The Value of a Resend Campaign, By the Numbers

Of course, opens aren’t the only thing that matters. Clicks are important too, and you should always be wary of list attrition from unsubscribes and abuse complaints. I should also note that abuse complaints can severely impact your deliverability, and you don’t want to gamble with your ability to reach the inbox. We decided to explore what factors make resend campaigns more or less successful.

Our methodology

The way we measured the impact of the resends is important, so let me detail that process. We decided to measure based on the additional impact the resend campaign had on total opens, clicks, unsubs, and abuse complaints from the original send.

In other words, we didn’t look at the open rate of the resend campaign; we looked at the list from the original campaign and treated the opens from the resend campaign as if they added to the opens from the original campaign.

We liked this measurement because it shows the real impact of the resend campaign on what matters: the number of subscribers who see your email.

Change the subject line?
Verdict: Don’t do it.

These charts show the additional opens, clicks, unsubs, and abuse complaints our users saw after sending resend campaigns. In this case, we divided resends into 2 buckets: those who kept the same subject line and those who changed it.

People who used a different subject line for their resend campaign saw fewer opens and more abuse complaints than people who kept the same subject line. The difference in click rates and unsubscribe rates was minimal, so this one is a slam dunk. It’s better to keep the subject line you used the first time.

Change the visible From name?
Verdict: Don’t do it.

The visible From name is the name most subscribers will see when your email hits their inbox. The data suggests that changing the visible From name does increase opens, but it decreases clicks while massively increasing unsubscribes and abuse complaints. Our advice is to keep your visible From name the same. You may get more subscribers to open the email, but you probably won’t get more subscribers to engage with the email in a positive way.

The whys behind the numbers

Resending a campaign can be a powerful way to get more opens and clicks on key campaigns, but it comes with risks. According to the data, it looks like you can minimize the risks by keeping your subject line and visible From name the same. Why? I can only speculate, but I imagine it boils down to trust. If you’re honest and straightforward about who you are and why you’re sending an email, most subscribers are happy to keep engaging with you. After all, that’s why they signed up, so there’s no need to get tricky.

In a future post, we’ll explore more variables on resend campaigns like the optimal number of days to wait before resending and whether changing the time of day between the original campaign and the resend gets more opens.