What is a re-engagement email in Intercom?
A re-engagement email is a message you send to users who have stopped using your product, aimed at bringing them back. In Intercom, you build these through the Proactive Support area, where you can design the email, define exactly who receives it, and schedule when it sends.
What makes Intercom powerful for this is the audience rules. Instead of sending to everyone, you set conditions, for example users who have not been active for 90 days, so the email reaches only the people you want to win back.
Setting this up correctly matters because the audience rules decide who gets the message. Get them right and you re-engage the exact segment that is slipping away. Get them wrong and you either miss people or email users who are perfectly active.
How to Create an Email Campaign for Inactive Users in Intercom
1. Open Proactive Support
Log in to Intercom and click the "Proactive Support" tab from the main dashboard.
2. Go to "All messages"
In Proactive Support, select "All messages" to start creating your email campaign.
3. Click "New message"
Click "New message" to begin drafting an email aimed at your inactive users.
4. Start from scratch (or a template)
Intercom offers pre designed templates for common use cases. For a tailored re-engagement email, you can start from scratch instead.
5. Choose the "Personal" style
Select the "Personal" template so the email reads like it was written by a real person, which works well for winning users back.
6. Use the template
Click "Use the template" to move forward with your chosen style.
7. Write your email content
In the editor, compose engaging, compelling content designed to catch the attention of inactive users and give them a reason to return.
8. Open the "Rules" section
Go to the "Rules" section to define exactly which users should receive this campaign.
9. Add an audience rule
Click "Add audience rule" to set the criteria that decide who enters this email list.
10. Target inactive users
Set the rule to target users who have not been active recently, for example "Last seen is more than 90 days".
11. Enter the inactivity period
Type "90 days" into the field so the rule captures users whose last activity was over three months ago.
12. Set frequency and schedule
Choose how often the email should send and schedule the time it goes out.
13. Save and close
Once your content, audience, and schedule are set, click "Save and Close" to finish.
Who uses Intercom re-engagement campaigns?
Customer support and customer education teams use these campaigns to bring users back and cut down on churn, often alongside the help articles and walkthroughs they already maintain.
Lifecycle and retention teams rely on targeted messages like this as a repeatable play, running them again and again as new cohorts go quiet.
Founders and small SaaS teams use re-engagement emails to protect hard won users without a large marketing team behind them.
Support and customer education teams answer the same "how do I?" questions and re-run the same setups constantly. The walkthrough above was built with Layerpath. Instead of hopping on repeat calls or re-recording videos every time Intercom's interface changes, you turn the process into a self-serve guide and update the single step that changed, keeping your help center current.
Intercom alternatives for customer messaging
If you are comparing customer messaging and support tools, these are common alternatives to Intercom:
Zendesk
A well established support suite with strong ticketing and help center tools.
Drift
Focused on conversational marketing and sales chat.
Freshchat
Budget friendly messaging with good automation.
HubSpot Service Hub
Better if you want support tied into a full CRM.