Definition
Engagement decay is the gradual decline in a subscriber's opens, clicks, and replies. It often precedes inactivity or churn, so detecting it early lets you re-engage.
Tracking trendlines rather than snapshots reveals decay before it becomes inactivity.
Engagement decay precedes inactivity and churn, so detecting it early protects your list and reputation. Tracking trendlines rather than snapshots reveals the decline. Re-engaging early is far cheaper than recovering a dead list.
Spotting Decay Early
Track engagement trendlines, not just snapshots.
Define thresholds that classify a subscriber as decaying.
Why It Matters
Engagement decay precedes inactivity and churn, so detecting it early protects your list. Understanding it lets you re-engage before it is too late.
Best Practices
- Track engagement trendlines, not just snapshots.
- Define thresholds that classify a subscriber as decaying.
- Send targeted win-back before decay becomes inactivity.
- Review decay by segment.
- Protect deliverability by managing decaying segments.
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Related Glossary Terms
A/B Testing
A/B testing in email marketing is the practice of sending two variations of an email to a small sample of your list to determine which version performs better before sending the winner to the remaining subscribers.
Abandoned Cart Email
An abandoned cart email is an automated message sent to customers who added items to their online shopping cart but left without completing the purchase. It is one of the highest-converting email types in ecommerce.
Abuse Complaint
An abuse complaint is a report from a recipient who marks an email as spam, which negatively affects sender reputation and deliverability.
AI Email Summary
An AI email summary is a short, machine-generated overview of an email's key points, shown by Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail before a recipient opens the message. It is reshaping how email marketers think about subject lines, preview text and open rates.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is a metric that measures the average revenue generated per email subscriber over a specific period, used to evaluate list value and campaign effectiveness.
Attention Rate
Attention rate is the percentage of email opens that last longer than 5 seconds, distinguishing genuine reads from passive opens, preview-pane views, or Apple MPP auto-loads.
Frequently Asked Questions
The ongoing falling off of a subscriber's interaction metrics. Engagement decay precedes inactivity and churn, so detecting it early protects your list and reputation.
It flags risk early for re-engagement campaigns. Tracking trendlines rather than snapshots reveals the decline.
Fatigue, irrelevance, or inbox saturation. Re-engaging early is far cheaper than recovering a dead list.
Track trends in opens, clicks, and replies. Engagement decay precedes inactivity and churn, so detecting it early protects your list and reputation.
Re-engage or manage decaying segments. Tracking trendlines rather than snapshots reveals the decline.