Understanding Contact Engagement Scoring

Learn how Tarvent’s contact engagement scoring works, why it matters for your email marketing, and how to use it to send smarter, more profitable campaigns.

What you'll learn

What contact engagement scoring is and why it matters for your email marketing.
How to use engagement data to send smarter campaigns.
When to target different contact groups.
How engagement scoring protects your sender reputation and improves results.

What we'll cover

Overview
What is Engagement Scoring?
Why This Matters for Your Business
Understanding Engagement Levels
Understanding Lifecycle Stages
Using Quick Segments
Campaign Type Recommendations
Real-World Scenarios
Best Practices
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick Reference

1 Overview

Contact engagement scoring is like a health score for your email list. Instead of guessing who is interested in your emails, Tarvent analyzes every contact’s behavior and turns it into clear scores, levels, lifecycle stages, and recommendations you can use for targeting.

At a glance, you can see:

Who loves your emails and should get more.
Who is starting to drift away and needs re-engagement.
Who is completely inactive and hurting your sender reputation.
Who you should not send to at all.

Engagement scoring includes behavior from both campaign emails and journey emails, so contacts can build engagement history through automation as well as one-off sends.

2 What is Contact Engagement Scoring?

Contact Engagement Scoring automatically measures each contact's interest in your emails. Every contact receives:

Engagement Score (0–100): How engaged they are overall.
Engagement Level: Hot, Warm, Cold, or Inactive.
Lifecycle Stage: Where they are in their journey with you (including Never Engaged after onboarding).
Send Recommendation: Whether you should email them and how often.

How it works

Tarvent automatically analyzes each contact's behavior:

Do they open your emails?
Do they click your links?
Do they reply, share, or forward?
When was the last time they had a positive engagement action?
How consistent is their engagement over time?

Important: Delivered is not treated as engagement. Delivered only means an email was successfully sent and accepted by the receiving server. Engagement scoring is based on positive actions such as opens, clicks, replies, shares, and forwards.

Based on this analysis, Tarvent calculates an engagement score and provides recommendations for how to target that contact in future campaigns.

The simple version:

High score: They love your emails → keep sending.
Low score: They are ignoring you → be cautious or stop sending.

3 Why This Matters for Your Business

The problem without engagement scoring

Imagine you have 10,000 contacts. Without engagement data, you might:

Email everyone the same way.
Annoy uninterested contacts who mark you as spam.
Waste money sending to people who never engage.
Damage your sender reputation so future emails go to spam.
Miss opportunities to win back inactive contacts.

The solution with engagement scoring

With engagement scoring, you can:

Send more to contacts who actually want to hear from you.
Protect your sender reputation by avoiding inactive or high-risk contacts.
Save money by not emailing people who never engage.
Improve open rates, clicks, and conversions.
Run targeted re-engagement campaigns for the right people.
Make data-driven decisions about who to include in each campaign.

Real impact

While results vary by account, customers commonly see:

25–40% higher open rates by targeting engaged contacts.
30–50% better ROI by focusing on interested contacts.
60–80% fewer spam complaints by avoiding inactive contacts.
2–3x longer contact lifetime by preventing list fatigue.

4 Understanding Engagement Levels

Every contact is automatically categorized into one of four Engagement Levels.

🔥 Hot (Score: 70–100)

Who they are: Your superfans. They open most emails, click often, and engage regularly.

What to do:

Send them almost everything.
Launch new products and offers to them first.
Send more frequently—they want to hear from you.
Treat them as your highest-value customers.

Example: Sarah opens 9 of 10 emails, clicks multiple times per week, and has made several purchases this quarter.

☀️ Warm (Score: 40–69)

Who they are: Interested and engaged, but not as intensely as Hot contacts.

What to do:

Include in most campaigns.
Send your best content and regular newsletters.
Use for promotions and educational content.

Example: Mike opens about half of your emails, clicks sometimes, and made a purchase last month.

❄️ Cold (Score: 15–39)

Who they are: Low engagement. They rarely open or click but haven’t fully checked out.

