Subscribe to Levels of Unsubscribe

It’s hard to imagine a life without email. But it’s blissful and healthy to imagine a life without useless email. It’s delusional, sure, but it’s a nice and fleeting thought.

If you’re one of the millions of businesses vying for customers’ attention with email marketing, you have a few choices:

• Send promotions only every once in a while, thereby using it as an occasional marketing tool and not expecting much in return.
• Bombard your list with promotion after promotion, news, product releases, etc. until they unsubscribe in bewildered frustration. (I’m looking at you, Ann Taylor Loft.)
• Find a middle ground. (For those of you playing at home, this is the correct answer.)

At the very least, offer your subscribers a few options when they decide to unsubscribe, particularly if you rely on email marketing as a prime sales tool. Sure, some will still opt out entirely, but others might just stick around if it seems like you’re accommodating their need for some element of personal inbox freedom.

We really liked the way Bed, Bath & Beyond presents their unsubscribe options, particularly offering a coupons-only option for those who are less inclined to get excited about product releases and trends.

Yes, even the unsubscribe process can be a good opportunity to hold onto a customer.