out to our team from the Help page in the top navbar of your account. 
If I set an unengaged trigger with the condition set to ‘7 days without opens’, will it pull in people who signed up within the past 7 days?
Our unengaged trigger logic automatically filters out people who have signed up within the time window specified, so you will never run into the issue of accidentally removing subscribers who signed up more recently and qualify as 'unengaged' within the window. In this example, if you set the condition to '7 days without opens', it will only pull in subscribers who have signed up over 7 days ago with no opens.
Will I be able to recover subscribers who get deleted from my list?
Unfortunately, no, you cannot recover any subscribers that you delete from a segment. However, as a backup, we suggest that you double-check and/or export the list from the segment before you delete those subscribers.
Can I specify opens for a specific re-engagement message?
Not at this time. Currently, you can only specify opens across all emails within the specified time frame.
Can I specify clicks on a specific CTA within my re-engagement message?
Not at this time. Currently, you can only specify clicks across all emails within the specified time frame.
Will I be able to see which subscribers are unengaged?
Yes, you can see which of your subscribers are unengaged by segmenting for those based on the subscription details. For example, if you update the status to 'Inactive' for unengaged subscribers, you can then create a segment for 'unengaged' subscribers to produce a list of subscribers who qualify for this.