why people unsubscribe emails

Why People Unsubscribe From Your Emails

You’ve probably asked yourself many times why, in spite of the efforts you’re putting in your email marketing, some people unsubscribe from your emails.

Sometimes, the reason has nothing to do with your strategy, and sometimes it does.

Why you get email unsubscribes

Let’s look at some of the most common reasons your subscribers opt out and why this can be a way to improve the quality of your list!

You send too many emails

This was the reason why 78% of consumers reported to unsubscribe from a company’s emails, HubSpot announced in 2016.

It’s hard to determine how often people want to hear from you. There are marketers who send out a newsletter every day, and we believe that’s too much. There are some that communicate every other month, and many experts would agree that’s too seldom.

At ZeroBounce, we send our newsletter once a week. We found this to be the best sending frequency for our audience.

Your content is no longer relevant

Some people opt in and read your content for a while. A few months later, they change their job and are no longer interested in what you send, so they unsubscribe. Or, they believe that the quality of your content has deteriorated over time and they don’t want it anymore.

Your emails look spammy

Whenever you have a great offer, you want to make sure your subscribers understand how great it is right from the subject line. That’s a winning strategy, but make sure you don’t use words that will send your email right into the “Spam” folder.

Spam filters will weed out emails that contain words like buy, click, earn, cash, free gift and so on. Keep your subject lines on the safe side, and always deliver what you promised.


Did you know that 66% of unsubscribes occur between 5 and 10 p.m.? (HubSpot) Most of them happen on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.


Other reasons why people unsubscribe

? They signed up to receive a specific offer, and after they get it, they are no longer interested in your communications.

? Your emails are not mobile optimized. More than half of your subscribers check their inbox on their phones.

? Some people don’t recall signing up, even though they did.

? People receive too many emails in general. The average consumer gets about 90 emails a day!


Always ask for permission

As much as you would like to grow your email list, don’t add people to your database without asking them for permission. No one likes unsolicited emails. Ask your readers to opt-in to receive marketing communications from you. This way, there are less chances that they unsubscribe or mark you as “Spam.” By the way, a reliable email verifier will tell you which subscribers in your database have a habit of marking emails as “Spam.” Sending newsletters to such email addresses will harm your IP reputation, so it’s best to remove them from your list.


Why are unsubscribes good?

None of us likes to see people leave. When someone unlikes your Facebook page or unsubscribes from your newsletters, they are telling you they don’t want to be in touch with you anymore. But try to remember your goal: to create and grow a community of people genuinely interested in your brand. Those are the people who will most likely engage with you, and it will be a lot easier to develop a valuable relationship with them. Actually, those who don’t respond to your emails in any way, not even by clicking on them, will hurt you in the long run.

In our free guide on how to improve inbox deliverability and overall email marketing performance, our experts advise marketers to remove unengaging subscribers. Email Stat Center confirms our suggestion with a study: removing subscribers who haven’t engaged in over a year increases your deliverability rate by 3% to 5%.

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