We all know that email marketing has been in the game for quite sometime and is not going to be letting go any time soon.
This particular player has been instrumental in the growth of many online businesses, which is why every online marketer focuses on building a large email list. It is quite obvious that bigger the list, the more the people who will get back, unless and until you’re not spamming them.
Here are 5 reasons because of which your subscribers are being shooed away, as compiled by jeffbullas.com.
1. Sending too many emails
It’s tempting to assume that sending more emails will increase the chances of subscribers buying from you but that’s actually not the case. The more, the merrier doesn’t always hold true.
According to a survey by Technology Advice, 43 percent of email subscribers want businesses to email them less frequently.
Source: Chadwick Martin Bailey
But to avoid over-mailing, you shouldn’t sacrifice your conversion rate by under-mailing either. The best way to decide the optimal number of emails your business should send is through A/B tests.
Further, you may find that different segments prefer emails at a different frequency, in that case, you can tailor your send volume for each segment accordingly.
Also, here are some specific questions to ask yourself before sending an email:
Is your email providing any real value to your subscribers?
Is it tailored to your subscriber’s email preferences?
How does the email response rate vary for your previous emails for different lists?
Another best practice to consider before implementing a frequency capping, is giving your subscribers an option to pick how many times they want to hear from you.
Remember, there’s no rule regarding the number you can send. Just be mindful of the customer journey and make sure your emails are enhancing the customer experience rather than hindering it.
2. Using clickbait subject lines
When it comes to email, subject lines play a crucial role in determining your open rates. No matter how good your emails are, if your subject lines are boring, your open rates will suffer. So, it goes without saying that they need to be catchy and creative to capture your recipient’s attention.
Now, don’t be tempted to over sensationalize your subject lines or add keywords that aren’t related to your message to induce more opens.
Why? Because catchy subject lines are good at grabbing your recipient’s attention and increasing your open rates, but they’ll only take the desired action if you offer them what they’ve been promised. Nobody likes to feel deceived.
So avoid using misleading subject lines to retain your subscribers on your list.
Here’s an example of a clickbait subject line:
Losing your subscribers trust to increase your email open rate isn’t worth the risk.
3. Treating every subscriber in the same way
One size never fits all, but when it comes to email marketing, most marketers are still sending the same messages to everyone on their list. Though batch and blast is the quickest and easiest way to earn money from your emails, it can erode your email marketing conversions very quickly, as too many generic emails force subscribers to jump off your ship.
Instead, send personalized emails based on a subscriber’s preferences and behavior on your site. Also, segment your list based on all the data you have about your subscribers.
Most marketers are only doing basic segmentation based on the geography, gender, or the acquisition source. To personalize effectively, you’ve got to segment on deeper levels. So leverage all the data you have about a user to craft hyper-personalized messages.
Given below is a study conducted by us. We sent 1000 plus emails, a non-personalized mailer to one batch and a personalized one to another batch, the personalized version received both better open and response rates.
4. Focusing only on promotion
Marketers consistently ranked email as the single most effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention says a Gigaom Research.
Rather than using email marketing to increase your bottom line, use it as a medium to engage your customers and build customer loyalty. Yes, your ultimate goal is to promote and sell your product, but if you want to get better results from your email-marketing program then take a step back and focus on engaging your customers.
Why it matters?
When you keep your subscribers engaged, they’re much more likely to open each and every email (including promotional ones) they receive from your brand. And once a subscriber starts engaging with your emails they’re more likely to convert through them.
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to engage and ultimately convert prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers. Provided you’re not taking it for granted by simply sending batch and blast emails.
5. Not giving subscribers what they wanted
People will join your list and they will unsubscribe too, some churn is unavoidable. But it’s your duty to ensure that they aren’t leaving because they are merely being treated as an email address.
In order to retain them with your business, you need to send them the right message at the right time and with the right content.
Give people what they’re looking for, or get ignored.
If you have a high unsubscribe rate, find ways to fix it. Here are some of the reasons, which are responsible for driving your subscribers away.
- Unmet expectations
- High email frequency
- Poor email design
- Lack of personalization
- Poor email copy
