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Over the past few years there have been a number of changes in the way consumers interact with online content. From an email marketing perspective, there is a greater emphasis on personalized, segmented marketing.
Unfortunately, many email marketers are still taking the outdated quantity-over-quality approach to e-mail marketing, which means their subscribers are more likely to opt-out than ever.
Here are some tips to help you reduce your opt-out rate and build a closer relationship with your readers.
1. Stop sending so many e-mails
Identifying the sweet spot between too many and too few e-mails is difficult to accomplish. Consumers are savvier than ever which means they are no longer relying solely on your e-mails to learn about you and develop a relationship with you.
If they have signed up for your list, then they have already engaged with your website and have likely visited your social media profiles as well. This means they are familiar with your brand and will recognize your e-mails when you send them.
When in doubt, opt to send too few e-mails than too many.
2. It shouldn’t always be about sales
Online consumers have grown accustomed to identifying and digesting content extremely quickly. This is even truer now that smart phones and tablets have become popular Internet browsing devices. As a result, they have become much more sensitive to spammy e-mails and are more likely to delete them. Send too many spammy e-mails and they will quickly unsubscribe.
Remember that everyone on your list has already taken an interest in your product or service, so don’t make them regret opting in to your list.
3. Always focus on benefits
Nearly every type of product sold online can share a laundry list of features it offers. As a result, most people already know what the features are. This makes it more important than ever for e-mail marketers to focus on benefits rather than features.
Spending too much time talking about features will not only bore your readers, but it will make them want to unsubscribe. Keep in mind they can find a list of features on your website, so there is no reason to continue repeating the features to them via e-mail.
Instead, emphasize why they need your product and how they will benefit from it rather than what the product itself does. As an added bonus, this ensures your content remains focused on the consumer rather than on yourself.
4. Take the time to segment your list
The final deadly mistake most e-mails marketers make which leads to unsubscribes is treating everyone on their list the same.
In a store there are three basic types of customers. They are (1) browsing and gathering information, (2) comparing products, or (3) getting ready to make a purchase. The same is true for your e-mail list. As a result, it makes no sense to start making a hard sell to someone who is still in the browsing stage.
On the other hand, it also doesn’t make sense to share background information on your product when they are ready to make a purchase because their decision has already been made.
Email marketing remains one of the most powerful and effective ways to consistently reach out to potential customers and build a relationship with them. The only way to do this effectively is to keep them on your list which is impossible if you cause them to opt out.
David Hurley
P. S. If you are still not sure how to use an autoresponder for email marketing campaigns, click here to find out more.