What to do:

Be selective—send only important or high-value campaigns.
Consider targeted re-engagement campaigns.
Watch for signs they are returning (opens, clicks, replies, shares, or forwards).

Example: Jenny opened 2 emails in the last month and hasn’t clicked anything in 45 days.

💤 Inactive (Score: 0–14)

Who they are: Not engaging at all. They haven’t opened or clicked in months.

What to do:

Do not include in regular campaigns.
Consider a final re-engagement campaign.
If no response, remove from active list.

Example: Bob hasn’t opened an email in 4 months and shows no sign of interest.

🆕 NEW Contacts (Special case)

Who they are: Contacts who joined in the last 0–60 days and are still building their engagement history.

What happens:

They receive a grace period and are not marked Cold or Inactive too quickly.
They may have a minimum score in the 30–40 range during onboarding.
They appear as NEW in the lifecycle stage.
They are not treated as Never Engaged during onboarding.

What to do:

Welcome them with your best content.
Send consistently so they know what to expect.
Give them about 60 days to establish engagement patterns.

Example: John joined 2 weeks ago, received 3 emails, and opened 2. The system gives him time to show his true engagement level.

5 Understanding Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages show where contacts are in their marketing journey with you. These are based primarily on time since last positive engagement and your sending frequency.

🆕 NEW (0–60 days): In onboarding. Focus on making a great first impression and sending consistently.
✅ ACTIVE: Engaging recently based on your cadence.
⚠️ AT-RISK (about 30–60 days since last engagement): Starting to lose interest but still saveable. Time for a re-engagement campaign.
💤 DORMANT (about 60–90 days since last engagement): Seriously inactive and may be lost soon. Use "last chance" winback offers.
❌ LOST (90+ days since last engagement): Completely disengaged. Stop regular emails; consider removing them.
🎉 REACTIVATED: Was Dormant or Lost (or Never Engaged) but has come back. Celebrate and keep them engaged.
🙈 NEVER ENGAGED: Past onboarding, has received emails, but still has no positive engagement yet.

Important: Never Engaged is only used after the onboarding period. During the first 60 days, contacts remain in the NEW lifecycle stage even if they have not engaged yet.

Pro tip: Engagement Level shows current interest (Hot/Warm/Cold/Inactive), while Lifecycle Stage shows journey status (New/Active/At-Risk/Dormant/Lost/Reactivated/Never Engaged). A contact can be Warm but At-Risk if they were previously higher and are now slowing down based on your cadence.

6 Using Quick Segments

Quick Segments are pre-built targeting options that automatically find the right contacts for different types of campaigns. They save you from building complex rules by hand.

How to access Quick Segments

When creating a campaign or segment, open the targeting options.
Click the Quick Segments selector.
Choose the segment that matches your goal.
Tarvent automatically applies the correct filters behind the scenes.

Available Quick Segments (examples)

📈 Best Performers: Most engaged contacts. Ideal for product launches, premium offers, and time-sensitive campaigns.
🔥 Hot Prospects: Recently active, high engagement, likely to convert. Great for sales and promotions.
⚠️ At Risk: Previously engaged but now going quiet. Perfect for re-engagement campaigns.
💤 Re-engagement Targets: Dormant contacts still worth a final winback push.
⭐ VIP Contacts: Top fans with the highest engagement—best for exclusives and early access.
🙈 Never Engaged: Past onboarding, received emails, but still no positive engagement.
🚫 Do Not Send: High-risk contacts. Use this as an exclusion segment to protect your sender reputation.

How Quick Segments save time

Before Quick Segments, you might spend several minutes creating rules such as:

Engagement Level greater than Warm.
Send Recommendation above a certain threshold.
Unsubscribe Risk below a certain percentage.

With Quick Segments, you simply:

Click Quick Segments.
Select a segment such as Hot Prospects.
Start building your campaign—filters are already applied.

7 Campaign Type Recommendations

When you choose a campaign type (purpose), Tarvent can recommend the best targeting strategy based on engagement.

