When emails don't reach your customers' inboxes, you lose opportunities to connect and drive sales. An Email Sunset Policy helps you maintain a clean, engaged contact list by removing inactive subscribers.
This guide shows you how to identify inactive contacts, run re-engagement campaigns, and clean your list to improve deliverability and sender reputation.
What is an Email Sunset Policy?
An Email Sunset Policy is a strategy for managing inactive contacts on your email list. If someone hasn't opened your messages after a set period, you:
Send less frequently to inactive contacts.
Send one last win-back campaign to inactive contacts.
Unsubscribe those who don't engage.
This process ensures you're emailing only people who want to hear from you, which protects your sender reputation and keeps your list healthy.
💡 Tip: Inactivity timeframes vary by business. High-frequency senders (3+ emails/week) might use 60–90 days; monthly newsletters might use 180+ days. Adjust based on your sending frequency.
Benefits of a Sunset Policy
Running a sunset policy brings these measurable improvements to your Email deliverability:
Higher engagement rates – Removing inactive contacts increases your average open rate and click-through rate, making campaign performance easier to measure.
Better inbox placement – Mailbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) prioritize senders with low bounce rates and high engagement, improving deliverability.
Reduced spam complaints – Inactive contacts are more likely to mark emails as spam. Removing them protects your domain reputation.
Cost savings – Pay only for contacts who engage with your emails, reducing your billing tier in Omnisend.
How to Set Up a Sunset Policy
Follow these steps to implement an Email Sunset Policy in Omnisend:
Step 1. Define Inactive Contacts
Decide how long a contact must be inactive before removal:
Determine your inactivity threshold (e.g., 3 months of no opens).
Consider what "disengaged" means for your business.
Decide whether to remove inactive Contacts immediately or send a re-engagement campaign first.
Create a segment to identify inactive contacts:
Go to Audience → Segments → Create segment → Create from scratch.
Filter by:
Subscription status = Subscribed to Email.
Message sent at least 30 times in the last 90 days (Example threshold – adjust "30 times" and "90 days" based on your sending frequency).
Have not opened message in the last 60 days (Example threshold – adjust to match your engagement expectations).
Have not clicked message (same timeframe as opens).
Have not placed order in the last 60 days (Example threshold – adjust to match your engagement expectations) (protects active buyers).
Step 2. Create Your Sunsetting Automation Workflow
Give inactive contacts one last chance to stay subscribed. Use Omnisend's pre-built automation template:
Go to Automations → Create Workflow → Reactivate Customers Templates → select the Sunset unengaged subscribers pre-built automation.
Open the trigger settings. Under Trigger filters, select the inactive contacts segment you created in Step 1.
Selecting the segment is required. If the segment field is empty, the workflow displays Missing filter value and cannot identify which contacts should enter the workflow.
Make sure the Trigger workflow for contacts in the segment checkbox is selected so that the Automation Workflow triggers for all contacts currently in the selected segment.
Step 3. Review the Workflow Steps
The pre-built Automation Workflow includes:
Email – Sends a re-engagement message to inactive contacts.
Delay – Gives contacts time to open or click the message. The workflow uses a delay of 7 days, but you can increase or reduce it based on your sending frequency and how long you want to give contacts to re-engage.
Split – Checks whether a contact engaged with the re-engagement Email. The pre-built workflow checks whether the contact opened the Email or clicked a link in it.
Unsubscribe – Unsubscribes Contacts from the channels selected in this step. You can select Email, SMS, and/or Push notification.
This step changes the contact’s subscription status to Unsubscribed.
💡 Review the Split paths carefully:
Yes path: Contacts who meet the engagement condition remain subscribed.
No path: Contacts who do not engage continue to Unsubscribe from Email.
Step 3. Add More Re-engagement Messages (Optional)
The pre-built workflow can unsubscribe contacts after one re-engagement Email. If you want to give them more opportunities to engage:
Add another Delay and Email before the Split.
Add an SMS message if you want to use another channel.
Move the Split after the final re-engagement message.
Make sure the Split checks engagement with the message you want to use as the final decision point.
This lets you create a longer re-engagement sequence instead of unsubscribing a Contact after one Email.
Step 4. Set Your Workflow Live
When the workflow is ready, click Start workflow.
💡 What Happens Next?
The workflow handles the sunsetting process automatically:
Contacts who open or click the re-engagement Email follow the engaged path and remain subscribed.
Contacts who do not meet the Split condition follow the non-engaged path.
The Unsubscribe from Email action unsubscribes contacts from Email marketing.
Unsubscribing a contact does not delete their customer profile, purchase history, or engagement history.
FAQ
What does the Unsubscribe action do?
The Unsubscribe action changes a contact’s subscription status for the channels selected in the action. You can select Email, SMS, and/or Push notification.
For an Email sunset policy, select Email. This change applies across your Omnisend account, not only to the current Automation Workflow. Transactional messages may still be sent after a Contact is unsubscribed.
Will a sunset policy delete customer purchase history?
No. Unsubscribing a contact removes them from email marketing lists but retains their order history and customer profile in Omnisend.
How often should I run a sunset policy?
Quarterly or semi-annually, depending on your sending frequency. High-volume senders (daily/weekly emails) should audit every 3 months; monthly senders can do so every 6 months.
Can I re-subscribe sunset contacts later?
Yes, but they must opt in again via a Signup Form or checkout subscription. You cannot bulk re-subscribe them without consent (violates GDPR and anti-spam laws).
Need further guidance? Our Support Team is just a click away in the app, or you can email [email protected].