Do you believe in second chances? At Flodesk, we definitely do. In fact, we don't need to believe it—the data shows it!
Resending an email to those who didn't open it a second time can increase your open rates up to 8% on average, and sometimes more.
Our resend to unopens feature allows you to resend an email automatically to subscribers who didn't open it after a period of 24 hours has passed since the initial send.
Note: if you see a sudden/significant drop in open rates, resending to unopens may not be the solution and could even cause more harm to your sender reputation and deliverability. Learn more about what to instead here.
How do I resend to unopens?
Before we begin, please note that the following criteria must be met before an email is eligible to be resent to unopens:
You must wait until at least 24 hours have passed from the time of the first send to resend your email. This is to give your subscribers time to open the first email and prevent them from feeling like their inbox is being bombarded.
Your initial email must have at least 1 subscriber who hasn't opened it (or else there is no one to resend it to!)
You may only resend an email once after the initial send to keep your subscribers from feeling like they're getting an unnecessary amount of communications from you, and to keep your unsubscribe and spam rates healthy.
Step 1. Once you've sent out an email, head to My Emails > find the email you're wanting to resend.
Click the 3 dots (...) at the top right-hand corner of the email to reveal the drop-down options menu, and select Resend to unopens.
Note: the system will prevent you from resending to unopens if less than 24 hours have passed since the initial email send.
Step 2. Follow the steps to resend your email to the subscribers that didn't open.
We recommend trying a different subject line here—it can help you A/B test what may or may not work with your audience. You may resend the email immediately or schedule it for a later date.
We highly recommend waiting at least 48 hours up to a week before resending.
Note: while resending to unopens can increase an already-sent email’s chance of landing in the inbox, we suggest you use it sparingly. Resending every email can increase your unsubscribes and marked spam.
After following the flow steps above, your email will either begin resending immediately or be scheduled to resend at a later date!
Step 3. If you need to cancel the resend for any reason, you can navigate back to the email you're resending, click the three dots (...) menu in the top-right corner, and select Unschedule.
Once the resend is complete, you'll be able to see detailed data on how the resend performed in your email's analytics section.
Note: recipients who open your email between the time of scheduling and your actual resend will automatically be removed from your resend.
Important: If you see a sudden drop in email open rates compared to your average figures, there are few things to check first before you should consider resending it to unopens:
Are you sending emails from a verified custom domain email address?
If your custom domain email address is not fully verified, it can impact the deliverability and therefore the open rates of your emails
Have you recently switched to a custom domain email address?
After switching to a verified sending domain, you may notice some fluctuations in in your open rates. You can expect to see things stabilize and return to normal within 2-3 weeks of consistently sending emails through your verified domain.
Is your content engaging, relevant and without spam triggers?
A drop in open rates could be a result of your email landing in spam. As inbox providers never disclose how their spam filter algorithms works, it's hard to prepare for every possible scenario, but you'll find some tips and best practices on how to avoid the spam folder here.
Has your email been clipped by Gmail?
Clipping will "clip" your reported open rates by 50% or more, because even if a subscriber opens the email, Gmail will not count it as opened unless they click the 'View entire message' link.
Additionally, you can learn more about the steps to take if your email open rates decreased in detail here.
Summary
How to resend to unopens?
Simply navigate to My Emails > find the email you've already sent, click the three dots (...) for the drop-down menu, and select Resend to unopens.
Follow the steps in the resend flow to resend now or schedule the resend, and Flodesk will take care of the rest!
Remember to use this feature sparingly so as not to overwhelm your list.
More to learn:
If you need technical assistance, please submit a support ticket via email at support[at]flodesk.com
mentioning your Flodesk account login email with a detailed description of your problem.