Every business that offers an email subscription for its customers experiences it at some point: the dreaded unsubscribe. As upsetting as it is, it’s part of the job when it comes to email marketing and customer relationship management (CRM).
But what should you do with unsubscribed email addresses within your CRM? Should you keep them in your system even though that person doesn’t want to receive promotional messaging from you anymore, or do you simply delete them from your CRM? We’re answering those questions and more.
Keep reading to learn how to manage unsubscribes in your CRM and how you can take preventative measures to avoid unsubscribes and even win some back.
What is an unsubscribe?
An unsubscribe is a lead or customer who opts out of receiving any more marketing emails or messaging from your business. Offering customers and leads the option to opt out of marketing messaging is a requirement for businesses under CAN-SPAM laws.
While it’s upsetting to see one of your customers indicate that they don’t want to receive messages from you anymore, it happens. Unsubscribes can happen for a lot of different reasons, including:
They’re no longer interested in your content or have decided it’s no longer relevant to them
They’ve decided to work with a competitor instead
They’ve changed job roles
Average unsubscribe rates are estimated between 0.2% and 0.5%—that being said, it’s important to keep in mind that these numbers can vary by industry. If you begin to notice a high unsubscribe rate, you want to do some investigating into the overall deliverability and relevance of your content’s messaging.
Managing unsubscribes professionally and courteously
When you get an unsubscribe, it’s only natural that your first questions are, “What do I do with an unsubscribed email address?” or, “Should I delete unsubscribed emails?” When it comes to managing unsubscribes within your CRM, there’re a few different options for what you can do with them.
Create an opt-out list, but don’t delete them
As upsetting as it is to receive an unsubscribe, you don’t want to burn any bridges. Rather than simply deleting the contact information of unsubscribes from your CRM, create an opt-out list instead.
With an opt-out list, you can keep track of all your leads and customers who elected to opt out of receiving promotional emails from you but still keep them in your system. This way, if you ever try to reach out to them again in the future or they reach out to you, you know exactly who they are and don’t have to re-enter information.
Delete them from your CRM (but keep them on file!)
If you’re looking to keep your CRM clutter free and remove unnecessary contacts, you can always delete your unsubscribes. But, if you’re going to do that, we recommend you still maintain an opt-out list so you can reference the contacts you’re no longer sending promotional messaging to.
How to “resubscribe” an unsubscribed email (and avoid unsubscribes altogether)
So, you’ve lost a subscriber. While you can’t resubscribe someone who opted out of promotional messaging, you can remove that contact from a specific audience, leaving the opportunity to convince them to rejoin themselves. Below are a few ways you can try to win back subscribers and avoid unsubscribes altogether.
Give them other options to stay in touch
Receiving an unsubscribe isn’t fun, but it doesn’t mean your customer is gone forever. When a lead opts out of receiving messages from you, there’s still a chance they can rejoin your audience by opting back in later down the road.
Businesses usually send a “We’re sorry to see you go” email when someone unsubscribes or indicates that they no longer want to receive promotional messaging from you, so take that last chance to make one last good impression on that lead. Should they change their mind and decide to rejoin, they’ll know that there are ways to reach you again.
By giving your unsubscribes ways in which they can stay in touch, you keep the door open for them to come back.
Create engaging messages
The best way to ensure your messages avoid a user’s junk folder and make a positive impact on your leads is to create engaging, helpful messaging that encourages them to continue receiving promotional content from you.
Pay attention to your email campaigns and make a note of the ones that elicit the most clicks and replies from your audience.
What content are they reacting to the most? Create email campaigns that successfully encourage subscriber interaction and give them incentives to continue receiving promotional messaging from you. For example, remind your subscribers that they’ll get exclusive promotions (or helpful reminders of promotions) through your email campaigns.
Just like regular marketing campaigns that convince leads to convert into customers, the best way to avoid unsubscribes is to consistently show the value of your continued promotional messaging.
Manage your unsubscribes and resubscribes with Nutshell CRM
With Nutshell’s all-in-one CRM system, you can expertly manage your unsubscribes and resubscribes.
Nutshell won’t send any more promotional emails a customer’s way when they unsubscribe from your emails. When a lead opts out of promotional emails, you can easily remove that customer from the indicated audience but keep them within your system and leave them the option to re-subscribe later down the road.
Learn more about how Nutshell can help you manage your email campaign subscribers and unsubscribes by trying a free trial of Nutshell’s CRM or attending a live demo today.
