I can't believe how many companies think that just because I've given them my email address (i.e. to send me an online purchase confirmation email), that this is my tacit approval or desire to be opted in to their email newsletter! Just today, I received an e-newsletter about a piece of hosted software I bought for less than $3 a month. The software I think is very cool (so out of consideration I won't name the company), but they turned me off by signing me up for a newsletter I didn't want.

Yes, they included an unsubscribe link, and I assume they’ll honor it. And it's possible there was a checkbox I hadn’t noticed that subscribed me unless I unchecked it. But my not unsubscribing myself because I hadn’t noticed it isn’t opting in. And it definitely isn’t a double opt-in. What’s more, by subscribing me in this manner they took a positive experience with their company and turned it into something negative. I mean, if we all got a newsletter subscription from every company from which we’ve ever bought something online, and every other Web site to which we’ve given our email addresses – our inboxes would virtually self-destruct from all the email!

I understand that people want to grow their email lists and they don’t always know the best way to go about doing so. Or they’re under some pressure to increase their email list size and don’t have a lot of choice in the matter when it comes to email marketing best practices. But members “subscribed” in this way, as a default or an opt-out, will more than likely not remain members. In fact, I myself unsubscribed immediately without even reading the newsletter - I knew I didn’t want it and was annoyed about receiving it.

What’s the solution? In a word: relevance. It’s a buzzword these days to be sure, but for good reason. Relevance is what makes your email newsletter interesting to your subscribers, inspiring them to subscribe in the first place. Provide content that is interesting and engaging and people will sign up. It won’t happen overnight -- your email list will take some time to grow organically in this way, and there will still be some list churn. But in time you’ll likely find increased membership duration, open and response rates, forwards-to-a-friend, social network tagging, and so on.

The other option is less popular, but also sometimes true. Your company or business may just not be able to sustain a regular newsletter audience. While there may be a few people interested enough to sign up, it may be that your list will never be very big, or a very important driver of your business. And that’s okay. As long as people come to your Web site and convert. You need an online presence. You may not need an e-newsletter.

###

Related Resources:

• Subscribe to Inside Lyris HQ our monthly online-marketing newsletter.
• Download free online-marketing guides, tools and webinars in the Lyris Online-Marketing Resource Center.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment