I’m no politician. However, if I’m asked how to stop customers unsubscribing from email marketing lists, I will answer a completely different question. It’s the one you really want the answer to.
You can’t stop people unsubscribing. The legislation controlling email marketing is quite explicit on the point and requires us to facilitate those who wish to unsubscribe from our lists. Not only that, if a person does click the unsubscribe ‘button’, we must be prompt in removing them. In many ways this is a bonus as there is nothing more likely to stop people re-engaging with your company, and maybe even subscribing again, than making the route out an obstacle course.
The question you should ask is, ‘What am I doing wrong’. You are the only one who can answer it.
One way of discovering why a person unsubscribes is to ask them their reasons when you send acknowledgement of their unsubscribe. This is within the regs. If they’ve been with you for some years, there might be some loyalty remaining, enough to make them feel they are letting you down. So tell them how unhappy you are to lose them. Tell them that we’ve, remember to use we as often as you can, been together for whatever time and you’d appreciate them letting you know why they decided to abandon your company. Probably best to change the wording there.
Some of the most popular reasons are:
Emails too frequent,
Would prefer a different medium,
Products no longer relevant.
If they are generous enough to give you feedback, the most important thing you can do is to react to it. While their reason might be honest, it might not apply to all the others on your email marketing list. However, if most of those who unsubscribe tick the same frequency box, you’d better believe it. Now is the time to test frequency, maybe even offering subscribers the ability to customise it.
You will always have customers unsubscribing from your email marketing list. There’s bound to be churn. If you think it’s a lot of bother reducing the percentage, consider the cost of obtaining another subscriber.
