How to Resend an Email

Every email you send stands a massive chance of getting buried deep within the pile of unopened messages. To ensure your email rises to the top of the recipient’s inbox, you need to follow it up with another message.

Resending an email can help you improve the performance of campaigns, as well as point out ways to optimize the content to increase the deliverability of your emails. In this article, you’ll find out how to resend an email in Gmail and Outlook, including the rules you should follow when resending an email.

Why do you need to resend an email?

Internet users and marketers frown upon resending emails because it feels spammy. But when done correctly, you can always follow up on communication without ending up in the spam folder. Here are some reasons to resend:

Retargeting new audiences

Sometimes, you must test different marketing strategies to determine what works for your brand. When your initial email campaign gets limited engagement from the intended audience, you can retarget a lookalike audience from your segmented contact lists.

Following up

Some subscribers won’t open your mail because they are too busy — or for other related reasons. To increase open rates, you should resend emails using a different subject line. This will increase the chances of the recipient engaging with your correspondence.

Correcting mistakes

Human error is unavoidable when sending emails. For instance, you could forward a contract form without adding the attachment — or your copy could contain a typo. 

Some readers may never notice the errors in your email copy. Nevertheless, you must protect your brand reputation. To clear things up, resend a corrected version. Bonus: this is an excellent opportunity for retargeting those who bounced the first copy.

Testing new email variations

A/B testing is another good reason to resend an email. For instance, you could send different versions of the same copy to two audience segments. You could use a playful subject line for the first group and a more sales-focused header for the second.

After you’ve resent the email and it’s time to evaluate the campaign as a whole, compare engagement analytics for both versions to discover how the subject lines impacted users. This will help you understand the best approach for creating subject lines for your audience.

How to resend an email in Gmail or Outlook

Although there are no built-in features to help you resend emails in Gmail, you can use several workarounds for this. Here are some reliable options.

Using the Reply button

1. Open your “Sent” folder in Gmail and find the email you want to resend.
2. Click “Reply.”
3. Edit the content to remove anything irrelevant or add something new.
4. Change the subject line and add the recipient’s address.
5. Click “Send.”

Using the Forward button

This method is perfect when you want to resend an attachment.

1. Open your “Sent” folder and choose the email you want to resend.
2. Click “Forward.”
3. Add the new attachment.
4. Change the subject line and add the recipient’s address.
5. Click “Send.”

Use a mail client

A mail client like Outlook can also resend emails. Follow these steps to use the Outlook resend email feature:

1. Open the email app and click “Sent.”
2. Double-tap the email you want to resend.
3. For Windows: Go to the “Message” tab in the “Move” group and click “Actions.” Then select “Resend This Message.” For Mac: select “Message” then “Resend.”
4. Click “Send.”

How to find out when to resend an email

Email marketing is productive when you can track deliverability and engagement, as well as use these insights to improve performance. That’s why you need tools to check whether your messages have been opened and also the level of engagement they have generated.

Free Email Tracker for Gmail is a trusted solution that notifies you once the receiver opens your email. Monitoring performance data from the Free Email Tracker tells you when to follow up or create new campaigns for targeted audiences. 

You can now resend the new copy if you realize your email has poor open rates or the recipient has opened it but has yet to reply.

Follow these steps to set up the Free Email Tracker for Gmail in your Chrome browser:

1. Install the extension.
2. Send emails as you usually do.
3. Go to your Sent folder and see which messages have been opened.

Hover over the icons to confirm when and how often your emails have been opened. It’s a free tool, so don’t worry about subscriptions or charges.

Four rules for resending emails

Whether you want to resend email in Outlook or Gmail, here are some general rules to follow:

Don’t resend more than once

As a marketer or salesperson, you should only resend an email once. Otherwise, you risk annoying the recipient — and some of your contacts might unsubscribe. Individual users who rely on emails for peer-to-peer communication should also follow this “one resend” rule.

Plus, mail client filters can interpret too many repeated messages as spam. That is another solid reason to resend only once.

Send with a different subject line

Attach a new subject line when you have to resend an email. Try to keep this subject line similar to the previous one but with a different message. Remember to maintain that personal tone to increase the chances of the addressee opening your message.

Don’t send it to everybody again

Create a new email segment before you resend email campaigns. Sending it to everybody again is not a great idea, especially since some have already opened the mail. Thanks to the Free Email tracker, you can select those who haven’t opened the mail and resend accordingly.

Conclusion

Resending email is one way of increasing open rates and conversions in marketing. You also increase your chances of getting more readers to open your mail. For non-commercial users, resending an email will help you follow up, increasing your chances of getting a response. 

Also, make sure you’re resending a slightly (and properly) modified version of the original mail. As a general marketing rule, don’t resend the same mail copy to everybody since some have already seen it. Free Email Tracker for Gmail can help track when and how often your contacts open the message. It’s the perfect tool to save time, increase deliverability, and gather engagement statistics.