20% of 2,000 readers surveyed say they unsubscribe from email marketing because they get too many messages
The number one reason people unsubscribe from email distribution lists is they feel like they get too many messages. That’s according to a survey of 2,000 consumers by Sinch Mailgun, a San Antonio-based company that makes a variety of email marketing tools.
When asked, “What is the most common reason you choose to unsubscribe from a brand’s emails?” the top five answers from respondents tallied up as follows:
- 20% said they get too many messages;
- 18% said they lost interest;
- 17% said the messages are not relevant;
- 10% don’t remember subscribing;
- 10% have too much inbox clutter;
The findings left me with three thoughts, that I’ll share below.
(click the image for higher resolution)
1. B2B spends too much to be careless with unsubscribe
In B2B marketing, we spend a lot of time and money getting an email address. There’s an old Salesforce statistic that says B2B marketing spends $150 for every email address it acquires. It’s probably much higher than that today, be even so, it’s too much effort only to lose one in five. It’s hard to reach your goals when 20% of it walks away every day.
A subscribed audience is what distinguishes content marketing from marketing.Click To Tweet
2. Subscribers are what makes content marketing different
The problem that this survey revealed is one of the reasons why subscribers are so important. A subscribed audience is what distinguishes content marketing from marketing. Marketing has always made content, but acting like a media site or newsroom is what changes things.
When brands act like the media, they focus on giving the audience what they need. They put the audience first, which builds a relationship, and allows them to raise their hand when they’re ready.
You’ve made an agreement in advance. You offered to send good content to their inbox at a sent interview – weekly posts or monthly newsletter for example. They already know what they are getting and at what cadence and volume. They are less likely to be surprised or feel overwhelmed and therefore less likely to unsubscribe.
3. A subscribed audience is the ultimate nurture stream
One of the reasons people send too many emails is because they are trying to nurture a new contact to take action – sign up for a demo or engage with sales. The problem with that is only a small fraction of customers are in the market to make a purchase at any given time, so sending more marketing emails has the opposite effect.
By contrast, a regular cadence of planned messages intended for a subscribed audience naturally nurtures prospective buyers without being pushy.
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The survey was first written up in Email Insider by Media Post, which is where I first learned about it.
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Image credit: DALLE and respective study