Once SHC moved to a new ESP, it was discovered that the audience file wasn't properly maintained since the email program began. This resulted in open rates in the 3%-7% range with click rates in the 2%-4% range. After some research into the audience file, it was shown that over 65% of the audience file hadn't opened an email in the six months the new ESP had been used. How long the non-open behavior had occurred prior to the migration was unknown.
Knowing that a large section of donors donate just once a year, and generally open SHC emails up to 4 times a year, non-openers from the migration were targeted for a re-engagement deployment, while all other non-openers since the migration would be targeted 6 months later.
Engagement was better than expected, with a 2% open rate and a 3.5% click rate (initial expectations were less than 1% open and click). Unexpectedly, the campaign also managed to generate $1,500 in passive donations. Post re-engagement campaign, the audience file was cleansed of non-responsive subscribers, and deployments saw open rates shift up to industry standards, between the 20%-25% range, while click rates moved slighty higher, to the 3%-5% range.