Two recent articles have been discussed regarding the reactivation of older address on your file. This is a common way to build or pad your list with subscribers that might have been left behind at some point.

• First off Bronto published this paper on "Re-mailing:Targeting Those That Don't Open".
• MailChimp also discusses the "Reviving an Old Email List".

This is a very common thought line for marketers, "What about the people I haven't mailed to in over X months", sometimes as far back as 5 years.

A few words of caution about these types of reactivation mailings.

1. Use a subject line and body that tells people "We haven't talked in a long time", don;t just add them to your regular mail stream
   
2. Make the first contact an Opt-in (very important!)
   
3. Make them an offer they can't refuse
4. Sunset non-responders and remove all Bounces permanently
5. Mail in batches, newest names on file first and work toward the oldest...
   
6. Evaluate performance and stop once the ROI is too small to continue or the bounces and invalids increase beyond acceptable limits.

Recovering existing customers is generally an easy group to target when you deal with extra care and considerations.