What Can You Do to Improve Your Email Unsubscribe Process?

Despite your best efforts to appeal to all the customers subscribed to your newsletter, there will be times when some of them head for the unsubscribe button. When people decide to unsubscribe, is there anything you can do to minimize the impact on their relationship with your business?

Below, we share some tips for making the most out of this situation, and retaining the customer, even if they aren't a subscriber any longer!

Make it Simple for People to Unsubscribe

The more difficult you make it for someone to unsubscribe, the more frustrated they will be with your business. Maintain a good relationship with customers by letting them come and go from your newsletter as they please! Ensure your link is clearly marked so that your viewer does not become frustrated with a difficult or nonexistent process.

In addition, according to The CASL (Canada's Anti-Spam Law) the unsubscribe link must be listed in every promotional email sent by your business. This means, if you don't have a clearly marked unsubscribe button, your business could face legal repercussions, such as a hefty fine.

Give Customers a Choice

Give people an option of what they want to unsubscribe from. This may be newsletters, industry updates, promotions, or blogs. This gives people the power to select what information they actually want from you.

By separating content into multiple streams, customers are able to opt into the content they want, while avoiding content they don't want. This can often lead them customers to continue to subscribe to parts of your email database, rather than unsubscribing from you completely!

Be Professional

Continue being courteous to customers, even after they unsubscribe. Thank them afterwards and let them know their unsubscribe action was successful with a pop-up window or take them to a page that includes a thank you note.

If you'd like more information about their decision to unsubscribe, ask them to kindly fill out a (short!) survey about why they made the decision to unsubscribe. If you can make the survey multiple choice, even better! People will likely skip a detailed survey.

Keep Emails, Even if You Don't Mail Them

Even though you're no longer allowed to mail unsubscribed customers, keep their emails in your database. Don't delete them! Most professional database marketing programs like Bloomtools' Email Marketing will ensure that you don't accidentally send something to them again.

To gather more tips on the topic of email marketing - read some of our other blogs, watch our webinars, or talk to your local consultant for some one-on-one advice!