Why Are People Unsubscribing From You?

Marketers usually jump to the assumption that when people attempt to unsubscribe, they are breaking up from your brand. That isn't always the case, remember knowledge is power, so use this to your advantage, and see why they are unsubscribing.

Relevance + Frequency 

No-one likes too many emails, just like no-one likes to be talked at too much. It's the number 1 root cause of unsubscribe, so automate your responses/ campaigns to co-inside with others, you could save money on not wasting emails also.

Number 2 cause of unsubscribe, of course, is the lack of relevance. It is important to consider that relevance and frequency are interconnected, in that if emails are deemed very relevant then subscribers will accept a higher frequency of mailings. So frequency itself is not the only concept of it being the problem.

A famous saying, is in order to catch a criminal, one must think like one. Even though we are not catching criminals, we are trying to catch the crime committed, before they hit the unsubscribe button.

"I like my emails, but it is blocking up my inbox".
"I like the company/brand, but can't stand the topics".
"I don't check my emails enough for it to be of any use to me."
"I've changed my buying behavior, and you no longer fit to my needs".

There can be a next step put in place with certain email vendors, that can provide your subscriber with an incentive/survey or option to ensure something is either learnt/gained before they leave.

Know your loses

It doesn't matter if you are getting more subscribers than unsubscribes, to get a handle on what unsubscribing is costing your email program, you need to understand two key things: your unsubscribe rate, and number of new subscribers.

it can be hard to estimate how many new people you need to sign up, in order to grow your list, but lets work it out like this, and if you need any help, drop me an email.  Lets say you've been given a mandate to grow your database to a whopping 1 Million. that means you will have to add 200,000 new people, plus the 260,000 you are currently loosing each year. Growth isn't impossible, but brushing the problems under the carpet will prove unnecessarily hard for your business.

If you would like to follow me on Twitter @SarahLouiseTalb I regularly post new articles.