📰 Newsletter

Best for: Regular content updates, blog posts, and industry news.
Send to: Warm + Hot contacts (exclude "Do Not Send" and consider excluding Never Engaged).
Frequency: Weekly or bi-weekly.

🚀 Product Launch

Best for: New product announcements and major updates.
Send to: VIPs, Best Performers, and Hot Prospects.
Strategy: Consider sending to VIPs first for early access, then to the wider Hot + Warm group.

💰 Promotion

Best for: Sales, discounts, and limited-time offers.
Send to: Warm + Hot contacts and selected Cold contacts with strong purchase history.
Frequency: Occasional—avoid overdoing it to prevent fatigue.

🎯 Re-engagement

Best for: Winning back inactive contacts.
Send to: At-Risk + high-priority Dormant contacts (and optionally Never Engaged for a confirmation-style email).
Frequency: Roughly every 30–90 days.
Approach: Provide clear value and an easy way to unsubscribe if they’re no longer interested.

8 Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: First product launch

Goal: Maximize impact of a new product line.

Week 1: Send early access offer to VIP Contacts.
Week 2: Send main launch to Best Performers + Hot Prospects.
Week 3: Follow up with remaining Warm contacts.
Skip: Cold, Inactive, and most Never Engaged contacts who are unlikely to respond.

Scenario 2: Inactive list recovery

Goal: Rebuild engagement after not sending for 6+ months.

First, identify the Do Not Send segment and exclude them.
Send a "we’re back" update to At-Risk contacts.
Send a strong winback offer to Re-engagement Targets.
Resume regular newsletters to Active + Warm + Hot contacts only.

Scenario 3: Weekly newsletter routine

Goal: Maintain a healthy, predictable newsletter program.

Target Warm + Hot contacts and exclude high-risk or high-fatigue contacts.
Monitor who moves from Warm to Cold and send re-engagement campaigns to them.
Adjust frequency if fatigue scores start to rise.

Scenario 4: Holiday sale

Goal: Maximize revenue without overwhelming your list.

Start with VIPs and Best Performers for early access.
Expand to Hot Prospects and Warm contacts for the main sale.
Send reminders only to people who showed interest (opened or clicked earlier emails).
Avoid sending to Cold, Inactive, high-risk, or high-fatigue contacts.

Scenario 5: New contact welcome series

Goal: Turn NEW contacts into engaged subscribers.

Send a welcome email immediately after signup.
Follow up with your best content in the first 1–2 weeks.
Watch engagement and adjust. Highly engaged NEW contacts move into your main list; contacts who never engage may move into Never Engaged after onboarding.

9 Best Practices

✅ Do

Send more often to engaged contacts (Hot + Warm).
Use Quick Segments for every major campaign to save time and improve targeting.
Act quickly on At-Risk contacts with personalized re-engagement campaigns.
Monitor your Do Not Send count. If it grows fast, review content, frequency, and list quality.
Celebrate Reactivated contacts and treat them as a second chance to build loyalty.
Give NEW contacts time to engage during their 60-day grace period.
Use Never Engaged as a cleanup signal: confirm interest, reduce frequency, or suppress entirely.

❌ Don’t

Send regular campaigns to Do Not Send contacts.
Ignore lifecycle stages. At-Risk, Dormant, Lost, and Never Engaged contacts need different strategies.
Over-email Cold contacts; send only the most important messages to them.
Ignore declining trends where Hot contacts start cooling down.
Delete Inactive contacts without at least one focused re-engagement attempt.
Treat all Hot contacts the same. Consider whether they are readers, clickers, repliers, or sharers.
Panic about low scores during the grace period for NEW contacts.

10 Frequently Asked Questions

General questions

Q: How often are engagement scores updated?
A: Scores are refreshed on a regular schedule, so you always have up-to-date data when targeting campaigns.

Q: What is a "good" engagement score?
A:

70+ → Excellent (Hot).
40–69 → Good (Warm).
15–39 → Fair (Cold).
0–14 → Poor (Inactive).

Q: Can contacts move between levels?
A: Yes. Engagement is dynamic. A contact can move from Hot to Cold if they stop engaging, or from Cold to Hot if they start engaging again.

