The Truth About Email Unsubscribes

Let’s talk about email unsubscribes and the way they impact your email marketing efforts. As well as what you can do about it and how you can calculate the email unsubscribe rate for your own handmade business, so you can use that information to make data-driven decisions to get higher open and click rates and, ultimately, increase sales.

The Benefits of Unsubscribes

Have you ever had discouraging thoughts when subscribers unsubscribe from your email list? Maybe you’re feeling like you’re being spammy. Or that you should stop sending your current volume of emails because it seems like your list doesn’t want to read them.

Here are the hard, cold facts…

• That is a limiting belief, and it’s probably not true.
• Subscribers unsubscribing from your list isn’t personal and likely has nothing to do with you.
• Your subscribers’ needs and interests change over time, and that is normal.

What is true about unsubscribes is that they provide helpful data for your handmade business. And here’s how:

1. Improves your engagement. A focused list consists of subscribers who are genuinely interested in your content. They are more likely to interact with your emails, leading to higher engagement and more sales.
2. Higher open rates. More of the right people on your list means more of those people actually open and read your emails. And fun fact: higher open rates improve deliverability, meaning more of your list sees your emails in their inbox.
3. Increases click rates. Engaged subscribers are more likely to click on the links in your emails, which means more traffic to wherever you’re trying to send them. And ultimately, higher conversion rates and sales.
4. Cost efficiency. When your list is leaner and more engaged, you save on subscription costs. Especially since most email platform packages are grouped by the number of subscribers on your list. It’s much more cost-effective to pay for a smaller engaged list than a larger unengaged one.

In addition to all of these benefits of having subscribers unsubscribe, you also gain better analytics since you have clearer insights from a more responsive core audience.

Improvements to Increase Your Open & Click Rate

The best part about not yet having the open or click rate you’re aiming towards, is that there are always improvements you can make to get that click rate moving in the right direction. 

Let me remind you that your click and open rates don’t define you or your business…instead they help to tell a story about what is or isn’t working with your audience.

So, listen to the story, and test out new things to see what works well–and dare I say better.

Here are some things to implement:

1. Test different types of subject lines

• Personalized Subject Lines - Personalization makes the email feel more relevant and tailored to the recipient, increasing the likelihood of them opening it. Example: "Here’s something special for you [First Name]!"
• Curiosity-Driven Subject Lines - Creating a sense of curiosity encourages recipients to open the email to find out more, driving higher open rates. Example: "You won’t believe this..."
• Benefit-Oriented Subject Lines - Clearly highlighting a benefit or value that the recipient will gain from opening the email makes it more appealing and engaging. Example: "Boost your knitting skills with these tips! 

2. Write like you’re speaking to one person. You want your emails to feel conversational. One way to accomplish this is to address your reader as an individual rather than as part of a group. For example, instead of saying, “I hope everyone had a great holiday,” say, “I hope you had a great holiday.” Or instead of asking, “What is everyone working on this weekend?” Ask, “What are you working on this weekend?” This allows your subscribers to feel connected to you in a way that’s like having a conversation with a friend and not like they’re just one of many in a large group, making you more personable as a business and likely to make your subscribers feel special.

3. Improve your email design and usability to enhance user experience and engagement. Yes, design matters with your emails. No, you don’t have to be a graphic designer. Design means having an email layout that is easy on the eyes. Think ‘less is more.’ Make use of white space. Break up paragraphs generously. Add visuals like photos and gifs. Hyperlink, bold, and italicize things that you want to stand out. The idea is to make the experience easy and enjoyable.

4. Regularly update and segment your email list to ensure content relevance. This is important so that the people on your list are getting the content they will find valuable and therefore are most likely to engage with. One of the easiest ways to segment your list is to allow subscribers to self-segment. This means creating an opt-in in one of your emails that asks them to click a specific link or button if they are a part of that particular group. Another way you can segment is putting subscribers in specific groups based on resources they signed up for, or how they got on your list.

5. Scrub your list of inactive subscribers. This means removing subscribers from your list who haven’t interacted with your emails in a long time. This will increase your open and click rates, since those are based on an average–and when the pool of people gets smaller, the average gets larger. It also makes for more accurate data about the subscribers on your list and how your offers are landing with them. In addition to the other benefits, it’ll also increase your deliverability. 

Remember, your click and open rates should be compared to the standard in your particular industry, because a great open rate and click for realtor, for example, should be much different than that of a handmade business owner.

Calculate Your Unsubscribe Rate

Did you know that, on average, email campaigns should account for about 25–35% of sales for your small business, as long as you have a strong email strategy?

That means if you aren’t talking to your email list regularly, it’s time to start. 

Procrastinating your email efforts because of your limiting beliefs around unsubscribes or low engagement isn’t the solution. Instead, by continuously improving the quality of your content, understanding your audience's needs, and making data-driven adjustments, you can enhance your email marketing effectiveness. 

And yes, that could mean fewer unsubscribes.

Knowing your unsubscribe rate is helpful information for understanding how often people are unsubscribing and even why. It provides you with data to drive your decisions around how to move forward instead of relying solely on cognitive beliefs.

Remember, a well-nurtured email list can be one of your most valuable assets, driving sales, fostering customer loyalty, and providing a direct line of communication with your audience.

That’s why I’ve created the Email Unsubscribe Calculator to help you see how your unsubscribe rate compares to your industry average. It only takes a minute or two to plug in your numbers to see how the percentage is looking for your handmade business.

[USE THE CALCULATOR HERE]

The truth is that unsubscribes provide helpful data about what is or isn’t working with our email marketing efforts. Whether we need to try a new subject line strategy or even segment our audience so they’re receiving only emails relevant to them. The good news is that there’s always something new you can try to increase open and click rates, decrease your unsubscribe rate, and increase those sales.