I always start the new year doing one thing…..going through my emails to unsubscribe to newsletters I no longer need. Marketers alert #1. From a consumers standpoint, it is an opportunity for me to review which brands or products/ services I would really like to follow or find value in engaging with. Marketers alert #2.
If I was still working in-house as the CMO, I would probably freak at this stage as that will directly mean a decline in the number of subscribers (one of the standard, most direct measures of success). Since running my own Marketing Communications consultancy, my reaction is much more sublime and sustainable.
In fact, it is an opportunity — every time you receive an unsubscribe request. This is a cue that the consumer has glanced through your content (using this loosely) and made the decision to not hear from you for reasons of their own. This is your cue to find out and engage with them — carefully and tactfully. One thing you can be mostly sure about is that the email exists. More on this part later.
On the first Monday of January, I decided to do the same I would do every year to prepare for the exciting 2022. I went through my personal mailbox emails and as I do, identify the regular newsletter emails from clothes brands, furniture shops, online stores, bookstores (yep still have a few of these) and clicked the ‘Unsubscribe’ link option.
Interestingly, there were two types of incoming regular emails – mostly non-tailored newsletters promoting products and services based on items I have purchased before vs alerts on content (news, blogs & trends) that I have opted in to receive. Which type did most of my ‘unsubscribes’ belong to? I unsubscribed to about 20 non-tailored newsletters in a matter of 15 minutes.
Pretty much every time I buy an item at a shop, that’s where the first e-newsletter trigger starts. I have indeed bought many things during the few non-lockdown months in 2021. I even unsubscribed to the ones that had ‘$10 voucher or free gift” in the headline because I know that you can get that anyway if you quote your phone number in the shop or login to your account online.
Fifteen minutes later, the only emails I kept were the emails that were content bias such as ‘top 10 marketing trends to watch in 2022’ or ‘latest automation apps you should know about’ or alerts I know I have created myself from social media channels or banks. Content trumps Products/Services — businesses and brands alert.
Some ‘Unsubscribe’ options were easy to find while others hidden in size 6 font size (that is smaller than the legally acceptable size of 8 I believe). Honestly, there is nothing to hide. While having an ‘Unsubscribe’ option is mandatory for many reasons from local marketing regulations requirement to ensuring your company’s emails do not come across as spam, you want to give your customers options especially those who have already purchased in the past.
Once you pressed ‘Unsubscribe’, some will give you an immediate confirmation to say you have been ‘unsubscribed’ while others has a pop-up to ask you to confirm that you do really want to unsubscribe. From an user experience standpoint, I certainly questioned the ones that spit out a list of boxes to tick your preferences — making your customers do the work for you are indeed not wise when they have already made the decision to unsubscribe. It seems like it is helpful to give them a choice at this stage, but not make them do more work.
Sure that giving them a list of preferences to tick is harder for them to unsubscribe (from the company’s perspective) BUT it makes it easier to confirm their decision to unsubscribe (from the customer’s or user’s perspective).
After hitting unsubscribe, I receive about 3 emails out of the 20 in response to my decision to unsubscribe — some asking if I have made a mistake or accidentally hit unsubscribe which to me seems a bit odd, while another ‘sorry to see you go’ and if you change your mind come back. Then of course there was one which was designed to trigger more emails to you when you unsubscribe or click on any links in the newsletter email as that indicates that you are reading it. For the wrong reasons but it is still an approach used by some.
With some many automation tools at our disposal nowadays, it is so easy to engage with your customers or followers by keeping them informed with regular emails without a human marketer ever lifting a finger. However, that is assuming your customers or followers are appreciative of the automated approach.
Having been Marketing and Communications trained in the pre-digital world, now advising on digital ways of working, if is clear that what works in the past may not work in the current ways of working now. One main reason. The world is multi-faceted and always on. Linear ‘engagement’ models no longer work.
Now on to my next new year activity — reviewing my own Client Relationship Management (CRM) system to keep my networks of friends and families up-to-date. To a Happy 2022!
P.S. Amongst the abundance of automation tools, there are of course online tools available to help identify a list of emails you are subscribed to and help you unsubscribe all at once.