If the last time you wrote and sent a newsletter was oooh... so long ago you're actually embarrassed to admit it - then let me assure you, there IS a way back!
Life comes along, you take a pivot in your business and you're paying EVERY month for a newsletter provider (auto-responder)... and yet the gap keeps widening.
You missed a newsletter one week, then it became two, then a month, then three months and now it's been so long, you don't know whether you should just scrap that list and start again - or whether you can "get them back"... and will it seem "weird" if you write to them again... and OMFG what are you going to say?
Phew! Deep breath - I've got you!
OK. Chances are they never noticed.
Yeh, seriously.
Our inboxes are so cluttered with everything going on and we find ourselves on a gazillion mailing lists - that the fact we've not sent one in months will probably go unnoticed.
Because I love newsletters, I tend to stay on them - UNLESS it's pure shite - and yeh... us consumers can spot a "copy & paste template email" from 1000 yards.
The BIGGEST mistake I see people make when they try and re-engage their list is to send an email saying "We're back! We know it's been a long time".
And the company name says NOTHING to me. The email says NOTHING. I have NO FUCKING IDEA who they are and what they do - whether they sell shoes, home furnishings, marketing strategy or books.
HUGE mistake. I unsubscribe.
Really! My time is too precious for me to try and figure out who the fuck they are and what they do... I unsubscribe.
So... lesson 1. Don't assume that your list have been on tenterhooks awaiting your return and that you can just land in their inbox with them weeping with joy muttering "at last - my emails returneth".
Nup. You've got to remind them who you are - and what you do.
Now, a common problem and a common reason why my clients DON'T email their list for months and months is that they've had a pivot with their business. They're not doing QUITE what they were doing a year ago... and they have confused themselves - never mind their list!
Don't worry, that's completely normal. What happens is that they find their business model isn't quite working out for them, so they make some changes - but then get all worked up about how to transmit these changes to their audience - and so they back off sending a newsletter and it just snowballs.
Lesson 2 - You're just gonna have to put on your big girl pants and send it. Sure... your business direction has changed SLIGHTLY (!) since you last wrote - but unless you've gone from quilting to teaching nuclear physics to grad students - most people will barely notice - OR will ALSO have made that shift as THEIR lives changed.
We're all evolving, ALL the time and nobody is going to hold that against you.
So you've got a choice for that "first email" - you can either point out that you went AWOL and that you're back. Meh... they don't fucking care - and seriously, you're just pointing out the fact you've been AWOL - again, I need to reiterate this - they DO NOT CARE!
Or... you simply continue with where you are. RIGHT NOW. What you're doing and how you help, your latest story - and even better - if you're going to re-engage a list who you've been ignoring for a while - then why not give them a reason to come back into your fold?
This is a great opportunity to give them a freebie which is connected to where you are since your "mini-pivot".
Don't send it just once, send it a few times. Even the most militant of "zero inboxers" amongst us miss stuff and so it makes sense to send it more than once to get the biggest chance of "eyeballs" on it. If you've got an email program which allows you to send to the "unopens", then this is a perfect way to go about this.
My recommended tool is ConvertKit which is extremely powerful - and simply works.
If you're just starting out - or if life has FORCED you to take that 6 month break and pennies are in short supply, then they have a free option up to 1000 subscribers. You don't get all the bells and whistles on the free version, but it'll certainly help you out for a while.
To learn more about how to write to your list without having that fear about writing NOT ANOTHER FUCKING NEWSLETTER then check out my e-course which helps you go from "dead or new" list, to writing regularly, confidently - and SELLING in your emails - without the ick or resorting to done, done and bleuuurrrrgh DONE templates!
*Contains affiliate links which won't buy me an island in the Bahamas, but if you sign up it might buy a gal a coffee - and the world is a better place when Alex gets her coffee! 
