why people unsubscribe

Email Marketing & Automation Marketing Infographics

Reasons People Unsubscribe from Your Email (And How to Reduce Unsubscribes)

Douglas Karr Last Updated: Thursday, December 4, 2014

1 minute read

Subscribers don’t care about the difference between unsubscribing and simply marking your email as SPAM… they do it every single day. They don’t realize the repercussions of reporting your email as SPAM can get you blocked from the inboxes of thousands of more subscribers on the same Internet Service Provider. It’s why we closely monitor our inbox placement with our partners at 250ok!

So hiding the unsubscribe link in your email is not only NOT going to reduce the number of unsubscribes, it’s also going to get you into trouble with your inbox placement. Don’t be surprised if that minor edit you make to your email template to make it difficult to unsubscribe winds up killing your inbox placement and subsequent click-through rate and conversion rate from your emails.

Top reasons people unsubscribe from your email

Poor email design or copy (don’t forget mobile responsive email templates).
Excess or limited email frequency. It’s why we offer both daily and weekly subscriptions with our newsletter via CircuPress.
Sending emails without permission.
Irrelevant email content. 24% of BlueHornet respondents said they leave because the email was irrelevant!
End of offer or sale.
Offensive or misleading subject line.
Lack of personalization (although I think bad personalization is worst than none).
Change of preferences, like leaving a company or industry.

This infographic from EmailMonks offers some great advice on improving your subscription options and implementing some best practices to improve your list retention and reduce the number of unsubscribes.

Douglas Karr Last Updated: Thursday, December 4, 2014

1 minute read

Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of the Martech Zone and CEO of DK New Media. Douglas has helped dozens of successful MarTech startups, has assisted in the due diligence of over $5 bil in Martech acquisitions and investments, and continues to assist companies in implementing and automating their sales and marketing strategies. Douglas is an internationally recognized digital transformation and MarTech expert and speaker. Douglas is also a published author of a Dummie's guide and a business leadership book.

It all started as a book club.

Yes, I’m serious. I started my work on the web more than two decades ago. My first site was Helping Hand, which curated the best sites from around the web to help people with their computers and navigate resources on the Internet. Years later, I sold the domain to a company that helped folks quit smoking, one of my first big contracts.

I began blogging on Blogger and waxed poetic about everything from politics to Internet tools. I was all over the place and mostly wrote for myself – without much of an audience. I belonged to a Marketing Book club in Indianapolis that quickly grew out of control. Over time, I discovered that more and more of the group were coming to me for technology advice. The combination of my technology background and my business and marketing acumen was in high demand as the Internet rapidly changed the industry.

After reading Naked Conversations, I was motivated to better brand and control the content on the site. I also wanted more control over the look and feel of my blog, so I moved to my domain in 2006 and built my first WordPress site. Since I was focused on marketing technology, I didn’t want the domain with my name to get in the way, so I moved the site (painfully) to its new domain in 2008 where it’s grown ever since.

The Martech Zone is owned and operated by DK New Media, LLC, a company I started in 2009. After working with virtually every major online marketing department in my tenure at ExactTarget and launching Compendium, I knew there was a great demand for my expertise and guidance within such a complex industry.

DK New Media oversees my consulting, publications, podcasts, workshops, webinars, and speaking opportunities. Highbridge, my agency with two other partners, helps companies maximize their investment in sales, marketing, and related products. We offer integration, migration, training, strategic consulting, and custom development.

Thank you so much for your support over the years!

Douglas Karr
CEO, DK New Media