The Button of Death—5 Reasons You’re Killing off Your Subscribers & 5 Ways to Avoid That

Email marketing is one of the top marketing trends of 2018, and a high priority for every email marketing expert. They realize that staying on top of the mind of the subscriber is what drives brand exposure. They probably pull email reports and analytics that tell them what their unsubscribe rates are; however, do they tell them why a person has unsubscribed?

Here are 5 reasons why your target audience might be unsubscribing from your emails, as well as ways you can avoid that “click of death”:

1. They might have never realized that they signed up in the first place!

I see this reason being given all too often purely based on poor list-building tactics. Many people think it is fine to simply “buy” lists, but that is equally as annoying as solicitors knocking on your door, selling you something. People hate unsolicited emails. That is probably the fastest way to get people to unsubscribe.

Solution: Be sure to make it clear what they are subscribing for, what content to expect and how often to expect it. Perhaps put their mind at ease by ensuring them that you will not “spam” their inbox and that you will keep content relevant and focused around the main reason they are even interested in subscribing in the first place.

2. You’re emailing them too often.

You are spamming them! Not only is this annoying, but it also causes them to think your company is desperate and “begging” for a sale with such nagging emails. You need to avoid underestimating or overestimating the frequency of which your subscribers want to hear from you.

Solution: If an email is created properly with CLEAR creative content that flows, then one email a month is sufficient enough and will generate twice as many leads versus if you were to shoot out emails once a week (based on a study by Autopilot).

3. Your email is not properly created with flowing, user-friendly or mobile-friendly content.

Based on Lyris, a provider in digital marketing solutions, over 50% of emails are opened on a mobile device. If you created your email template on a desktop but failed to check the mobile version of the template, you might have sent off a non-mobile friendly email that looks jumbled up and unprofessional. Even if they open the email on a desktop, your email’s font size might be too small or an image might be blurry. Maybe you forgot to link text that was meant to be linked, so it takes them nowhere; thus, creating doubt in their minds about your company and the message you are trying to get across. They would not take you seriously if it looks like their child could have created the layout.

Solution: Make sure you are creating your email templates on a platform and/or with the tools available to check and ensure your email will be read properly on any device the customer might be on. First impressions are still important these days! Engage them within the first five seconds of them reading your email by providing them with eye-catching visuals that flow with the content on the topic at hand. Triple check your work with as many eyes on it as possible to ensure every angle is confirmed “user-friendly”.

4. Too wordy.

Get to the point already! Often times people find the emails to be full of fluff instead of straight forward, simple information that tells them exactly what you want to tell them while they take time out of their busy lives to open and begin reading your email. A person’s time is precious, more so now in this fast-paced generation than ever before. Too much fluff is bad.

Solution: Avoid the spammy look first of all. The first thing they will look at is your subject line. If you are declaring false promises or vast amounts of exclamation marks, that will immediately turn them off. Avoid going off topic. Keep to a marketing schedule for the email campaigns to ensure you stay focused. Make sure to create a subject line that will clearly lay out the basic message you are wanting to say in this specific email. Avoid saying too much.

5. The content does not relate to them.

This would often be the case if you purchased a random list without researching and targeting ones that show interest in what you’re trying to engage them with. Having relevant content is vastly important, if not the most important thing to remember in email marketing. If you are not communicating in the way that will keep them reading, then you will lose them.

Solution: Create tailored content based on the demographics, behavior, and engagement of your audience. Create surveys with incentives for your customers to partake in that will help you learn more about them, which in turn will enable you to create content that will be sure to engage them.

FINAL TIP:

Give them an opportunity to tell you WHY they want to opt out if that is the option they seek so that you can then implement those changes for future emails.

If you would rather work with specialists who can create powerful email strategies that can help you stay fresh in your current customers’ minds, whilst also enticing potential customers to work with you or try your products and services, get in touch with us today. Relax and let us worry about the “button of death”. With MS Technologies to help, your email marketing will remain very much alive.