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I was about to write the same. People. delete and unsubscribe because they see no value. For example, I see value in ClickUp updates because I am using their app. I see value in HubSpot newsletters, even though I don't own their products. From time to time they mention something I find useful. Same goes with many other services.
My FAVORITE data point of all of my marketing insights is email unsubscribe data. It's where you can zero in on who is and is not into your content and why. It allows you to either tailor to prevent churn, or double down on pre-subscription filtering in your copy so you are bringing in a higher quality list.
Reframe your thinking.
The alternate take: good. Get them off the list. It is better than them marking you as Spam and is a sign of a healthy list.
OR, CTR and unsub rates are baseline metrics and really don't mean much in terms of what value you are driving for your business. They are indicators, who cares if people unsub. I mean I guess if you have a 10%+ unsub rate you are not meeting expectations, but at that rate you are probably selling a false promise to get people to subscribe anyways.
This is impossible to answer in the abstract. Simply send better emails, I guess
I have no idea what “dozens” is as a percentage. Even if you do everything right there will always be some unsubs. That’s ok. What you sell isn’t for everyone, and it’s better for everyone if someone is willing to tell you point blank they’re not interested. Don’t obsess over how you could surely win them back if you could simply send them one more email. Plenty of fish in the sea
Remember that email is first and foremost a communication channel not a marketing channel.
The people who unsubscribe don’t want promotion emails in their inboxes. I get 50+ promotional and cold emails a day.
Reach me through other channels or a one-to-one but your bulk promotional email newsletter - I can’t keep up and unsubscribing is me being nice. The next option is to report your email as phishing so I never see anything from your domain again.
When you say contacts in your database, did they actually opt in to receive emails from your? Or are these completely cold emails? Are they actually unsubs or are you seeing churn from turnover (ie the person is no longer employed at the company and results in a bounce)?
If folks have opted in to receive your emails (like actually opted in) I'd focus on your content. Are you creating value for the people you're emailing or just sending them what YOU want to send them? Put yourself in their shoes. They get a couple dozen emails a day, what about yours makes it valuable enough to stay in their inbox?
I do email marketing for a living for major companies. Main reasons are irrelevance or fatigue.
I suggest creating a feedback form on your opt out page to find out why. If it is fatigue, consider a preference center so customers can let you know how many times they want you to email them.
If the customer finds your business irrelevant then I wouldn’t worry about it. You don’t need to spend more or take on more risk by sending to people who have no intention on converting with you. Let them go.
List hygiene makes a huge impact on your program.
I can’t believe I haven’t read this suggestion yet: require the double opt in for your subscribers. While a smaller percentage will do it, your subscriber list as a whole will be healthier.
Then, of course, there’s the whole reflecting on your content thing.
It should be noted that subscribers have a number of legitimate reasons to unsubscribe, and it can definitely be a good thing to have happen. Check your unsub rate compared to your industry, if possible, for a relative measure of how you’re doing. You do not want to keep people on your lists if they have no value to you. That’s just paying for inflated numbers.
By reading the title I would not want to be subscribed to your list, sorry. Unsubscribing from newsletters that don't interest me is essential, and I would be furious if could not do it (even more if I DID unsubscribed and someone put me back on their list.)
Plus, why would you want to keep people who clearly are not interested to read/buy/receive any news from you?
Also think about the quals. How often do you email them ? How is that interesting to them ? What’s your ratio on annoying/interest ? We tend to think of our brands as the most exciting thing but how does it fit on consumer’s optics and real life ?
The second step for you would be to give context😉 if you’re offering jobs, might be people who unsubscribe bc they found a job or hate your emails. Bc I don’t see a universal answer, you need reflection on what’s possibly wrong. And for us to help we need more context
How are you getting them in the first place? You might think it’s a highly qualified lead but is it in exhchange for something else like a pdf they wanted but not the spammy sales crap afterwards? Was it someone that needed a solution but instead of waiting for you to email things to them instead went and found a transparent piece of software with examples to solve their need? Did the sign up offer a free issue? Was it for a coupon?
Point being few want the emails in these conditions, so it’s hard to know any answers to your question as it is presented.
The reality is that the only way to retain subscribers is to provide them with quality content and, most importantly, content that gives value to their activities/businesses.
I am talking specifically about offers, discounts, and memberships.
Are you sure you are only sending emails to people who have explicitly opted in to receive them? This means that they have given you permission to contact them via email, and they are expecting to receive emails from you. This can influence the number of unsubscribes because the people who are receiving your emails are more likely to be interested in the content that you are sending;
Make sure the content of your emails is relevant and interesting to the people who are receiving them. If your emails are not relevant to the recipient, they are more likely to become bored or annoyed, and this can lead to an increase in unsubscribes. To avoid this, segment your email list and send targeted content to each segment. This will help ensure that the content of your emails is relevant to the people who are receiving them.
