Updated January 13, 2023
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Email marketing, while a staple in most marketers toolkit, has its challenges. According to a recent Mashable Business article, a dismal 91% of email users who have previously subscribed to an email newsletter will later decide that they do not want to continue receiving that newsletter. Although this bleak statistic is certainly disappointing to email marketers, it is essential to adhere to business etiquette and legal requirements during the email unsubscribe process.
Provide Clear Email Unsubscribe Instructions
Provide clear, simple instructions for customers who want to unsubscribe from your email newsletters. Make the email unsubscribe option obvious in all of the emails you send. It’s not just the law – it’s in the best interests of your business. Customers who can’t easily unsubscribe from your newsletter may mark your email as spam. This will impact your future email campaigns and will hinder your ability to connect with customers who are genuinely interested in your newsletter. It is much better to let one dissatisfied customer go easily than to hold on and lose your future audience in the process.
Retain with Alternative Solutions
A customer who unsubscribes from your newsletter doesn’t necessarily leave your business forever. During the unsubscribe process, offer alternative solutions such as a less-frequent newsletter and links to social media pages. This can help you retain contact with these customers, even though they are unsubscribing from their current newsletter subscription.
Learn from Your Mistakes
Use this valuable opportunity to improve your services. A simple check box can be used to determine why your customers are unsubscribing from your newsletter. Allowing the customer to check all that apply can help you determine if their dissatisfaction results from the frequency, content, timing or other aspects of your email marketing campaign. Use this feedback to improve your email marketing campaigns and prevent future opt-outs.
Measure It
Although an email unsubscribe is a disappointing event for any email marketer, it is a frequent occurrence in email marketing campaigns. By measuring subscriptions and their counterpart, it will give you insight as to what’s happening. Does your business have seasonality? What’s your open rate? Or, is purchasing lifecycle short? Digging into the numbers provided by your email platform (like MailChimp or Constant Contact) will help ferret out if it’s a process or content problem.
Make It Pretty
Making the email unsubscribe process a simple, straightforward experience will help customers retain a positive impression of your brand and encourage them to continue doing business with you. Following these best practices for email unsubscribes will help you preserve your professionalism while delivering the very best experience to your customers. Even so, many online marketers forget to make this piece of the process attractive. This is the last thing unsubscribers see before leaving. At the very least, be sure your brand (logo and other distinguishing marks) is present. Take a step back and really look at the screens from a user’s viewpoint. If it’s sterile or ugly, it’s almost like you’re saying “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Remember, an unsubscription could be temporary… or you could even save the relationship by truly showing value. At the very least, leave them with a positive experience. It’s a reflection of your business brand.
What other unsubscribe best practices have you experienced?
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