Reduce Unsubscribers Before It’s Too Late!
In general, if more than 0.8% of your subscribers opt-out of your mailing list, you need to ask yourself why and make some effort to correct the problem.
Why Do People Unsubscribe?
One of the most common reasons people unsubscribe from a mailing list is because they’re overwhelmed by the amount of mail that’s landing in their email box. If you’re sending them an email every day, especially if you’re including a sales pitch, they may be intimidated by the sheer volume of what you’re sending. If you’re using your emails mostly for selling, they may also be dissatisfied with the content.
When people sign up to be on an email list, they hope to receive useful information that will make their life easier. If your correspondence is a thinly veiled sales pitch, you’ll probably get more than a few unsubscribes.
Keep your emails to a maximum of 2 to 3 times per week, and give your customer useful information each and every time.
By doing this, they’ll look forward to your emails rather than lumping you in with the other spammers that clutter their mailbox with junk.
At the other extreme, you may be contacting your customers so infrequently that they’ve forgotten about you.
Ideally, you should email customers no less than once a week, but certainly no less than monthly.
If you wait too long between mailings, your customers may not remember who you are, and you’ll run the risk of being labeled a spammer. If you’re limited on time, send a brief, informational email with a link to your website once every two weeks to keep your name in your customers’ minds.
Here are some practical tips to reduce unsubscribes:
- Email your customers at least every fourteen days but no more than three times a week.
- Make sure each email contains valuable information your customer can use.
- Instead of using email to do a “hard sell,” refer readers to your website, and let your website sell your products.
- Personalize emails by setting up your autoresponder to include their first name in the greeting and several times throughout the email. Customers like to feel like an email is addressed only to them.
- Give your customers the option to change the frequency with which they receive your emails. This may keep some subscribers who feel overwhelmed by too much mail from unsubscribing completely.
- Be sure your emails are on-topic. If they signed up to receive tips on organizing their home, don’t send them health or beauty tips. Target your information so your customers know what to expect.
Image credits: Incurable_hippie