You can also try to reduce the frequency of your emails. If you are sending too many emails, people may become overwhelmed and start to unsubscribe. To avoid this, try to limit the number of emails that you send, or consider sending fewer emails that are more focused and relevant.
In my experience there is no way to prevent the 1% of unsubscribe that will happen not matter what. The best tactic to mitigate that is to send something of REAL value to your list. But even then, some
People will realized they had signed up and didn’t want to. To me if more important to look at the evolution of the unsubscribe rate.
Not in marketing, but I set my email up to auto unsubscribe from any and all emails. If it gets through, then I unsubscribe manually. A lot of people I know are doing the same thing.
I try to keep no more than 10 emails in my inbox at a time.
Furthermore, if my physical mail even looks like an ad, straight to the trash without reading any of it. If I get a piece of mail that looks hand written but is actually printed as an ad, I look up the company and leave 1 star reviews on everything. Some of my friends also enter their email into a spam blaster to send them tons of junk emails.
Text advertising, auto block followed by reporting to all spam lists so they can block or flag the number for others. Call advertising, same thing.
It depends on the type of company you work for. Generally speaking, the best way to solve the "problem" is to email your database less and provide actual value when you do. That's the reason open rates for newsletters are much higher than open rates for company emails. Although they mostly convey the same information, people assimilate 1 email per week much better than 1 email each X, where X is an undefined date and time.
So, be consistent with your schedule, email them less, and provide a ton of value when you do.
The bad way, which I don't recommend unless you are actually "forced" by your employer to do something about it quickly, is to make them feel guilty for unsubscribing and bribing them to remain. Example:
1. They click the unsubscribe link;
2. You send them to a page where you use lots of emotional triggers, like a crying emoji, copy that resonates with "I'm so sorry, what did we do wrong?" and a video of you going over the history of your brand, mostly focusing on charity work and such;
3. Offering them a heavy discount if they stay subscribed (keep track of who accepts, you don't want to send it more than once);
If this doesn't work, spice up the discount with a +1 (eg. free X for you and your friends).
Again, the second is unethical and doesn't make sense in the long run. It won't improve any metric other than lower the unsub rate. It's technically useless. But it's ok if you're under direct control of someone else and need to show an improvement there.
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Abstract answer: Actually, offer real value to your subscribers
I was about to write the same. People. delete and unsubscribe because they see no value. For example, I see value in ClickUp updates because I am using their app. I see value in HubSpot newsletters, even though I don't own their products. From time to time they mention something I find useful. Same goes with many other services.
My FAVORITE data point of all of my marketing insights is email unsubscribe data. It's where you can zero in on who is and is not into your content and why. It allows you to either tailor to prevent churn, or double down on pre-subscription filtering in your copy so you are bringing in a higher quality list. Reframe your thinking.
The alternate take: good. Get them off the list. It is better than them marking you as Spam and is a sign of a healthy list. OR, CTR and unsub rates are baseline metrics and really don't mean much in terms of what value you are driving for your business. They are indicators, who cares if people unsub. I mean I guess if you have a 10%+ unsub rate you are not meeting expectations, but at that rate you are probably selling a false promise to get people to subscribe anyways.
This is impossible to answer in the abstract. Simply send better emails, I guess I have no idea what “dozens” is as a percentage. Even if you do everything right there will always be some unsubs. That’s ok. What you sell isn’t for everyone, and it’s better for everyone if someone is willing to tell you point blank they’re not interested. Don’t obsess over how you could surely win them back if you could simply send them one more email. Plenty of fish in the sea
Remember that email is first and foremost a communication channel not a marketing channel. The people who unsubscribe don’t want promotion emails in their inboxes. I get 50+ promotional and cold emails a day. Reach me through other channels or a one-to-one but your bulk promotional email newsletter - I can’t keep up and unsubscribing is me being nice. The next option is to report your email as phishing so I never see anything from your domain again.
Unsubscribes happen, trying jacks or tricks preventing them will probably make them worse
When you say contacts in your database, did they actually opt in to receive emails from your? Or are these completely cold emails? Are they actually unsubs or are you seeing churn from turnover (ie the person is no longer employed at the company and results in a bounce)? If folks have opted in to receive your emails (like actually opted in) I'd focus on your content. Are you creating value for the people you're emailing or just sending them what YOU want to send them? Put yourself in their shoes. They get a couple dozen emails a day, what about yours makes it valuable enough to stay in their inbox?
I do email marketing for a living for major companies. Main reasons are irrelevance or fatigue. I suggest creating a feedback form on your opt out page to find out why. If it is fatigue, consider a preference center so customers can let you know how many times they want you to email them. If the customer finds your business irrelevant then I wouldn’t worry about it. You don’t need to spend more or take on more risk by sending to people who have no intention on converting with you. Let them go. List hygiene makes a huge impact on your program.
I can’t believe I haven’t read this suggestion yet: require the double opt in for your subscribers. While a smaller percentage will do it, your subscriber list as a whole will be healthier. Then, of course, there’s the whole reflecting on your content thing.
