It’s safe to say that the unsubscribe rate is the bane of email marketers across the world.
Do you too anxiously and constantly check on your email platform for this number after each campaign? If you said yes to this question, you need to know there’s no need to worry about the unsubscribe rate anymore. That it’s actually a good thing, and let me explain to you why. The whole point of email marketing is to generate and nurture leads that convert, not to collect all of the subscribers. The process of building an email list is not about raking up the biggest one, but it’s about curating a list of people who are actually interested in your product and want to buy from you.
In this post, we’ll tell you how to build a strong email list with leads that convert and overcome the negativity of a high unsubscribe rate with a higher rate of ROI. It starts with the acknowledgment of how a lead becomes part of your list. For this article, we will determine the start of it when they accept your invitation to be part of your email list through a sign-up form, a pop-up, or at checkout when placing an order. When people first sign up for your email list for no other reason than just an incentive like an offer, a freebie, or a discount – which is the main reason why most people sign up for email lists. So, not all of your subscribers will be profitable and these are the reasons why: They opted in for the initial benefit and they just wanted that free, shiny, new thing. After they receive it they’ll lose interest until they receive a better offer.
Don’t worry, only the true subscribers and the ones interested in your content will stay back and engage with what you have to offer without a freebie. However it’s when you have subscribers like these when you have to build a strategy on how to do non-promotional content and sell without discounts. You have to now keep this interest alive in the upcoming campaigns and not get the audience used to only receiving discounts or promotional emails, as this practice will only work for a short period of time and won’t be stable in the long term for your brand. Engaging with them through the content of your emails, by offering them value, education and truly making the customer the priority is the crux of a good email marketing strategy and one that thinks above the unsubscribe rate.
Understanding your list of subscribers will support a soft cleaning of it as the non-interested ones will remove themselves and spare you the mistake of sending them more unwelcome emails that might transform into spamming, and this will be something to worry about, but as they are unsubscribing this is not a problem. However, as we are prioritizing quality over quantity, a much-needed practice to execute is the list cleaning. (Read more as we explain how to do it and show you why the deliverability metric is even more important than the unsubscribe rate to keep the deliverability of the account in good standing.)
Your email marketing strategy should be in your hands, so create emails you like and would want to receive in your own inbox in order to build an audience strong enough to decide to receive your emails. And if they’re not buying or having the minimum interest, they might as well not be on your list. At the end of the day, your goal is to drive the most conversions, not to have the most email subscribers and the reason you have an unsubscribe link in each email is to be used right? This is your list telling you how your business is just not for them, listen and if they go let them, it’s a good thing!
