Why People Unsubscribe From Your List (And 5 Ways to Make Them Stay)

You work hard building your email list… and you spend ages crafting your email newsletters and promotions. But every time you press the “Send” button, you’re hit with a bunch of new unsubscribe requests. Why? Often we Internet marketers think that it’s simply because our subscribers have signed up for too many email lists. We imagine their inboxes overflowing with unread messages from all sorts of subscriptions… and assume they’ve decided to purge a few to make their email more manageable.nn(We just happen to be the unlucky recipients of their desire to clean out their inbox clutter.) Nice excuse, but not always true. In fact, a recent study by MarketingSherpa says the number-one reason people unsubscribe from email lists is that the emails they receive are not relevant to them. What this means is that you have to make the messages you send your subscribers relevant as often as possible. One of the best ways to achieve this is to segment your list so that you can better target specific groups of customers with tailored messages and offers. If you do, you can expect higher open rates, click-through rates, and sales. (And fewer unsubscribes!) Here are a five ideas for segmenting your list so you can send the most targeted and relevant emails possible:

1. Target your best customers: Reward your regulars with special discount or bonus offer for their next purchase.
2. Target people who haven’t bought from you in a while: Entice them back with a limited time offer.
3. Target people who have never bought from you: Focus on building relationships with your non-buying subscribers by providing valuable, free information.
4. Target people based on their location: If you’re an American business, for example, your Canadian customers will really appreciate a special Canada Day (July 1) offer instead of an Independence Day (July 4) offer.
5. Target people based on other reliable information you have: Gender, age, hobbies and interests… these are all great ways to segment and target your email messages to make them more relevant to your subscribers, so you should take every opportunity to collect data.

nIf you’re wondering how to do all this, a good email service provider like iContact, will allow you to collect, manage, and use all the information you need to segment your list like this.nnBottom line: Focus on your audience and make sure your email marketing messages are highly relevant to them.