Cleaning your list regularly is an essential part of a successful email marketing strategy. However before removing unengaged subscribers you should send them an automated email that asks them to click if they're still interested.

In this article we'll walk you through how to do that in SmartrMail.

To get started creating automation navigate to the Automations page. If you've been using SmartrMail before we launched our new automations you'll also need to navigate to the Automations tab. Click the New Automations button.

Next, give your Automation a name.

For a sunset email you'll want to create segment-triggered automation.

Once you select the segment trigger, you'll need to create a new segment at the bottom of the dropdown

In the segment, you want to add the rules

*The amount of days is dependent on when you think it's been too long since a subscriber interacted with your email. In this example, we're aiming to remove subscribers who haven't ordered and clicked an email in the last 6 months which would be appropriate if you're sending weekly emails. If you're sending multiple times per week you'd want to consider removing subscribers who haven't engaged after 3-4 months. If you're only sending monthly, we suggest removing subscribers who haven't engaged after 12 months.

After you select a segment, choose the rules for when subscribers join the segment. For a sunset email, you want to choose Whenever rules match as you'd like this email to send every time your subscribers become unengaged.

Once you select a smart segment and save, you can no longer change the list that triggers the automation.

For this sunset series I'm going to trigger my first email immediately after subscribers enter the segment, so I'll place an email directly under the trigger.

Once you add your email into the automation. You can give it a name for your own records and a subject line. Then click Compose to design your email.

You'll be directed to our email composer where you can add content and create your campaign. Once you're done, click Enable and you'll be directed back to your automation in progress.

The design of this email is up to you, but typically in this email you want to include a prominent button that once clicked directs to a page on your site thanking subscribers for responding and letting them know they'll remain on your email list.

Step 4: Enable Automation

Now that your email is in place. Click Enable at the top right of the screen. You'll be prompted to confirm that you'd like to enable your Sunsetting series.

Step 5: Clean Your Subscribers List

Create another segment of subscribers that still haven't ordered or clicked emails from you. We'll call this segment Lapsed Subscribers.

In the segment, you want to add the rules

At least 20 days after enabling your sunset email automation, click Delete Subscribers to remove subscribers who still haven't clicked your emails after the sunset automation.

That's it. You're done! Congrats on creating your sunset email automation with SmartrMail 🎉

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