There’s a moment every e-commerce brand faces eventually.

Sales slow down.

Engagement drops.

And someone on the team says, “Why don’t we just blast a 30% discount to everyone on the list?”

It sounds like a quick win—until it absolutely tanks.

And now you’ve not only missed sales…

You’ve trained inbox providers like Gmail to start marking all your emails as Promotions. Or worse—Spam.

That means even your most loyal customers stop seeing your emails, and just like that, you’ve got a deliverability problem.

But here’s the good news:

A cold list isn’t a dead list—unless you treat it like one.

Here’s exactly how we warm up cold segments at Flowstate, so you can re-engage your audience without nuking your sender reputation.

Step 1: Build a Proper Re-engagement Segment

First things first—don’t send to your whole list.

That’s how you end up damaging deliverability across the board.

Instead, create a re-engagement segment based on clear signs of inactivity.

Here’s what we recommend:

  • People who haven’t opened or clicked in the last 90–180 days
  • Exclude anyone who’s made a purchase recently—they’re already warm

This gives you a healthy middle group. Not hot, not ice-cold. Just ready for the right nudge.

Step 2: Suppress the Real Cold

Before you hit send, apply a few more filters to cut out the dead weight.

We’re looking for signs of life—so use filters like:

  • Last active within 180 days
  • Has opened at least 1 email in the past 6 months
  • Is not bounced, suppressed, or marked as spam

These filters help you avoid sending to people who aren’t just cold—they’re completely unengaged. If you hit too many of those, inbox providers take notice. And not in a good way.

Step 3: Send Value First, Not a Discount

Here’s where most brands get it wrong.

They come in hot with a 30% off code or “FINAL SALE” subject line.
But at this stage, the goal isn’t conversion.

It’s engagement.

You just want the open. You want the click. You want to prove that the recipient still cares—even a little.

Some of our highest-performing re-engagement emails include:

  • A short, personal note from the founder
  • A tip that relates to their first purchase (“Here’s how to get the most from your skincare routine”)
  • A plain-text “Hey, still here?” style email with a friendly check-in

These don’t feel like marketing blasts. They feel human. And that’s the whole point.

Step 4: Monitor Like a Hawk

Re-engagement is a test, not a campaign.

As soon as you send your first batch, watch the numbers closely. If your open rates fall below 10%, pull back. Let that segment rest and retarget a smaller, warmer slice later.

But if open rates are strong and consistent?

You’ve got momentum.
Now you can slowly reintroduce offers, updates, and new product drops—because you’ve earned their attention back.

The Bottom Line: Don’t Blast. Rebuild.

Re-engagement takes patience and strategy—but the payoff is worth it.

A cold list can become one of your best-performing segments when handled correctly. You just need to shift your mindset from “sell now” to “earn back trust.”

That’s exactly what we do for our clients inside State of Flow—our done-for-you email strategy service.

We don’t just write beautiful emails.

We rebuild list health, recover engagement, and turn cold subscribers into repeat customers.

🚀 Want us to rebuild your list health and run your re-engagement playbook for you? Click here to learn more about State of Flow