Email marketing can be enormously powerful. Done right, it can have a significant impact on your bottom line. Done wrong, it can cost you business. Fortunately, several factors have contributed to email unsubscribe rates improving in recent years. There is an overall great acceptance of email marketing now. The technology and strategies available today also help to strengthen email marketing. So, how can you cut your unsubscribe rate to boost your IT marketing?
Is Your Unsubscribe Rate Too High?
How do you know if your unsubscribe rate is too high? The simple answer is if you don’t enjoy 100% retention of email subscribers, your unsubscribe rate is too high. Of course, for various reasons, you’re always going to lose at least a few subscribers. Read on for some ways to reduce your unsubscribe rate to the absolute minimum.
Targeting
One reason you might lose email subscribers is that you’re sending the wrong emails to the wrong people. Most of us can appreciate the burden of a jam-packed email inbox. By ensuring your IT marketing emails are relevant to the recipient, you’ll cut the number of opt-outs.
Email Frequency
Studies show that email frequency is a key factor behind unsubscribe decisions. On the other hand, you don’t want your customers to forget you. You’ll need to define some test groups and experiment a little bit to establish the right email frequency for your customers. In the meantime, less is more. Sending too many emails can damage the long-term relationship with your customers, so start with a lower frequency and work your way up.
Segmentation
It is important to retain email subscribers for the right reasons. In other words, because of the content in the newsletters. Generally, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Therefore, you need to segment your subscribers and curate content that is better-suited to their needs and interests. Use information collected at opt-in and based on their purchase history to formulate email content that will appeal to those users. The navigational behavior of users on your website can also be used to establish triggers that will allow your emails to convert them into purchasers.
Buying Cycles
Use your customers’ buying cycles to your advantage. A simple buying cycle looks like this:
- Awareness – Customer becomes aware of your product or a problem for which they need a solution
- Consideration – Customer begins to evaluate solutions to their problem
- Purchase – Customer buys your product/solution
The path customers take through your website indicates where they are in the buying cycle. Entice them to subscribe with suitable triggers and you can nurture them through the rest of the cycle.
If your product has a periodic buying cycle, such as monthly, then you already know where your customers will likely be in their buying cycle and can time your newsletters to nurture this.
Conclusion
These are some key ways your IT marketing can leverage the power of reduced unsubscribe rates. By analyzing the data collected about your customers’ behavior and providing them with relevant content, segmented to suit their individual needs and preferences, you can maximize the sales effects of email marketing.