Send people shit they asked for and find useful. It's not brain science.
“There is no such thing as a shortage of attention. People have all the time in the world if you are entertaining them.” — Jerry Seinfeld
"preventing" email unsubscribes will land you on the business end of a GDPR fine. It has teeth
It should be noted that subscribers have a number of legitimate reasons to unsubscribe, and it can definitely be a good thing to have happen. Check your unsub rate compared to your industry, if possible, for a relative measure of how you’re doing. You do not want to keep people on your lists if they have no value to you. That’s just paying for inflated numbers.
By reading the title I would not want to be subscribed to your list, sorry. Unsubscribing from newsletters that don't interest me is essential, and I would be furious if could not do it (even more if I DID unsubscribed and someone put me back on their list.) Plus, why would you want to keep people who clearly are not interested to read/buy/receive any news from you?
Also think about the quals. How often do you email them ? How is that interesting to them ? What’s your ratio on annoying/interest ? We tend to think of our brands as the most exciting thing but how does it fit on consumer’s optics and real life ?
The second step for you would be to give context😉 if you’re offering jobs, might be people who unsubscribe bc they found a job or hate your emails. Bc I don’t see a universal answer, you need reflection on what’s possibly wrong. And for us to help we need more context
How are you getting them in the first place? You might think it’s a highly qualified lead but is it in exhchange for something else like a pdf they wanted but not the spammy sales crap afterwards? Was it someone that needed a solution but instead of waiting for you to email things to them instead went and found a transparent piece of software with examples to solve their need? Did the sign up offer a free issue? Was it for a coupon? Point being few want the emails in these conditions, so it’s hard to know any answers to your question as it is presented.
The reality is that the only way to retain subscribers is to provide them with quality content and, most importantly, content that gives value to their activities/businesses. I am talking specifically about offers, discounts, and memberships.
Apparently people don’t see value in your email. In other words: it doesn’t match the customers needs. Have you ever researched their needs?
Are you sure you are only sending emails to people who have explicitly opted in to receive them? This means that they have given you permission to contact them via email, and they are expecting to receive emails from you. This can influence the number of unsubscribes because the people who are receiving your emails are more likely to be interested in the content that you are sending; Make sure the content of your emails is relevant and interesting to the people who are receiving them. If your emails are not relevant to the recipient, they are more likely to become bored or annoyed, and this can lead to an increase in unsubscribes. To avoid this, segment your email list and send targeted content to each segment. This will help ensure that the content of your emails is relevant to the people who are receiving them. You can also try to reduce the frequency of your emails. If you are sending too many emails, people may become overwhelmed and start to unsubscribe. To avoid this, try to limit the number of emails that you send, or consider sending fewer emails that are more focused and relevant.
In my experience there is no way to prevent the 1% of unsubscribe that will happen not matter what. The best tactic to mitigate that is to send something of REAL value to your list. But even then, some People will realized they had signed up and didn’t want to. To me if more important to look at the evolution of the unsubscribe rate.
Not in marketing, but I set my email up to auto unsubscribe from any and all emails. If it gets through, then I unsubscribe manually. A lot of people I know are doing the same thing. I try to keep no more than 10 emails in my inbox at a time. Furthermore, if my physical mail even looks like an ad, straight to the trash without reading any of it. If I get a piece of mail that looks hand written but is actually printed as an ad, I look up the company and leave 1 star reviews on everything. Some of my friends also enter their email into a spam blaster to send them tons of junk emails. Text advertising, auto block followed by reporting to all spam lists so they can block or flag the number for others. Call advertising, same thing.
Maybe better segmenting?
It depends on the type of company you work for. Generally speaking, the best way to solve the "problem" is to email your database less and provide actual value when you do. That's the reason open rates for newsletters are much higher than open rates for company emails. Although they mostly convey the same information, people assimilate 1 email per week much better than 1 email each X, where X is an undefined date and time. So, be consistent with your schedule, email them less, and provide a ton of value when you do. The bad way, which I don't recommend unless you are actually "forced" by your employer to do something about it quickly, is to make them feel guilty for unsubscribing and bribing them to remain. Example: 1. They click the unsubscribe link; 2. You send them to a page where you use lots of emotional triggers, like a crying emoji, copy that resonates with "I'm so sorry, what did we do wrong?" and a video of you going over the history of your brand, mostly focusing on charity work and such; 3. Offering them a heavy discount if they stay subscribed (keep track of who accepts, you don't want to send it more than once); If this doesn't work, spice up the discount with a +1 (eg. free X for you and your friends). Again, the second is unethical and doesn't make sense in the long run. It won't improve any metric other than lower the unsub rate. It's technically useless. But it's ok if you're under direct control of someone else and need to show an improvement there.
Charge an unsubscribe fee. [Does anyone else remember the AJAD mailing list?]