Email marketing is a powerful medium through which a company can engage their customer base, market product or service, and gain brand loyalty. Yet, it’s important to note that not every email you send will appeal to all of your subscribers. Thus, unsubscribes are a predictable and natural feature of any email marketing plan.
Rather than looking at unsubscribes as an egotistical loss, intelligent email marketers understand them as a chance to refine your strategies, your email list and your subscriber experience. If you’re looking to take advantage of this opportunity, consider these 5 unsubscribe best practices for email marketers.
1. Make Unsubscribing Easy
It is all about being easy when it comes to unsubscribing. Your “unsubscribe” button should be prominent in your emails, ideally in the footer. A simple and easy to use unsubscribe function will allow subscribers to easily unsubscribe from your list.
If subscribers cannot find the unsubscribe link underneath multiple pages of links or must follow multiple steps to unsubscribe, it causes annoyance and harms your reputation. Don’t forget, an easy unsubscribe process speaks volumes about how transparent your company is and how sensitive to the consumer’s interests you are. By making unsubscribe easy, you will reduce the number of recipients that consider your emails as spam, further deteriorating your email deliverability and reputation.
2. Choose Choices Over a Convenient Unsubscribe Blanket.
You might want to have a preferences page, but rather than let subscribers opt-out at the extreme level, consider creating a preference page. The page would let you choose your interests, modify your subscription period, or define what type of content you want to receive. This way, you are not only able to retain subscribers, but also keep them interested in the content.
Personalization is key. If you give subscribers control over the email experience, you are drastically reducing the likelihood that they will never return. If someone, for example, finds your daily emails too overwhelming, you can offer them a weekly digest. This simple change will improve click-through rates and content satisfaction, both for your readers and for your email marketing strategy.
3. Implement a Confirmation Page
Once a subscriber clicks on the unsubscribe button, redirect them to a page that confirms their action. This page should have two functions: to confirm unsubscribe and thank them for their subscription. This polite gesture can create an impression and build brand loyalty.
Adding an optional feedback section to the confirmation page is another way to get valuable feedback. By asking users why they’re unsubscribing, you can determine their motivations such as content relevance, frequency, or a shift in interest. This feedback will allow you to tweak your email marketing strategy and fix any issues that come up.
4. Engage with a Survey
When the user unsubscribes, it’s nice to give them a quick, voluntary survey. It can be a useful form of feedback that helps marketers find out why a subscriber chose to unsubscribe. Make the survey as brief as possible and focus on a couple key things, including relevancy, email frequency, and feedback. Remember, the point is to gather data without making users who have just opted out feel incensed. If you’re truly looking for feedback, you can find the things you need to work on in order to improve future emails.
5. Use a Friendly Tone
The voice you use when unsubscribing can have an enormous impact on how the subscriber views your brand. Adopt positive, flattering language to reflect the person’s evolving taste. Even a simple thank-you for spending time and visiting your brand can make a big difference. This not only eases the blow of unsubscribing, but allows room for future reconnections. Keep it positive and you might build a longer-term good relationship with the subscriber even if they’ve chosen to drop off.
6. Keep Data Privacy in Focus
In a time when consumers worry about data privacy more than ever, they are more concerned with the handling of their information. It’s important to make sure that customers can be assured that their data will not be misused once they unsubscribe. By being open with them about the deletion of data, you build trust and demonstrate that you value their privacy. Informing consumers on how their data will be handled not only helps alleviate worry, but also makes your brand a legitimate brand that supports consumer rights and morality.
7. Analyze Unsubscribe Data
Each unsubscription provides an opportunity to collect data that can be used for insights. If you keep track of your unsubscribe rates and the reason behind it, you can see what kinds of patterns or patterns you should focus on. For example, if you’re seeing a large increase in unsubscribes after a few campaigns, it could be a sign that your copy needs to be rewritten or that the number of emails might be sending people nuts. Exploring this data gives you the tools to reevaluate your email strategy overall, including relevancy, frequency and segmentation, which in turn helps you cater to your audience’s needs.
8. Communicate Re-engagement Opportunities
If you find that someone hasn’t opened your emails in a while, consider sending a special re-engagement campaign before they unsubscribe. Perhaps a compelling subject line or offer could help reinvigorate their interest and reassure them that your emails are helpful.
9. Follow-Up After Unsubscribing
Lastly, consider sending a final “thank you” email after a subscriber has unsubscribed. Take this time to thank them for the time they’ve spent with your brand and invite them to connect through other avenues, such as social media. Incentivizing future communication can also re-engage them and show that you still care about their tastes.
Conclusion:
To sum it up, unsubscribes are just an email marketing process. By leveraging these 5 unsubscribe best practices for email marketers, you can turn unsubscribes into a growth, optimization, and better subscriber experience opportunity.
