Unsubscribes: Why You Want Them in Email Marketing
People often come to us upset and hurt over the percentage of unsubscribes they get. While unsubscribes may be alarming if it’s due to spam, they are actually a great thing in moderation. Hear us out..
You want people on your email list who actually want to be there
Think about it, what good is that person doing on your email list if there is no chance of them ever purchasing from you? In fact, if they unsubscribe it either means that they felt they were being spammed, they forgot why they signed up, or they just aren’t interested. We are going to assume you aren’t spamming people so if it is the case where they are just not interested, great! You now have a more defined, interested audience, that is waiting to hear from you.
It’s cheaper for you
Depending on which email service provider you are using, you may be paying per contact. You definitely don’t want to pay for contacts to be on your email list if they aren’t even engaging with your emails!
Self-Cleaning
If you’re not cleaning your list, you definitely should be. We recommend cleaning at least every 6 months. However, when people unsubscribe, it’s essentially proactively doing part of that for you!
You’d rather them unsubscribe than report to spam.
Unsubscribing is the first step people usually take before reporting you to spam. Unsubscribes at a healthy rate are good. Spam reports, on the other hand, can be a bit more “costly” to your reputation. Again, if they don’t want to be there, let them go!
Hotter Leads
I’m sure we can all agree that the people who remain on your list are the hottest leads. However, don’t forget that allowing people to unsubscribe and cleaning your lists means that you have more accurate metrics. You will better be able to create an effective lead nurturing campaign by seeing what is working, what’s not, and how to resonate with your audience.
Ok so you’re probably thinking at this point, I should encourage unsubscribes! Not exactly.
You definitely need to give your contact the option to unsubscribe but, you should always aim to attain quality leads and keep them through quality content. We have included some of CAN-SPAM’s guidelines around the proper opt-out protocol:
Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand.
Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request.
Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
Moral of the story is: comply, and embrace unsubscribes. Watch this free, 15 minute webinar on how we were able to 6x our client’s email marketing revenue in just ONE month.
