Marketers often think of retargeting as something reserved for ad platforms, but it’s just as effective in email. Sending follow-up emails based on what subscribers click can turn interest into action, boost conversions and do it all without overwhelming your list.
Here’s how one approach proved just that.
How retargeting emails help you stay top of mind
How often do you check your list when packing for vacation or planning a grocery run? Twice? Six times? More? With so many thoughts running through our heads, we forget things — even the important ones — because life happens and distractions pile up. That’s why marketers use abandoned cart flows.
Retargeting emails work the same way — rather than reaching out to those who abandoned a cart, you send targeted emails to people who clicked specific links in your previous emails. You’re not spamming. You’re not overwhelming. You’re simply reminding. Done right, it’s a high-leverage, low-effort way to boost conversions.
That’s how Simone Verde, the COO at Stacked Marketer and founder of Conversion Accelerator, approached it. (Full disclosure: Stacked Marketer is a client of mine.)
High frequency = high conversions
Like any direct response pro, Verde understands that high frequency exposure typically leads to high conversion rates no matter what the medium — TV ads, Meta Ads, billboards, etc.
Verde used to send emails to leads promoting the paid membership program, “but it wasn’t structured or part of an organized promo. While there was something going on, there was no real strategy behind it.”
And with a 2024 Black Friday-Cyber Monday (BFCM) campaign coming up, Verde knew that if he wanted to improve revenue on memberships, he needed to increase the frequency of emails. “Since we have first-party data showing which newsletter ads our leads are interested in, it made perfect sense to set up retargeting emails based on that,” he told me.
Dig deeper: How to send more emails and grow your subscriber list
It’s all about the angles
The newsletter’s membership includes many products — courses, guides, reports and more. Verde knew he had to “hit as many people on our list as possible from different angles.” “You never know what message will resonate, so we tried as many hooks as possible,” he said.
Using those, for the first five days of the BFCM campaign, they focused on promoting various courses and reports via ads in the daily newsletter and sent retargeting emails to the readers who clicked on the ads. During the last three days, he switched to urgency-based retargeting emails to capitalize on the interest built by previous emails.
Frequency and cadence
How many emails was Verde sending per day? “We sent about two retargeting emails per day during the first five to six days and up to four emails per day during the final three days,” he said.
I asked him whether he monitored the frequency of the emails so that they didn’t overwhelm subscribers. Verde said he barely monitored the frequency at all.
“We noticed that the more emails we sent, the more sales we made,” he said. “We did get some complaints, so we simply removed those people from the list.”
“Don’t be afraid to send too many emails,” Verde added. “Yes, some people will complain — but you’ll also make more sales. In the end, it’s worth it. Besides, the people who complain about email frequency usually aren’t going to buy anyway.”
Running tests and analyzing performance
Is it worth running A/B tests on retargeting emails? Not if your list of leads (i.e., people who clicked links in the ad or promo emails) is 5,000 subscribers or fewer, which was the case here.
“We didn’t run any tests,” Verde said. “We just sent a lot of emails, looked at the data from each campaign and used those insights to improve the next one.”
His suggestion for optimizing retargeting emails: “Look at the CTOR and conversion rate of each email,” Verde said, “pick the best performers and replicate the angle/emotional lever in the next emails.” Pretty straightforward.
Dig deeper: Frequency testing — The key to unlocking more email revenue
The takeaway? Don’t stop at retargeting ads
I know, I know. You’re probably cringing at the idea of sending emails at a similar volume to Stacked Marketer’s.
But Verde says the retargeting emails improved revenue by nearly four times compared to what they made from the occasional ad and promotional email alone.
These emails don’t work only for a newsletter business model. Verde has applied the same strategy to the business coaching and self-improvement niches and seen record sales in both.
How to plug retargeting emails into your campaigns
Want to apply this strategy to your brand or business? Swipe this mini-playbook.
1. Select upcoming or ongoing promotions or offers you want to amplify
There is no need to start from scratch here. These can include company newsletters that contain ad or promotion placements, individual email promos, etc.
2. Develop the angles and hooks you’ll test
You should aim for as many versions as possible. You don’t want to fatigue readers with the same message or assume one or two messages will resonate. You can use AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT to speed up the process.
3. Start strong with content, end with urgency
Draft content-heavy retargeting emails for the start of the promotion and urgency emails for the end. Aim for two emails per day for the first week and 3–4 emails for the final three days leading up to the promotion.
4. Have a sunset policy in place
Un-enroll or remove subscribers who don’t engage from the retargeting emails. Don’t stress about complaints, either. Remember — replies are good for deliverability. And if someone complains without unsubscribing, they care enough to stick around!
5. Analyze your results
Study the CTOR and conversion rates of your emails to spot the winners.
6. Optimize based on your results
Take the angles, hooks and emotions from the emails with the best CTOR and conversions and turn them into additional retargeting emails.
Dig deeper: The biggest email newsletter mistake B2B companies keep making
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