Do you feel your heart drop a little when you see someone unsubscribe from your email list? 

There they are, as you tick through your email marketing stats for your last campaign....A 100% delivery rate, a 42% open rate, 15% click through rate, and….sigh...another few people have opted out.

It can feel so, so disheartening. 

You're working hard to create meaningful content and you know you can help people. Plus, this work is your soul's business. You want to reach as many people as possible so you can use your gifts and talents to help others. To help the world. 

All that and more is why it can really hurt when someone unsubscribes from your email list.

Early on when I started my business, every time I saw someone unenroll from my email list, my heart would squeeze. Even though I knew theoretically there are lots of reasons people leave email lists, it felt painful. Why did they go? I’d wonder. How was I ever going to build my business if people kept dropping off my list? At the time just starting out, I found myself looking for all kinds of external indicators that my business was going to be successful. I worried that if people were leaving my list, it meant something wasn’t working about me or my business.  

The thing is there are so many reasons people decide to stop receiving emails. And, most have nothing at all to do with you, your business or your message. They’re simply things you can’t control. And, often you won't know why. At the same there, some reasons people decide to go can point to things you can look more closely at in your marketing.

I want to delve into this a bit more so you can rest your heart, and at the same time discern if there is an area in your marketing that you could look at and take action for improvement.  

It's All Just Too Much

One time I bought a pair of jeans online for my daughter from the Gap. And, after that, I started receiving emails from them. I kid you not, at one point, I counted they were up to three emails a day. Each with loud subject lines and expiring discounts. We weren’t even in the holiday shopping season yet!  

No one I’ve ever met in the coaching, healing and creative business routinely emails people several times a day on an ongoing basis, but people do get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of their email. 

Radicati reported that people receive on average 121 business emails a day and, at the time, predicted that rate to rise to 126 by the end of 2019. And that’s just business related email. Add to that personal and consumer email, and the fact most people are juggling more than one email account, there’s no denying it. That’s a lot of email. And mass unsubscribing is a way some people use to try to get a handle on their inboxes. 

A study by Marketingsherpa from a few years ago showed that the number one reason consumers unsubscribe from companies’ emails was they get too many emails in general.

What Else Could It Be? Six More Reasons Why

Here are six other reasons why someone might choose to take their name off your email list. 

They didn’t realize they signed up to receive emails.

Sounds hard to believe, right? Setting proper expectations up front, especially when offering a free item, is essential to help people understand what they are signing up for. It’s not only best practice, in some cases, it’s required by law.

The emails they receive don’t load properly or are hard to read on mobile devices.

Checking your email on your own device is a good idea, but know that email clients (Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) have different display properties. And, more and more people read email on their mobile, so having good mobile optimization is essential. Good email marketing programs should have this built into their platforms but if you’re using a lesser known company it might be worth checking into. 

They’re cutting down their digital interactions overall, email included

In part due to a growing recognition of the power that many of us have unconsciously given to digital technology in our lives, some people are starting to rethink their relationship to the digital tools in their lives. Cal Newport talks about this extensively in his book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. 

They can’t remember signing up for your list.

Ah, this has happened to me and others I know. For example, I sign up for something that looks really interesting - a piece of collateral, a meditation, etc. Then I get the free thing, which is nice, but I don’t hear from the provider in a long while.

I don’t receive any follow up or any regular content for weeks or sometimes months. And then when I do, sometimes, I honestly don’t remember who the sender is or why I signed up. This is one of the main reasons I say consistency is so important when it comes to marketing. 

They don’t find the content valuable.

This is a big one, Sometimes people decide to unsubscribe because they just don’t find the content valuable. Sometimes it’s about approach or tone or style. And it just doesn’t feel like a fit. In the same way not everyone is going to like you, if you’re marketing authentically, showing up in your marketing as you, the real you, not everyone will like your content. 

Other times though, it has to do with what you’re talking about and how you’re talking about it. The good news here is that there are things you can do to make your content more resonant. (This is something I work with clients on and give you more information about how to do here.) 

They’ve grown

The reason someone signed up for your newsletter or email list is often because they think you are someone who can help them with the thing they are struggling with. If that’s the case, you probably have helped them with your content. They may or may not have chosen to do extra work with you, but they’ve undoubtedly learned things or been inspired by you. And 

And, people grow.

Maybe what they struggled with is longer an issue for them. Maybe they found another solution. Maybe they found their creativity again, or left the relationship, or stopped beating themselves up. Maybe they’ve grown and transformed and moved ahead. 

There can be so many beautiful journeys life has available, what better reason to have someone unenroll from your list in that they found what they were looking for.

Turning It Around, A Final Thought

Sometimes the thought of people unsubscribing from their email list causes some coaches, healers and creatives to hold back on their marketing. They worry about sending so many emails or being seen as too pushy. 

They worry that people will leave their list, so they don't email as often as they'd like to. They hold back their offers. They open their email stats only occasionally, or, like one of my clients, never. She said it was just too painful. 

Which is so unfortunate. 

Remember there are so many reasons someone might unsubscribe to your list. You can’t control that. But you can continue to show up and focus on all the other people who want to hear what you have to say. You can continue to speak to those who need to hear your voice and are longing for your wisdom. 

Don't deny them your gifts and the chance to heal or be transformed through you. The world needs you right now. 

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash