You’ve worked hard to build your email list. Now it’s holiday season, and you’ve ramped up your email promotions. And the more you mail… the higher your opt-out rate climbs.
It doesn’t have to be that way, but minimizing your opt-outs takes some strategy on your part.
Here are a few suggestions to help you hold on to more subscribers.
Reduced Frequency. The single biggest reason that most people opt out of email lists is that they’re emailed too frequently. That doesn’t mean you need to decrease your mailing schedule across the board. Simply offer lower-frequency options – such as “once per week” or “once per month” – as an alternative during the opt-out process.
Type of Email. Some subscribers are confirmed bargain-hunters who only want to receive sales and promotional emails. Others only want informational emails that will help them become better gardeners. Offering would-be opt-outs a choice of the type of emails they’d like to receive is another key to reducing your opt-outs.
Subject Matter. Some businesses lend themselves to segmenting their list by subject matter. For instance, greenhouse supply companies may sell to a large percentage of people who don’t own a greenhouse and aren’t interested in receiving information on greenhouse growing. In cases like this, offering to only send subscribers emails related to their interests may be all it takes to keep them on board.
Change of Address. Sometimes people opt out of a list not because they want to, but because they need to change their email address, and that option simply isn’t offered. Always make it easy for subscribers to update their email address.
Don’t Hide Your Opt-Out. Some companies make it deliberately difficult to opt out of their list. They make the opt-out link hard to find or require extra steps and confirmations to complete the opt-out process, hoping to discourage subscribers from following through. That’s a bad approach. Customers know that all they have to do is hit “spam” and the job is done for them. Spam reports don’t sit well with ISPs, so don’t tempt subscribers to take that route by making opt out needlessly difficult.
Part Graciously. Go out of your way to let subscribers know they’ll be missed, and how much you appreciate their business. Tailor the default opt-out message to make sure they’re left with a good feeling about your company. I’ve known a few companies to go so far as to follow up with a note by postal mail, which goes a long ways towards making a subscriber feel wanted!
Email subscribers form an increasingly important component of most companies’ businesses. Don’t take them for granted. Be proactive about offering would-be opt-outs other options, and you’ll retain far more subscribers for a long time to come.
