4 Ways to Make Sure Your Email List Doesn't End Up Dead Automation makes things easy, but it also could lead to high unsubscribe rates. You need to track and balance your messages.
By Jonathan Long •
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Automated emails can help your business save time, but that doesn't mean you need to abuse them.
There is nothing more dangerous than automated-email-marketing software in the hands of an overly aggressive company. It should be used to help build your list, not deplete it. If you are constantly hammering your list with emails, you will witness your unsubscribe rate shoot through the roof. This is very counterproductive.
Related: Top 10 Ways to Get People to Read and Respond to Your Emails
It is important that you are smart with your email marketing. Make sure you are keeping track of the frequency of your messages and utilize the tracking to see how your list is responding. Use the following tips to help keep your leads engaged with your brand and subscribed to your list as they pass through your marketing funnel.
1. Track all activity. Most email-marketing-software and platforms allow you to track open and click-through rates of any links included in the message. This gives you a great overview of overall engagement.
Are subscribers even interested in what you are sending them? Are they all opening your emails but not clicking on any of your calls-to-action?
This data will quickly let you know if your approach is working or if you need to make some tweaks to your messages. If your open rates are low, you will need to experiment with different subject lines. If your click-through rate for your call-to-action is low, you will need better email copy.
You will also need to experiment with different delivery times and frequencies. Once you have a solid open rate and engagement you know that your delivery times and frequencies are working well for your audience.
2. Segment your list based on activity. Most email marketing software will allow you to see the level of engagement for each subscriber. For example, MailChimp rates each subscriber with a star rating. This allows you to see how responsive they are with your mailings. You can then break your subscribers into groups.
When you group your subscribers together based on activity, it allows you to market to each group separately. People that are more active and open all of your emails will respond better to more aggressive offers, while you can be less aggressive with the subscribers that are not yet fully engaged with your brand.
Related: Leveraging Big Data to Boost Click-Through Rates
My company uses this feature for our Market Domination Media newsletter, sending each subscriber our weekly newsletter and holding out on special offers until their engagement reaches a certain level.
3. Split-test frequency. Every business is going to have a list of subscribers that react differently to the frequency they are emailed. Some lists will interact with every message, even if they are emailed several times a month. Other lists will perform better if you just reach out once a month.
There is no guessing game involved. You are going to need to split-test several frequencies and use that data to fine-tune your approach. You may lose some subscribers in the beginning, but finding the best formula for your target market is crucial for long-term success.
4. Never stop building your list. You should always be adding to your list, and using different forms of online marketing to build your list. Paid search marketing, search-engine optimization and social-media marketing can all be used to drive traffic to your landing pages and lead capture forms.
For your automated-email-marketing funnel to keep producing revenue, you need to constantly add fresh prospects. If you stop adding new leads, you will eventually hammer your email list to death. At one point each lead will finish traveling through your funnel and they will either unsubscribe, convert into revenue or turn into a dead lead.
While automated-email-marketing software is an essential part of your email-marketing strategy, it is important that you use it correctly. The last thing you want to do is kill your email list.
Constantly building your list while monitoring your data and adjusting your campaign along the way will help lower your unsubscribe rate, and increase your conversions and revenue.
Related: Build Your Email List With Distraction-Free Landing Pages and 3 Other Techniques
