Don’t Panic When Someone Unsubscribes From Your List
One of my coaches told me a long time ago that not everyone was going to like me and I remember saying “Oh of course I realize that”, but that wasn’t really the truth. The reality was that every time someone unsubscribed from my list – it made me feel a little sad – like “aww they don’t like me”. I didn’t like to read the reasons why they unsubscribed, but when I did most people were polite and kind and said basically that they were on too many lists and had to clean house. Yet I didn’t believe them:)
Then I had another discussion about a year later with another coach who basically told me the same thing, and this time I was ready to hear what she had to say. So I hope that I am that coach for some of you today. If you’re ready to hear it, here it is…
First Of All, You’re Doing Great!
You are competing with a lot of clutter out on the web. You are dealing with your competitors. The newbies. Social media. Celebrity gossip. Regular news. Reality television and much, much more. It’s a struggle everyday for the online soloprofessional (as many of you are) to cut through the clutter and get noticed. So first of all I want to say bravo to you for even getting the person to sign up for your list in the first place! BRAVO!
Why Someone Is Unsubscribing From Your List
With that in mind you have to understand that not everyone is going to stay and that’s okay. It really is fine. Because this is the reality:
1. That person was not ready to invest in you now or maybe even ever.
2. That person was not the ideal client for your product or service. They realized it and jumped ship.
3. That subscriber really was on too many lists and probably wasn’t reading anything you were sending them.
4. That reader didn’t make a connection with your content which is fine. The only people that will buy from you are people that “get” you and trust you.
5. They joined your list just to get the freebie, not to stick around. In that case, hope you enjoyed it but good bye!
Other Possible Reasons That They Unsubscribe Which You Could Test
1. You may not be sending enough content consistently. So when people receive content from you, they don’t remember who you are or why they signed up in the first place and they unsubscribe. Sometimes they even list your emails as spam – ugh! You must communicate with your readers consistently. At the least – once a month. At the most – weekly. Test this by sending content more regularly.
2. You may be sending emails, etc. too often. It’s important that you know your niche as the “how often” part of this rule can fluctuate between niches. But for the average non-internet marketing niche – sending out something weekly is quite enough. Any more than once a week will probably get an unsubscribe. Test this by slowing down your publishing schedule for 60 days and see if you recognize a difference in the subscribe/unsubscribe rate.
3. People may be changing the way they read your information, so they might unsubscribe, but may want to follow you another way. Make sure readers know how to find you via Facebook, Twitter, RSS feed, etc.
Conclusion
Like article marketing and any other marketing technique, list building is a numbers game. People are going to unsubscribe, and don’t worry — you are not a failure because people unsubscribe. People unsubscribe from EVERYONE’S list. Just understand that the more people who subscribe – the higher your subscription stats as well as your unsubscribe stats. As long as one is balancing out the other — you’re fine.
If you stats are off kilter and your unsubscribe rate is higher than your subscribe statistic – contact me and we’ll discuss how to change that around.
Lisa Angelettie
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