Unsubscribes are the worst possible outcome from an email campaign. Each opt-out dwindles your audience lower and lower, doubling your work on the customer acquisition front—now, not only do you have to keep bringing in new customers, you have to replace the ones you’ve lost as well. Needless to say, keeping unsubscribe numbers at a minimum is imperative.
Unfortunately, you can’t please everyone. It’s important to realize that while unsubscribes are a bad thing, they’re also inevitable. All you can work to do is minimize them. To that end, there are a number of things that can be done to keep them low with each successive email blast you send.
A disclaimer about unsubscribes
People hate change and will resist more often than not. If you’re switching from a newsletter email campaign to a targeted or trigger-based approach, expect to see some unsubscribes. It’s important to remember that while you may lose a few audience members upfront to the change, you’ll gain them back and better retain them over time with a smarter email approach!
Keeping subscribers happy
Let’s take a look at 5 different ways you can set yourself up for a healthier, happier eCommerce email marketing strategy—one that keeps unsubscribes as low as possible:
1. Segment and refine lists:
General emails have a higher unsubscribe rate than targeted ones, simply because more people will feel the information doesn’t apply to them. If your email targets specific content and falls into the inbox of a relevant customer, they’ll have no reason to opt-out because the message will be specifically appealing to them.
2. Offer preference options:
Give people a chance to tell you what kinds of emails they want to see. This is especially important if you’re making a transition in your emailing habits! Sending customers the types of emails they want to see means keeping them happy and engaged.
3. Pay attention to past opt-out and abuse stats:
Take a look at past email campaigns that had high opt-out rates or abuse reports. What went wrong there? Knowing what you did wrong is even more important than knowing what the right answer is and paying attention to past mistakes means avoiding those same mistakes in the future.
4. Personalize emails:
Again, going back to the idea that generalities are bad, take the time to personalize your emails with variable data. Address emails specifically to customers, show them products tailored around their buying habits, recommend relevant products and so on. If customers feel like you’re talking to them, instead of at them, there’s less chance they’ll unsubscribe.
5. Control your email volume:
One of the largest reasons for customer opt-outs can be traced to over-excessive email volumes. If you’re sending an email every single day, there’s a high probability you’re trending towards spam. Send fewer more meaningful emails and time them appropriately for best results. You’ll avoid garnering unsubscribes and will boost opens, clicks and conversions along the way!
Many eCommerce owners are reluctant to make updates or shifts to their eCommerce marketing email strategies because they view subscribers as a fickle bunch, and that change will lead to a falling out. Embrace the idea of smarter emailing tendencies for the long-term and cut your losses upfront—the future and health of your email marketing list could depend on it!
Find out how Remarkety can help lower your email marketing unsubscribe rate, Request your free demo today.
