These days, getting a casual website visitor to subscribe to your email list takes a whole lot of work. In the past you could just invite them to sign up and they’d willing hand you their email address. Now, you’ve got to offer an ‘ethical’ bribe and this includes anything from a free eBook, video course, reports etc.
Worse still, is the fact that you have to constantly work at ensuring you deliver content that is engaging and targeted in order to ensure they don’t end up unsubscribing. Let’s look at how to do just that:
1.) Better segment your list. Email segmentation is important because it allows you to deliver only the most relevant, customized content to your subscribers. The more specific your segments get, the better able you are to deliver content that speaks directly to their interests
2.) Map your content. Organize which content will be sent to which segments of your audience, and at what point. Mapping relevant content to your list segments gives your subscribers the proper email content for their stage in the buying cycle, and ensures everything you send them is as relevant as possible, decreasing your instances of unsubscribes due to irrelevant content.
3.) Offer customized email frequency. Just as you should let your subscribers select the types of emails they receive, you should also let them adjust the frequency with which you can communicate. Let email recipients tell you the right frequency for them — whether it’s multiple times daily or just once a month — so you don’t end up bombarding their inbox or leaving it too scarce for their tastes. This option should be included not only in their editable email preferences at the bottom of every email, but also on the page to which your unsubscribe link navigates as a final effort to save your subscriber.
4.) Perform email frequency testing. Not all of your subscribers will tell you how often they like to be emailed by your company, so be proactive and perform email frequency tests to determine the optimal frequency with which to send email communications.
5.) Have a regular email sending schedule. To manage expectations in the long term, you need to set expectations up front. When your subscribers understand when they will be getting emails from you, there’s less of a chance your email will surprise them when they’re busy, cranky, overwhelmed, or another negative emotion that drives hasty unsubscribes. Set their expectations from the first time they opt in to your emails about when they’ll receive emails from you, and do your best to live up to that promise.
This list is by no means exhaustive. There are literally tons and tons of things you can do in order to minimize the occurrence of unsubscribes. With these 5 however, you are well on your way to building an active and engaged email list.
Let us hear your own tips for reducing email unsubscribes.
