Email marketing is an essential digital marketing strategy every business needs, regardless of size. Whether you're an e-commerce company with the best deals or a service provider, email marketing can help you reach your target audience and keep them coming back for more.
Unfortunately, many small business owners don't know how to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. They may create email campaigns and hope for the best after sending them back without checking their key performance indicators (KPIs).
KPIs are an essential part of a robust strategy. If you're not measuring and tracking the results of the campaigns, you're losing out on valuable data that can help your business grow.
One KPI you should consider tracking is your email unsubscribe rate, which can give you an estimate of users who have unsubscribed from receiving your emails. But how do you calculate your unsubscribe rate, and why does it matter?
Understanding unsubscribe rates and their impact
The unsubscribe rate is a critical metric in email marketing that indicates how well your content aligns with your audience's interests.
It represents the percentage of subscribers who decide to stop receiving your emails. A higher unsubscribe rate may suggest issues with content relevance or email frequency, indicating that adjustments may be necessary.
Monitoring this rate helps enhance marketing effectiveness by refining content strategies and audience targeting to better match subscriber preferences.
What is an email unsubscribe rate?
An email unsubscribe rate reveals how many users opt out of your campaigns. This percentage-based metric provides insight into the success of your emails and whether recipients view them as spam. Ideally, a low unsubscribe rate is preferred, as it boosts deliverability.
Conversely, a high rate could imply spam-like emails, potentially leading to them being filtered into spam folders. For instance, if you send 1,000 emails and 100 opt out, the unsubscribe rate is 10%, which might indicate a disconnect with your target audience
Industry benchmarks for unsubscribe rates
Understanding industry benchmarks for unsubscribe rates can help you evaluate your email strategies effectively. Different industries have varying average unsubscribe rates, typically ranging from 1% to 2%. If your rate is significantly higher, it may be time to reassess your email content and frequency.
Regularly reviewing these benchmarks allows you to stay competitive and ensure your emails resonate with your audience. Consider using tools like Mailchimp to track and analyze your unsubscribe rates alongside other key performance indicators.
What is considered a good unsubscribe rate?
A good unsubscribe rate depends on your industry.
We've studied our customers of all types to provide you with email marketing benchmarks to help you understand the average unsubscribe rate for your industry. Many industries have average unsubscribe rates as high as 1 or 2%, so don't worry if your rates are slightly higher or lower than the average.
However, if your unsubscribe rate is much higher than the average for your industry, it could indicate that your emails aren't effective. If this is true for your business, you should understand why your unsubscribe rates are so high and find ways to lower them.
How to calculate unsubscribe rate
Now that you understand what a good unsubscribe rate is, you should learn how to calculate it. Luckily, most email marketing automation tools will calculate your unsubscribe rate for you. In addition, you can make reports to determine your rate per email campaign, month, quarter, and so forth to help you understand how many subscribers you're losing.
The formula for calculating your unsubscribe rate is to divide the number of unsubscribed users by the number of emails delivered. Then, multiply that number by 100 to get a percentage.
Why do people unsubscribe from email marketing?
You must collect emails by letting subscribers opt-in on your website or through another verifiable method. Gone are the days when you could purchase email lists from other companies.
Now, ISPs are more intelligent, and consumers are no longer as trusting as they once were. Therefore, if you purchase an email list, you're likely to have high unsubscribe rates, which signals to ISPs that you're sending spam.
If you're collecting emails properly and users know what to expect, you might wonder why your email unsubscribe rates are so high. There are several reasons why people unsubscribe from email marketing, including the following:
- Incorrect expectations: When people sign up to receive your emails, they have certain expectations. If your emails don't meet those expectations, they'll unsubscribe.
- Poor design: Poor email marketing design can make users feel like your business can't be trusted because it's not creating quality, relevant content. Users may unsubscribe if your emails aren't easy to understand and read.
- No segmentation: Email segmentation allows you to target your audiences based on your campaigns effectively. Targeting the wrong people with an offer can make them unsubscribe. For example, if you send a B2B business an offer for consumers only, they're likely to unsubscribe even if you offer B2B products and services.
- Spamming: Email frequency also plays a role in your unsubscribe rate. Sending too many emails can make users feel like you're spamming their inboxes.
6 strategies to reduce email unsubscribe rates
Email marketing is a valuable tool for business promotion, but if your unsubscribe rate is significantly higher than industry standards, it’s time to take action. Here are some effective strategies:
Avoid purchasing email lists
Buying email lists can lead to high unsubscribe rates because recipients haven’t opted in, and they’re unfamiliar with your brand. It can also harm your domain reputation, impacting future email deliverability.
Target your audience wisely
Segmenting your email list allows you to reach specific audiences with tailored content, reducing unsubscribe rates by enhancing relevance.
Personalize your communications
Personalized emails resonate better with recipients, making them less likely to unsubscribe. Most consumers expect some level of personalization in brand communications.
Seek subscriber feedback
Use surveys to gather insights on preferred email content. This helps adjust your strategy to align with subscriber expectations, reducing unsubscribes and boosting engagement.
Optimize for all devices
Responsive design ensures emails are accessible on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, improving user experience and engagement.
Experiment with email frequency
Strike a balance in email frequency based on subscriber preferences. If unsubscribe rates are high, consider reducing the frequency of emails while maintaining relevance.
Other email marketing KPI to track
Your email unsubscribe rate can tell you a lot about your campaigns, but it won't help you understand your email performance and audience unless you track other KPIs with it. Other email marketing stats to track include the following:
- Open rate: Your open rate will tell you how many people open your emails per campaign. You may re-evaluate your subject line to encourage more opens if you have a low open rate.
- Click-through rate (CTR): CTR tells you the percentage of users who have clicked your emails. This number can help you determine whether users are engaging with your emails to determine whether you need to alter the design or offer to encourage more clicks.
- Bounces: The bounce rate of your emails refers to the number of users who open your emails but don't click on clicks or read them. You can remove these users from your future campaigns to reduce the possibility of unsubscribes or send re-engagement emails to keep them interested in your business.
Avoid spamming your email subscribers at all costs
A high email unsubscribe rate can be detrimental to your future email marketing campaigns, forcing your emails to end up in the spam folders of users who want to hear from your business. Therefore, keeping your unsubscribe rate low is crucial to avoid spamming your subscribers. You can lower your rate by personalizing emails, segmenting your audience, and finding new ways to engage subscribers.
Mailchimp makes it easy to understand your unsubscribe rate, manage subscribers, and create engaging, personalized campaigns to increase opens and clicks. Take control of your email marketing strategy today.