Embrace your Unsubscribers
This post was first published in 2015.
Every campaign that I run involves work, dedication and high expectations. I am sure the same goes for you. When you then see that people unsubscribe, your first thought might be: What the heck?! The images look amazing, the content is sharp, the offer is tempting, the layout is user-friendly so why on earth would anyone want to unsubscribe?
My advice is to relax and look at your campaign from the reader's point of view. It will help you to understand why your subscribers decided to cancel their subscription. By doing so you will start valuing your unsubscribers more and most importantly embrace the information that they provide.
Here are some facts that you need to accept:
Some are just not interested
In this case, readers are not interested in your content any more either because it is of no relevance to them or because they don't like the information received. Try not to worry too much about it because turning those subscribers from leads into customers is almost impossible. By unsubscribing you are basically told that they are no longer keen on becoming your customer.
However, if they used to be regular customers, please do follow up and find out if they also stopped being your paying customer.
It helps you identify weaknesses
If you usually don't have many unsubscribes and all of a sudden one email marketing campaign generates a never seen before amount of cancellation, you will need to take a hard look at your mailer and find out what could have caused this behaviour. Use the information to your advantage and adapt future campaigns accordingly so that your weakness turns into your strength.
It keeps you on your toes
Use your unsubscribe rate as a wake up call as it tells you that your content is losing its appeal. Try not to be too repetitive, change your subject lines with every email marketing campaign as well as the images used and content provided.
The main message here is that unsubscribes are frustrating but try to use the information provided to your advantage. Always look at the why. It will help you to keep the quality of your campaigns up and your unsubscribe rate down.
