Unsubscribes: When Letting Go is Good for Business

Unsubscribes: When Letting Go is Good 

Small business owners work hard into generating and expanding their email lists because they are perfectly aware that each contact corresponds to a potential customer whose lifetime value will boost the business’ bottom line and revenue growth.

A lot of things go into capturing these leads which makes it tempting to cling to them if they regrettably choose to unsubscribe. That’s acceptable because when you’re a newbie to email marketing, having someone unsubscribe from your list may seem like a personal rejection.

As the number of unsubscribes swells, you might even feel that you’re hitting the bottom completely. You may start asking yourself questions like, “Am I doing something wrong? Why are they getting upset? Why are they unsubscribing?” You might even think of toning down your message.

Truth be told, there’s actually no need to worry about unsubscribes at all.

Every day that a person sends out an email to over half a million people, he could possibly get over 1,000 unsubscribes—that’s incredibly a lot. But 1,000 unsubscribes is just a tiny fraction of the list. In essence, it’s nothing to be worried about.

In fact, not only should you not worry about unsubscribes—you ought to like them instead.

Here’s why.

If someone dislikes your message (or some aspect of your personality, or your offer, etc.), then you surely don’t want them to be on your list from the very start.

If they stay on your list, there is a possibility for that person to either mark your email as spam, which will adversely affect your deliverability, or they won’t open your email, which will lower your open rate. Without you knowing, you may even be shelling out just to have that subscriber on your list despite ignoring your message. So, you’re better off removing them from your list and moving on.

Another thing that factors into unsubscribes concerns your overall messaging. Think of it this way: your marketing ranges from hot to cold – and what’s in the middle is lukewarm.

The most horrible thing to do in your marketing is to be lukewarm—because it’s like you are striving to appeal to everyone. And when you start pleasing all people, your message will eventually turn weak and generic, and you surely wouldn’t want that.

Instead, you want to sort your audience. You aspire to earn your raving fans, while identifying some people who don’t really like your message. And that’s perfectly fine.

Consider Howard Stern, for instance, the radio “shock jock” in the U.S. Howard Stern polarizes his audience. A lot of people really like him, at the same time a lot of people strongly dislike him. But he makes an absolute fortune nonetheless.

The same is the case for many prominent celebrities—Oprah, Rosie O’Donnell, Justin Bieber—they all have a multitude of unfaltering fans, but they also have people who would rather veer off from them.

A more valuable use of your time is to put a lot of effort on the big picture items, just like growing sales. Instead of holding on to one email contact, let go and acquire another 20 or 50 email addresses.

Set your mind in terms of abundance rather than zeroing in on the small details that weigh nothing much in the long run. Remember, letting go is sometimes what you need. You’ll be pleased you did.

Source: When Letting Go is Less Painful