Top 5 ways to help make your unsubscribe process successful

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Many companies put every bit of time and energy into finding people to subscribe to their business. Whether it be subscribing to a blog, a special promotion-filled newsletter, or another email marketing campaign, getting readers to subscribe can be a huge gain for any company. You have your company information right in front of people who are interested, and subscribers are, overall, an audience that lasts for a long time. The key word here: overall.

There will come a time when someone wants to unsubscribe from your email marketing list. This may be because you did not offer them what they were hoping to see or because your information does not concern them any longer, but either way you must have a system in place for those who wish to unsubscribe. Unfortunately, the unsubscribe process for many companies is not very thorough or cared-for by staff members. After all, who wants to lose a potential customer? This “I don’t care” attitude that companies often have about an unsubscribe process is lethal. Why? Because this is a great opportunity to win back potential customers.

Consider a few of the ways your company can perfect its unsubscribe process:

How to fix your unsubscribe process in 5 easy steps

Step#1: Make sure the option to unsubscribe is easy to find and easy to use.

Some companies make it next to impossible to unsubscribe. The option is hidden somewhere on the website and then finding the paperwork that is “necessary” is like going on a treasure hunt. This simply does not work because it annoys people. The person could very well have had a positive view of your company, so it’s important not to change that view with the unsubscribe process. The key is to make the “unsubscribe now” link extremely easy to find. This will be enticing to new subscribers and will help your messages avoid the “mark as spam” button. Any click of this button will be filed away as a complaint on your company, which is ultimately the worst thing to happen to an email marketing campaign.

Step #2: Show consumers what else your company can offer.

Once you know readers can find the link to unsubscribe, explain to them what else your company has to offer. This is a great time to see if they would be interested in a new campaign. For example, the person unsubscribing may be leaving because they are no longer interested in the topic of employee background checks; however they may be interested in the newsletter you offer about business success stories. Make sure that they know an alternative newsletter exists. This is also a great time to win them back to the current email marketing campaign. If the subscription came at a cost, offer it to them at a lower price. It is also a good idea to offer a different frequency for different subscribers. Some may be unsubscribing simply because they did not like receiving an email every day. If you let them know that receiving one message per week is an option, they may want to stay on your list.

Step #3: Make sure the unsubscribe process is immediate.

No one likes to unsubscribe to an email campaign and then continue getting emails. Even though your company may have a certain window (generally ten days) to follow-through with an unsubscribe form, it’s best to take care of it immediately. The biggest mistake companies can make is assuming that someone who is unsubscribing doesn’t matter. The truth is, you want them to have the best experience possible from start to finish. If they leave on a good note, they could very well refer your company to someone they know.

Step #4: Ask those unsubscribing why they are leaving.

This is done the easiest by taking a poll. Have a short, three or four question page that asks why they are leaving. If all they have to do is click a bubble, they will probably follow-through and give you valuable information. This will help you understand what you need to improve or what alternative options you need to offer. Also make sure that you leave a space for any additional comments. After all, if someone wants to give you feedback on your company, you take it!

Step #5: Try the system yourself and see how it works.

An unsubscribe process should be no different than any other process you enact in your company—the staff should go through some trial and error. Have employees practice subscribing and then unsubscribing to the newsletter or blog and ask them how it went. It would work best if you could use employees outside of the marketing department to try it out because they will not know where the unsubscribe button is or what to expect. This will help make sure that you have the best process in place before rolling it out to companies.

The most important thing to remember is that people who want to leave do matter. They are not to be thrown to the side or made priority number two over those who are signing up to subscribe. They are still potential customers even after they leave, and I think you will be surprised at just how many come back after they’ve had a break for your campaign.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to small business loans. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including credit card processing to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

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About Sarah Arrow
Sarah Arrow is the managing editor of Birds on the Blog, in real life she is the communications director of a same day courier service. She is an enthusiastic UK based pro-blogger and co- author of the soon to be published Zero to Blogger
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