The Upside of Unsubscribes

An unavoidable downside of email marketing is the “unsubscribe” click. Despite a marketer’s best efforts to attract and retain a loyal (and hopefully profitable) audience, a certain percentage choose to exit the subscription list.

Marketers sometimes dread these disengaged people so thoroughly that they water down potentially successful campaigns to minimize the number of “unsubscribe” clicks.

Aversion to unsubscribers is unnecessary. In fact, they can be valuable to email marketers.

Embracing Unsubscribers

Marketer anxiety about unsubscribers is misplaced in terms of sheer numbers. According to MailChimp, the high rate is only 2%. Even so, those designing and executing email marketing campaigns naturally want to minimize unsubscribers. However, going to extremes is unnecessary because an “unsubscribe” click can be beneficial. Here are a few examples:

• Improved List Quality – You can’t please everybody; some level of unsubscribes is a fact of life. On the plus side, however, the remaining email list contains the engaged people you really care about.
• Reduced Costs—Sending an email to an uninterested target wastes resources. A focused list represents an audience more likely to embrace your message, thereby optimizing the marketing spend.
• Better Engagement Metrics – The absence of unsubscribers leads to higher open and click-through rates from interested targets.
• Rich Feedback - Feedback from unsubscribers can improve marketing strategy, execution and content.
• Natural List Evolution - Subscribers' interests and needs evolve, so unsubscribing should be considered a natural part of the customer lifecycle. In the long run, the email list will be continually refined, reflecting a core audience closely aligned with your offerings and more likely to generate higher conversion rates.
• Better Deliverability—Internet Service Providers (ISPs) track how recipients interact with your emails. They favor lists with high engagement rates and low spam reports, metrics that naturally improve as unsubscribers leave.  The beneficial result is that your emails reach the inboxes of engaged subscribers more consistently.

Handling Unsubscribers

Email marketers can employ these best practices to manage unsubscribers:

• Make the Unsubscribe Process Easy—When a recipient wants to unsubscribe, make it simple. Typically, the unsubscribe link can be found at the bottom of the web page. Make it obvious so the user can find it quickly. Also, minimize the number of clicks required to complete the process. More than two clicks is too many.
  
  The downside of a poorly designed (or worse, non-existent) unsubscribe process is an annoyed former subscriber. With an easy and positive procedure (“Sorry to see you go!”), today’s unsubscriber may feel open to returning in the future. An annoyed ex-subscriber may never return and even make negative social media comments about their bad experience.
• Ask for and Analyze Unsubscribe Reasons—Ask for optional feedback about why the recipient is unsubscribing. This often includes a multiple-choice list of common reasons. A freeform text box should also be included for those who want to provide different or more involved feedback. Review the captured data to support program changes.
• Improve Targeting—Gather all available information about unsubscribers to detect any commonalities or trends. Such an analysis might provide the basis for refining the target market so that future promotional efforts aim more precisely at high-potential audiences.
• Focus on Quality Over Quantity—Advocate for prioritizing genuinely interested subscribers. Many organizations are beguiled by the notion that the more emails sent, the better. Deploying a sound and pragmatic unsubscribe policy will help trim the email list to include more high-potential purchasers of your product or service.

An Example: Analyzing the Data

To show an example of how to analyze unsubscriber data, consider the results of a 2021 HubSpot poll, in which the reasons given for unsubscribing were:

Some conclusions that might be drawn from this data are:

• About half (51%) of unsubscribers left because the content was delivered too frequently. This suggests they were not disinterested in the content but could not keep up with the volume of content in a given period. A possible response to this would be to allow new subscribers to choose the frequency with which the content arrives and to be able to easily adjust the frequency over time.
• About one-third said the content was their reason for leaving (“spammy or over-promotional,” “no longer valuable” or doesn’t provide the expected content.) It would make sense to evaluate these unsubscribers further to see how well they fit the target market profile. If that analysis shows they should have been a good fit, then the content may need to be refined. If this group is a less good fit for the profile, then selection criteria should be reviewed with an eye to possible changes.

At first glance, unsubscribe clicks pose an unwelcome irritation for email marketers. However, by taking a different perspective, departing unsubscribers help trim an email list to focus on high-potential buyers thereby cutting costs while increasing revenue. Analysis of those leaving can also provide valuable information to support positive changes in marketing strategy, execution and content.