Know-How Exchange : Strategy

If they've "opted out of all communications", sorry you can't email them.
You can, however, set up some sort of advertising campaign where those 300k people would see it, making it desirable to opt in (most won't remember opting out). Offer a prize drawing for new subscribers for the week; etc.
One tip: most email management programs don't have an opt-in overwriting an opt-out; opt-outs trump everything. Make sure yours will allow for that, or their opting in won't do you a bit of good!

sfowler is correct.

But 300k is a lot of opt-outs. It raises the question of what you are doing to keep them engaged so they won't opt out. An effective no-action triggered re-engagement (or sometimes called re-activation)series can salvage from 10% to 30% of them.

But even as you may (should) implement a series, also what are you NOT doing to keep them engaged? I mean, are your communications relevant, compelling, offering value, etc? As has said a million times before, the reader wants to know WIFM--What's in it for me? If of course the answer to that is nothing, that opt out rate may obtain even with a re-engagement series.

what is you rproduct or service? why did they opt-in in the first place? what information were you giving them? why do you think they opted out?

if you're going to contact them we need to know as much infomation as possible to give them the irresistable offer and change what you were doing before.
Ron Romano
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Your legal team I suppose is right, ba, but I would be extremely careful. These people have told you they don't want any more emails from you. You risk a lot of spam reports, which could cause you ginormous reputation problems.

Further on my last post, are these people worth the risk? You say they are customers, so you will have records of recency of activity or purchase. You might consider just one last communication to those no more than 3 months w/o activity, for instance. See how that goes. Or to the highest value customers among a certain age group.

And if you do that, test a few different approaches, and then consider using the winner (with further test panels that indicate the age of non-activity) for the 3-6 month group, with appropriate customization for that group.

Anything older than that will yield far lower results, and that group is more likely to report spam. But you may still be able to recapture them, after evaluating the results of the posts to the more recent groups.

So bottom line I'm suggesting a well thought out tiered effort, with customized messages based on age, value, andor other data you have captured, e.g., web analytics, conversion path, etc.

Have you sent a confirmation about them opting out? That would be the ideal time, since you're supposed to let them know.

A simple " we are honoring your wishes but would welcome you OR YOUR FRIENDS back at anytime" with a coupon link works well.

Michael

Don't attempt to contact all of them at once. Ideally, segment your opted out people, and connect with them based on your benefit to help their specific problem. If you don't know who they are or what you need, you have little chance of getting them to re-opt-in.

If these opt-outs are customers, then you want to make the extra effort to uncover the pattern. If these are opt-outs from unsolicited emails, then realize that these people are telling you they're not your prospects. Spend your time on attracting people who want what you're offering.

Many people opt out because they are busy and you are touching them at the wrong time or too often.

I suggest something that offers a once per month, once per quarter or on demand version. But, I would also say the contact needs to be made in some format other than email.