Building a Re-Engagement Campaign in HubSpot for Dormant Contacts

Marketing and sales teams can systematically reactivate dormant contacts through HubSpot’s workflow automation, targeted email sequences, and segmentation tools—though the search results don’t cover AI content assistance or advanced reporting dashboards comprehensively.

Defining Dormant Contact Criteria

The first step is establishing clear unengagement thresholds. Create a static or active list of contacts who haven’t opened an email, clicked a link, or engaged with your website in the last 90 days (or adjust the timeframe to match your business cycle).³ In HubSpot workflows, you can set triggers that account for multiple engagement signals simultaneously—including the last time a contact engaged with emails, visited your website, and when the contact was created.³

When creating your workflow trigger, ensure you’re excluding contacts who shouldn’t enter the re-engagement sequence (such as recent subscribers or active engagers) to avoid wasting resources on non-dormant segments.⁴

Workflow Setup in HubSpot

Set up your workflow by navigating to Workflows > Create Workflow > From Scratch, then select Contact Based > Blank Workflow.² Configure your triggers based on the unengagement criteria you’ve defined—or select an existing list if you’ve already segmented your dormant contacts.²

Once triggered, contacts automatically flow through your campaign without manual intervention. You can schedule regular re-engagement campaigns every few months to maintain list hygiene.³

Email Sequence Strategy

Deploy a 3-5 email sequence rather than a single “blast” email.² Research shows re-engagement campaigns with multiple touchpoints drive stronger results. Structure your sequence around these proven themes:

Email 1: Simple call-to-action offering an incentive (discount, event invitation) with a compelling subject line
Email 2: Request feedback via survey to personalize future communications and show you value their preferences
Email 3-5: Emotional, human-centered messaging emphasizing what they’ll miss, with urgency (“You’ll be removed if you don’t respond”) and an easy opt-in button

Make it simple for contacts to stay opted in by using a prominent button in each email, directing them to a thank-you confirmation page rather than requiring manual preference updates.¹ However, always include an option to update email preferences so they can stay subscribed at their preferred frequency rather than unsubscribing completely.²

Segmentation for Deliverability Protection

After sending your first re-engagement email, create a follow-up segment to identify non-responders: Navigate to CRM > Segments > Create Segment and add a filter for contacts who received your re-engagement email but didn’t click a link.¹ This protects your sender reputation by preventing you from repeatedly mailing unresponsive addresses.

Contacts who don’t engage after your full sequence should be exported and moved to a suppression list to maintain deliverability rates with ISPs.¹

Campaign Measurement

HubSpot’s reporting capabilities allow you to track engagement metrics including open rates, click-through rates, and conversion actions (contacts who stayed opted in or re-engaged with content).⁴ Set smart goals to automatically remove converted contacts from the workflow, so you’re only measuring true re-engagement success.⁴ Monitor whether contacts move to sales-qualified lead status or return to active engagement patterns.

Limitation: The search results don’t include information about HubSpot’s AI content assistant capabilities for reactivation copy or detailed reporting dashboard features. You may want to consult HubSpot’s AI Writing Assistant documentation or your account manager for those specific tools, as they may have been added or enhanced since these resources were published.

Sources4

Building a Re-Engagement Email Campaign in HubSpot