All too often email marketers focus their efforts on acquisition, forgetting that retention is also a major player in growing a valuable email subscriber base. From a single freelancer to global corporations, client equity matters. We know that customers who are subscribed to your email list are more likely to make a purchase from your company, but it’s not as straightforward as simply getting the opt-in box ticked.

Client turnover is the thorn in the side of every e-marketer and runs rampant within the web service industry. While we are always going to acquire temporary subscribers who later chose to withdraw from our databases, we can do a few things to keep them from dropping off like flies.

1. You’re emailing too often

Increased email frequency or too-frequent emails is the number one reason people unsubscribe to email lists. Even those who have willingly agreed to receive your updates can become fatigued with the constant assault on their inbox.

It’s hard to determine a frequency sweet spot as it varies industry to industry, but once you have, try to stick to it. Or better yet, allow your clients to select the frequency of their updates (i.e. once a day, week, month); those on your database will appreciate being given the option and as they are in control of how often they receive your emails, will be less likely to opt out.

2. You’re not emailing enough

Curse you, fickle consumer! Will you never be happy with your update recurrence? Yes, a good frequency is hard to find and, typically, less seems to be more effective; however if emails are too sparse you run the risk of a customer forgetting about you all together.

When you obtain a new subscriber, send them a helpful “welcome” email and follow up again within two to three weeks to keep your business fresh on their mind.

3. Your emails aren’t relevant

Your customers want emails that are personally relevant. Unless your company boasts a niche following, collecting a little data on each subscriber can help you segment your audience more easily. For instance, your male consumer base doesn’t want a bombardment of emails about attending your “Ladies Who Lunch” seminars.

Gathering a little extra information when a subscriber joins your mailing list (gender or age could be a good start) will help you implement a basic filter so each invite or promotion is pertinent to the individual client’s wants or needs.

4. Emails aren’t optimised for mobile

If you haven’t come to grips with the fact that mobile devices are steadily surpassing desktop you are frighteningly behind the times. If your newsletters and email images don’t look good on mobile, there’s a good chance they are going straight to Trash. Content that is difficult to absorb will frustrate your readers and, if the content you send out is consistently a point of dissatisfaction, a customer won’t give opting out a second thought.

If you’re not sure how to format your emails to look good via mobile, work with an email marketing software that provide ready-made, mobile optimised templates.

5. Content is too long, repetitive or boring

Mobile trends suggest people are beginning to expect shorter, more consumable pieces of information. Emails that waffle on don’t feel relevant or useful. Similarly, if you are flogging the same content over and over, you aren’t offering anything useful to your clients, which give them more than enough reason to unsubscribe.

Strip the extra content from your emails and identify a single call to action for each message. If you are sending multiple messages for a single event or promotion, highlight a different feature each time to avoid hounding your clients with the same, mundane content.

If you would like to talk to a pro about how to up your email marketing game, give us a shout! p: 09 950 2140