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Last year, my friends at Atlas Privacy built a mini-tool that lets people check if their data was leaked in a breach.
It went viral and collected over 160,000 email signups.
Then, for 6 months, Atlas didn’t send a single email to these people. Not one. 🤦♂️
By the time they were ready to actually launch their main product, their massive list was ice cold. These leads had completely forgotten they’d ever signed up.
Yet somehow, with just ONE brilliant email, Atlas converted 8-12.5% of these zombie leads into active users.
Here’s exactly how they did it (and how you can steal this playbook).
The #1 mistake killing your leads 💀
Most companies wake up cold leads with this horrible process:
Send a generic “we’ve missed you” email
Ask leads to sign up
Make them create passwords
Force them to verify email
Ask them to log in
Have them set up profiles 💤
Each step loses 20-30% of leads. By the time anyone reaches step 6, you’ve lost nearly everyone.
The brilliant “already logged in” strategy ⚡️
Atlas did something genius:
They pre-created accounts for every single person on their list.
Here’s the exact email they sent to 160k dead leads:
When people clicked “Activate My Account” in the email, they landed directly inside the product - already logged in. No forms. No passwords. No friction.
Boom. 💥 One click from email to active user.
People forget you, but not how you made them feel 🧠
The opening line of their email was brilliantly specific:
“You signed up a few months ago for future updates about the NationalPublicData breach that affected 300M people, on our site npdbreach.com.”
This triggers the much-needed ‘oh yeah I remember that’ response.
When talking with dead leads, you should remind them:
✏️ Where they signed up
✏️ When they signed up
✏️ Why they signed up
The winning subject line 💌
Atlas tested multiple subject lines and found a surprising winner:
✅ Best performer (12.5% conversion): “Your Waitlist Application Was Approved”
❌ Worst performer (6.8% conversion): “Update on your NationalPublicData Breach inquiry”
This reinforces common advice that “you've been approved” subject lines convert well, even for cold leads who might have forgotten about you.
Your dead lead revival playbook 🧟
Want to resurrect your own zombie leads? Here’s the formula:
🔑 Pre-create accounts or skip steps → Remove every possible barrier between email click and active usage. If you can’t pre-create accounts, build a special landing page that eliminates as many steps as possible.
🧩 Be ultra-specific about your past connection → When you send the email, reference exactly where, when, and why they originally signed up. Give precise context that triggers their memory.
🎯 Simple value beats clever marketing → Don’t try to be cute. Just clearly state what benefits they’ll get:
Your access is now ready on [Product], which provides:
- [Clear benefit #1]
- [Clear benefit #2]
- [Clear benefit #3]🚪 Make the exit path obvious → Add “Not interested? Just ignore this email” to reduce unsubscribes. People appreciate an easy way out.
This playbook works for any type of cold list (old newsletter subscribers, abandoned trials, event no-shows, or former customers).
Yes, a zombie email list can build an empire 🏆
The payoff for Atlas went beyond just converting old leads.
Their new databreach.com product now gets 100,000 monthly visits. Law firms even started linking to it:
This boosted their SEO to the point where they now rank #1-#2 for terms like “data breach search”.
Today, databreach.com competes directly with HaveIBeenPwned, one of the most trafficked security sites on the internet. All from a simple mini-tool and a brilliant email list resurrection campaign.
Fun fact: This whole case study started when Zack from Atlas emailed me asking for advice on how to resurrect their cold list. Sometimes the best marketing ideas come from simple questions!
See you next week ✌️
Tom
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