How to Segment Inactive Contacts for Reactivation

Email marketing success isn’t just about growing your list—it’s about keeping that list engaged. The harsh reality? A large portion of your subscribers will go silent over time.

If you continue sending to these inactive contacts, your metrics suffer. Open rates drop, spam complaints rise, and your sender reputation takes a hit. Worst case? Your emails stop landing in inboxes altogether.

To keep your list healthy and results strong, you need a reliable way to identify inactive subscribers—and re-engage them before it’s too late.

What are inactive contacts?

Inactive contacts are email subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked any of your emails in a given period—typically 30, 60, or 90 days. This window may vary based on your send frequency and industry, but the core idea remains: these users are no longer interacting with your content.

Over time, the larger your inactive segment grows, the more it dilutes your email performance. Ignoring inactive contacts is risky. Here’s why:

• Lower engagement rates: Sending to people who don’t open emails drags down your average open and click-through rates.

• Reputation damage: ISPs monitor engagement. A low open rate can signal poor sender quality, hurting your deliverability.

• Higher spam risk: Inactive addresses may convert into spam traps. Hitting one can get your domain or IP blacklisted, too.

• Wasted effort and cost: You're paying to send emails no one reads.

The fix? Proactively segment these users out—and target them with smart, data-driven reactivation campaigns.

How to segment inactive contacts in Mailmodo

Mailmodo makes segmentation simple with both pre-built templates, custom options and AI. Whether you're looking for a quick win or building a precise targeting list, it has you covered.

Method 1: Use Mailmodo’s pre-built segments

If you're looking for the fastest way to identify dormant users, Mailmodo’s pre-built segment called “Inactive contacts (90 days)” does the job.

Here’s how it works:

1. Navigate to Contacts and click on Create a Segment.

2. Choose the “Inactive contacts (90 days)” option.

3. Mailmodo automatically pulls contacts who haven’t opened any email in the last 90 days.

4. Preview the count and save the segment for future campaigns.

This segment is perfect for launching win-back efforts without manually filtering contact data.

Method 2: Create a custom segment

Need more control over how you define inactivity?

Mailmodo lets you build your own segment using custom filters. For example, you can create a segment of users who:

• Haven’t opened any email in the last 60 days

• Haven’t clicked in the last 45 days

• Live in a specific location or match a behavioral tag

• Previously purchased a product but haven’t engaged since

To build it:

1. Go to Contacts and click on Create new segment

2. Set your filters (e.g., "Email activity = No opens in 60 days")

3. Add optional filters like location, tag, or campaign source

4. Preview the count and save the segment

Method 3: AI Segmentation

You can also segment your customers using Mailmodo AI. Just type a prompt like: “Generate a segment of users who clicked the product demo link in the last campaign but didn’t sign up,” and Mailmodo AI will create the segment logic, apply the filters, and deliver a dynamic segment ready to use instantly.

Conclusion

Segmenting inactive contacts is a way to preserve engagement, protect your sender reputation, and maximize the impact of every email you send. With Mailmodo, identifying dormant users and running personalized, data-driven reactivation campaigns becomes simple and effective.

By combining pre-built or custom segments with multi-step, AI-powered reactivation journeys, you can win back disengaged subscribers and keep your email list healthy and high-performing. Sign up with Mailmodo today and start reactivating your list.