Send or Resend to Contacts Who Did Not Open a Particular Email

Details

Sometimes it can be useful to re-send an email to a contact who didn't open the first one. While we don't want to spam people who don't open, you may find that adjusting the subject line and / or content prior to re-sending can yield further opens.

You may also like to try A/B testing your subject lines - which is a great way to automatically test for the better performing option, if you're not sure which subject might work better for your send and your audience.

A/B Test a Subject Line.

How-to Guide

Resend an Email To Contacts That Didn't Open It Originally (Method 1)

This method is a little more time consuming than Method 2 below, but is more accurate as it uses 'Unopened' data from the report, as opposed to looking at the 'Date of Last Open' field - which can change regularly if you email frequently. 

1. First off, we need to grab the list of people who didn't open the email from our report. Select Reports in the sidebar.
2. Locate the report for the send in question, and double-click it to open it.
3. In the Activity panel, click on Unopened. A new popup window should open.
   
4. Click the download icon at the top right. Your list of un-opens will be download as a CSV file.
   
5. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet application (such as Microsoft Excel) and remove all columns except the 'Email address' column.
6. Now add a new column called 'Opened Email'.
   You may wish to add the name of the email in the column title - but keep it brief.
7. Set the value for every row in this column to be 'No'.
8. Save the file.
9. Next we'll update the data in our list via an import, so that we know which contacts didn't open our email. Select Lists and Forms form the sidebar.
10. Click Upload Contacts.
11. Choose File Upload then select the list you originally sent the email to.
12. Click Next.
13. Click the dropdown symbol next to the 'Opened Email' column (or whatever name you gave it in Step 6 above) and create a new field for this column, as shown.
    
14. Make it a Text field, and give the field a name - such as 'Opened Email' (or whatever name you gave it in Step 6 above).
15. Click Save.
16. Click Settings to the top right and set the two settings as shown.
    
17. Click Save, then Finish Importing. Your contact list will now be updated - and our platform will now know which contacts did not open the email - we'll use this in our sending search criteria shortly.
18. Let's now resend our email to these contacts. Click Messages on the sidebar.
19. Locate the message you'd like to send or re-send to these contacts and double-click it to open it for editing.
20. Click Send.
21. In the send screen, click Select Contacts.
22. Choose Advanced Selection.
23. In the search dialog, configure your search as follows.
    The first field may have a slightly different name - depending on what you called it in Step 6, above.
24. Click Next. You have now isolated those specific contacts with 'no' populated against them in the list.
25. Click Done.
26. Confirm your sending information and, once ready, click Review & Send to continue review and then send your email to these specific contacts.
27. Once your send has completed, we recommend removing your temporary 'Opened Email' field, in order to keep your lists neat and in case you need it again for something else in future. To do so, select Contacts in the sidebar.
28. Use the dropdowns at the top to select your list.
29. Click the pencil (Spreadsheet View) icon, as shown. Your list data will now open in Spreadsheet View.
    
30. Locate the recently-created 'Opened Email' field and hover over it. Click on the three-lines to the right edge of the field's column heading (as shown) to open the options menu.
    
31. Select Delete field, then click Delete. You have now removed this temporary field.
32. Click Close to exit spreadsheet view.

Resend an Email To Contacts That Didn't Open It Originally (Method 2)

This method is generally only useful if you send fairly infrequently (eg. once or twice a month) - as it uses the 'Date of Last Open' field. If you send a lot of emails, this date can of course change frequently and some valid contacts may be omitted from your search. If you send regularly, try Method 1 in the section above.

1. Select Messages from the sidebar.
2. Locate your email message and double-click it to open it for editing.
3. From the various options at top right, click Send. The sending screen will now appear.
4. Click Select Contacts.
5. Select the Advanced selection option.
6. Set the first dropdown field to Date of last open.
7. In the second dropdown, select Before.
8. Then use the date picker to select the date that you last sent the email (eg. If you last sent the email on the 20th of March, this is the date you would choose here).
   
9. Click Next. The screen will now show the resulting number of contacts who meet this search criteria.
10. Click Done. You can now continue as per usual to review and send your email.

Resend an Email To Contacts That Didn't Open It Originally (+ Include Contacts That Have Never Opened One of Your Emails)

The guide for Method 2 above doesn't encompass contacts that have never opened any email from you at all. If you'd like to include the contacts alongside those that didn't open the original email, use the steps provided below to expand your search.

1. Select Messages from the sidebar.
2. Locate your email message and double-click it to open it for editing.
3. From the various options at top right, click Send. The sending screen will now appear.
4. Click Select Contacts.
5. Select the Advanced selection option.
6. Set the first dropdown field to Date of last open.
7. In the second dropdown, select Before.
8. Then use the date picker to select the date that you last sent the email (eg. If you last sent the email on the 20th of March, this is the date you would choose here).
9. Click Add Field.
10. From the new drop down, choose Date of last open.
11. From the second drop down, choose Is empty.
12. From the third, choose Yes.
13. In the top right of the search window, select the Match ANY Fields option.
    
14. Click Next. The screen will now show the resulting number of contacts who meet this search criteria.
15. Click Done. You can now continue as per usual to review and send your email. 

Further Reading

Want to send an SMS if an important email bounces, or is not opened after a specified time amount of time? We have an advanced automation example for exactly this scenario! This can come in handy for appointment reminders and other important emails.

Automation Example: Send SMS If Email Bounces or Is Not Opened

Other links of interest...

• Send to Contacts That Haven’t Been Sent (Or Have Been Sent) A Particular Email
• Send or Resend to Contacts Who Bounced From a Particular Email Send
• Send or Resend to Contacts Who Did Not Click on Anything in a Particular Email
• Send to Contacts Who Clicked a Link in Your Most Recent Email