No email marketer would ever like when a subscriber opt-out from their email recipients community. But no matter if it is about subscribing or unsubscribing, the process should be hassle-free in both cases.
Did you know, Average email unsubscribe rate is 0.25%?
In fact, email marketers should consider the unsubscribing positively, as it reflects the relationship you’ve established with your recipients despite they wanted to leave the group, and further this relation can be used by the brands to repair the damages.
Well, The Radicati Group report says that by the end of 2017, the number of business emails sent and received per day will be above 132 billion!!
So, first of all, if you haven’t started email marketing for your business yet, do it now before your competitors go miles ahead.
In the email marketing, you send emails regarding your product or service promotions only to the recipients of your email list who have given permission, means your subscribers. But, you do not know when they will allow emails from you, as the customer behavior changes with time.
And now it's your turn to provide them with an easy and quick option to remove themselves from your list, the Unsubscribe button.
However, the unsubscribe process is mostly overlooked by the marketers, as they believe that the user is leaving anyway, no matter how good your unsubscribe process will be.
But in my opinion, if you follow the same philosophy you are missing out the huge opportunity here. The Unsubscribe process could actually help in re-winning your subscriber’s mind to not to hit the red button. If not, at least it will leave a positive impression of your brand which is a good sign of trust between you and your customer.
Be smart about your unsubscribe or opt-out process.
"Be the One to Stand Out In the Crowd" - Joel Osteen
Here we come up with 10 Creative Techniques to Improve Your Unsubscribe Process that will make the task effortless for your subscribers.
Let's dive in!
No point in hiding if the user has already made up his/her mind to remove him- or herself from the recipient list. By hiding the unsubscribe option you will only make him/her more annoying.
So, the Unsubscribe button should be clearly visible, or even better if it is on the top of your email.
It is the best practice to stop your recipients from clicking on the spam button and registering a complaint against you.
Here, take the example of Travelocity, they always attach the Unsubscribe link at the top, rather than hiding it in the bottom lines.
As we mentioned earlier, unsubscribe process should be as simple as subscribing, ideally, it has to be the one-step process.
Once the user hits the unsubscribe button, take them directly to the page where they find themselves removed from your recipient list.
It's really annoying when they are asked to re-login or to fill any other details. This could be the situation that tempts the user to mark the email as a spam.
Don’t ask them to type email address manually, instead, go a step further and fill it in advance for their confirmation. This makes unsubscription a hassle free process, especially for the mobile users.
Since the mobile users aggregate emails into a single inbox, they may not know with which specific address they joined your list. So pre-filling the email address will not make them feel annoyed.
Here is an example from PIPERLIME. Once the user clicks on their unsubscribe button, he/she will be redirected to the final page where all the details are pre-filled.
This could be generous to ask for their reason of leaving. Don’t hesitate in taking feedbacks from your recipients who click the unsubscribe button.
Generally, recipients go for unsubscribing when they are no longer interested in your email content or whatever you are trying to convey. Asking for a feedback will not just help you in clarifying a particular recipient's issue but also will let you know what is the most common reason behind the unsubscriptions.
Make a proper feedback form, add several general issues as default and provide a comment section for the other reason behind unsubscribing.
This could be their email address on which they might not want to receive your content, give them an alternative.
Just because they don’t want to receive your emails, doesn’t mean they don’t want to engage with your brand through other ways.
Attach links to your social media properties on the unsubscribe page and you can ask them “Follow us on…”.
PureWow unsubscribe page said “now, how ’bout a second chance. follow us” and places links to their Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter pages.
52.9% Consumers who never ‘opt down’ (change email frequency or type after unsubscribing).
Think more creative and consider creating preference or subscription center beside your easy to see unsubscribe link. It allows your subscribers to change his email frequency or content preference etc.
Mix some humor to make it more appealing and engaging. It's a great way to reduce your unsubscriptions.
See how Bonobos does a great job with their preference center:
If someone has decided to opt-out from your recipients' list and had pressed the unsubscribe button, it clearly indicates that they are no longer interested in receiving emails from you. And you should respect their decision.
Sending emails to the recipients who have unsubscribed your channel, will not just make them annoying but also encourage them to file a complaint against your brand.
I would say, instead of putting a dent on your brand's reputation, losing a recipient is a far more batter. So whenever a user opts for leaving, let him/her leave, take it as a favor.
Now is the time to watch out yourself!
78% of consumers have unsubscribed from emails because a brand was sending too many emails.
Apart from poor email content or user’s interest, this could be the frequency of your emails that tempts your recipients to leave the list. However, the frequency of emails varies from brand to brand, sending too many emails can make the subscriber opt-out from your email programs.
Give a periodic check on the number of emails you send to your recipients and manage the frequency.
Yes, you made a mistake and you are willing to pay for it by losing the recipient. Still, offering a link to re-subscribe is not a bad thing. This makes it easy for your recipients to reconsider their final step.
You can also ask to pause your emails for a particular time period.
Kissmetrics offers a call-to-action for those who want to re-subscribe.
Despite all above techniques, you should frequently conduct an online survey to find out the major concerns behind losing your subscribers. And the feedback form plays an important role in this.
On the basis of feedback, you can work on the key points to enhance your email marketing.
Lands' End asks subscribers to provide feedback in the text box.
Thank You for reading this post!
What else would you include in this list? Or you have any questions.
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