Why UnSubscribes from Your Business Marketing List Can be a Good ThingMar42019
Does it bother you when people UnSubscribe from your list?
(you’re not alone)
Do you take UnSubscribes personally?
(you shouldn’t)
Can you learn anything from your list UnSubscribe rates?
(yes, you absolutely can)
Historically, the Main Reasons People UnSubscribe from a List Are:
Emails received too frequently:
Successful communications are those adequately spaced so your audience is given time to process the information you’ve sent them. If you’re publishing daily or bi-weekly – this may me more than subscribers want to receive.
Email content isn’t personalized and is too generic:
Collecting information at the time of signup about the subscriber allows you to segment groups to receive communications relevant to them. Ask for age, gender, geographic location, birthdate (month and day), interests, hobbies, and profession, etc. Configure the subscriber Preference Center in your Email provider, so your subscribers are able to self-manage their preferences.
Email content is not relevant or interesting to the recipient:
People may receive hundreds of emails a day to their inbox … most probably only read a handful, and delete the rest. Make your content useful, fresh and engaging for those subscribers you’re not able to segment into a specific group.
People UnSubscribe From Lists Every Day
Turn those who UnSubscribe from your list into a learning experience, rather than taking it as a personal attack on your Brand.
The UpSide of UnSubscribers:
UnSubscribers Keep Your Costs Down
Most automated Email marketing providers charge a fee based on the total count of subscribers. You don’t benefit from stagnant, non-engaging subscribers your list.
UnSubscribers Improve Your List Statistics
Non-responsive subscribers bring down your list Email Open and Click rates – both of which are common measures used to determine how effective your communications are. You’d rather have a list of 1200 with an engagement rate of 85%, then a list of 8000 with an engagement rate of 30%.
UnSubscribers Aren’t a Good Fit for Your List
Your Email list goal is to communicate with those who genuinely want to hear from you and your Brand. Those who UnSubscribe are usually not a long-term good fit for what your business offers.
UnSubscribers Help You Learn
Include in your landing page of your UnSubscribe link:
Provide the opportunity for people to “Opt Out” with a second choice to “Receive Fewer Emails”. Maybe they feel they’re getting too many Emails too frequently.
Ask for feedback from UnSubscribers. Not everyone will take the time to offer up feedback, but those that do can provide useful insights. If the same feedback echos with a number of UnSubscribers, you may need to tweak something.
Include a short survey to learn specifically why people are UnSubscribing. Survey choices might include:
Include a comment box so those unsubscribing can give you specific detail about why they're unsubscribing.
On your final UnSubscribe page, include options to follow you on Social Media. Many people UnSubscribe because they feel overwhelmed by their inbox – not because they have anything against you or your business. Providing a quick method for them to stay in touch with your Brand is usually a preference they’ll choose.
More to Explore . . .
Do You Have Wildly Successful Competitors?
Subscribe to their lists and evaluate their style, content and delivery intervals. Analyzing your competitor, is there anything you can do differently to your improve list effectiveness?
How to Tidy Up Your List in Constant Contact:
https://blogs.constantcontact.com/how-to-clean-a-messy-contact-list-in-5-easy-steps/
Subscriber Preference Center “Update Profile” Form Example:
https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/5778-update-profile-form?ic=comm_reply&lang=en_US
Dynamic Content Configuration:
Your automated Email provider should offer the ability to configure dynamic content to serve up different content to different segments of your list. You have the opportunity to create several versions of the same Email communication that’s personalized for subscribers based on how they’re segmented (age, location, interests, etc)
Here’s a tutorial of how to set up Dynamic Content in Constant Contact
https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/28143-Customize-What-Each-Contact-Sees-With-Dynamic-Content-Blocks-in-the-Third-Generation-Editor?lang=en_US
If your automated Email provider doesn’t provide the tools you need to manage and grow your list, consider taking advantage of the free trial offered by Constant Contact:
https://hostingct.com/marketing/types/list/emailmarketing/learnmore/
You may want to take advantage of the Constant Contact free trial (no credit card required):
http://www.constantcontact.com/signup.jsp
Top 10 Features of Constant Contact:
https://community.constantcontact.com/t5/Conversations/The-Top-10-Features-of-Constant-Contact/td-p/227348