Q: Does engagement scoring work for small lists?
A: Yes. Even with fewer than 500 contacts, you will still see meaningful differences in who engages vs. who does not.

NEW contacts

Q: Why does a brand-new contact show a score around 40 when they haven’t opened anything?
A: NEW contacts get a grace period with a minimum score so they are not treated as Cold or Inactive before they’ve had a chance to engage.

Q: Should I include NEW contacts in my campaigns?
A: Yes. The onboarding period is your chance to make a great first impression with your best content.

Q: What happens if a NEW contact never engages?
A: During the first 60 days, they remain in the NEW lifecycle stage (onboarding). After onboarding, if they have received emails but still have no positive engagement (no opens, clicks, replies, shares, or forwards), they can move into the Never Engaged lifecycle stage. At that point, send very selectively (or run a single confirmation-style email), then keep them out of regular sends if there’s no response.

Using Quick Segments

Q: Can I customize Quick Segments?
A: Yes. After selecting a Quick Segment, you can view and modify the underlying filters and add your own rules.

Q: Which Quick Segment should I use for most campaigns?
A: For regular campaigns, start with Best Performers or Hot Prospects. For re-engagement, use At Risk or Re-engagement Targets.

Campaign targeting

Q: Should I ever send to Inactive contacts?
A: Only for a final re-engagement attempt. If they do not respond, remove them from regular sending.

Q: My Do Not Send count is very high. What should I do?
A: Pause broad sends, focus on re-engagement for At-Risk contacts, and review your signup and content strategy. It may be better to focus on a smaller, engaged list.

Results and optimization

Q: I followed the recommendations but my open rate is still low. Why?
A: Engagement scoring helps you choose the right people, but subject lines, send time, content quality, and past sender reputation also play big roles.

Q: How can I move more contacts from Warm to Hot?
A: Send more valuable content, adjust frequency to reduce fatigue, encourage replies and clicks, and segment by interests.

Advanced questions

Q: What is "List Fatigue Score"?
A: A metric indicating whether you are emailing a contact too often. High fatigue means you should slow down for that contact.

Q: What is the difference between Engagement Level and Lifecycle Stage again?
A: Engagement Level is current interest; Lifecycle Stage is journey status. Use both together for the best targeting decisions.

11 Quick Reference

Campaign type → Recommended segment

Campaign type	Use this segment
Newsletter	Best Performers (plus other engaged segments)
Product Launch	VIP Contacts + Hot Prospects
Promotion / Sale	Best Performers
Re-engagement	At Risk + Re-engagement Targets (optionally Never Engaged for confirmation-style)
Exclusive Offer	VIP Contacts
Survey / Feedback	Best Performers
Event Invitation	Hot Prospects

Contact level → Action guide

Level	Who	Action
🔥 Hot	Opens and clicks regularly	Send everything; prioritize for launches and offers
☀️ Warm	Moderate engagement	Include in most campaigns with strong content
❄️ Cold	Low engagement	Be selective; use high-value or re-engagement messages
💤 Inactive	No engagement	Do not send regular campaigns; one final re-engagement only
🆕 NEW	Just joined (0–60 days)	Send best content; use onboarding and welcome flows

Lifecycle stage → Strategy

Stage	What it means	What to do
🆕 NEW	First 0–60 days (onboarding)	Welcome series, expectations, and high-value content
✅ ACTIVE	Engaging recently	Keep consistent cadence and quality
⚠️ AT-RISK	Slowing down	Re-engage quickly with tailored campaigns
💤 DORMANT	Quiet for longer	Run "last chance" winback campaigns
❌ LOST	No engagement for a long time	Stop regular sends; consider removing from list
🎉 REACTIVATED	Came back after being Dormant, Lost, or Never Engaged	Reward with great content and careful pacing
🙈 NEVER ENGAGED	Past onboarding, received emails, but no positive engagement	Do not include in regular sending; consider a limited confirmation or low-frequency test

Remember: the goal is not to email everyone all the time. It’s to email the right people at the right time with the right message. Engagement scoring in Tarvent helps you do exactly that.