Why do people unsubscribe?

Let’s see what are the most common reasons your subscribers choose to opt out and why this can be a way to improve the quality of your email list!

Catalina Mihai
Catalina Mihai
Digital Marketing Specialist
Published:
June 21, 2019

I know that you’ve probably asked yourself many times why, every now and then, people unsubscribe from your emails... Most of the times, the reason has nothing to do with your email marketing strategy, but sometimes it does.

Let’s see what are the most common reasons your subscribers choose to opt out and why this can be a way to improve the quality of your email list!

You send too many emails in a short period of time

HubSpot announced a few years ago that this was the reason why 78% of consumers chose to unsubscribe from a company’s emails. It’s hard to determine how often people would like to hear from you - some say that one email per week is more than enough.

Your content is no longer relevant (or not relevant for all your subscribers)

Some people opt-in and read your content for a while because is a must for their job. A few months later, they change their job and are no longer interested in what you send, so they unsubscribe. Some might also believe that the quality of your content has changed and they are not interested anymore.
An option would be to segment your email list and send your emails accordingly.

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

Other reasons why people choose to unsubscribe:

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

No one likes unsolicited emails - keep that in mind whenever you think to add people to your email list without asking for their permission. Ask your readers to opt-in to receive marketing communications from you. This way, there are fewer chances that they unsubscribe or mark you as “Spam.”

Why are unsubscribes good?

None of us likes when subscribers hit that “Unsubscribe” button. When someone unsubscribes from your email campaigns, they are in fact telling you they no longer wanna be in touch with you.

But you should not feel bad or discouraged. Actually, you should thank them. “Why?” ,.. you might ask… Well, the short answer is that those who don’t respond to your emails in any way, not even by clicking on them, will hurt your reputation in the long run. So they actually did the job for you - you no longer need to remove them from your email list because they did it themselves.

Email Stat Center study says that removing subscribers who haven’t engaged with your email in over a year increases your deliverability rate by 3% to 5%.

Catalina Mihai
Written by
Catalina Mihai
Digital Marketing Specialist

Passionate about many things, but mostly about Online Marketing. I am a Digital Marketing Specialist at Verifalia.

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