Why Unsubscribes Will Increase in 2024
You’ve heard it here first. I predict that brands will see their unsubscribe rates trend upward this year, and I’m here for it!
Email marketing engagement, or email success, is usually defined with three or four metrics. Open rates, click rates, unsubscribe rates, and spam complaint rates. Hopefully, we’re all able to access other complimentary data such as conversion rates, or purchase events to tie back to our emails as well.
In 2021, we witnessed open rates take a sharp turn and transition into a vanity metric with Apple’s MPP, and the emergence of open pixels being fetched at time of delivery on many Apple devices. I could spend time walking through this update but I encourage you to do other Googling on this issue if you aren’t aware of it.
In 2024, I predict unsubscribe rates to take a similar turn. Not in the same drastic way as open rates skyrocketed in 2021, but with the emergence of Google and Yahoo requiring one-click unsubscribe as of February 2024, more subscribes will be given easier opportunities to opt-out of content they no longer want. As they should be able to do.
Email clients are making in-product updates as well that call on the easy option to unsubscribe. See below, what used to be a <unsubscribe> in grey font, is now a larger, coloured font-size in Gmail. Making it clear and eye catching for the subscriber to engage with.
Unsubscribes have always been something that are for the most part mandatory across all jurisdictions, but brands still find ways to make it difficult. Whether it be:
Hiding the unsubscribe option in small 10px font in the footer
Requiring a log-in to unsubscribe
Requiring individuals to manually opt-out of 10+ preferences that the brand has opted the subscriber into
The changing times
We’ve started to see common subscriber pain points be addressed by email clients. We saw in 2021 that the open rate began it’s downfall — it was because subscribers wanted more privacy and for brands not to know if they did indeed open emails.
In the past 3-5 years, there’s been a rise of data privacy-conscious consumers. And email clients like Gmail and Yahoo are listening.
In 2024, it’s giving subscribers back the power to easily remove themselves from email lists they no longer find relevant to them.
Not to mention in the US, requiring an opt-in isn’t a legal requirement. Subscribers can find themselves on many email lists within explicit permission, and then in sticky situations when the brands make it difficult to opt-out. But not for long.
Email will continue to dominate as a channel of choice for brands and businesses, especially with social media taking a turn lately for it’s inability to capture an audience that one can actually “own”. Think of enabling a one-click unsubscribe the same as clicking “unfollow”.
If anything, I expect the impact of email marking for businesses sto flourish over the next year, despite a higher unsubscribe rate.
How marketers can prepare
I strongly urge all marketers to establish a benchmark for unsubscribes. What are you seeing today on your newsletters, onboarding emails, and post-purchase touch points? Your welcome series should be the lowest unsubscribe % of all.
If you are concerned about the number of subscribers you lose via unsubscribe, think about the following questions:
Why might someone be unsubscribing?
Is my content still relevant?
Have they purchased or interacted with my brand previously? Do I expect them to do so again in the future?
Am I communicating too frequently?
Do I make my content about me, or them?
If they stay on my email list and don’t engage, what are either of us gaining?
What do I ideally want this subscriber to do?
If you can pinpoint an answer to #1, you might be able to readjust your strategy to provide better value to the subscriber.
If you can’t pinpoint what something either of you are gaining to question #2, who cares if they unsubscribe?
If you can’t identify a goal for them via #3, who cares if they unsubscribe?
An unsubscribe is not a goodbye forever
I frequently speak to brands and businesses that think that an unsubscribe is a death sentence. But its not. Just because someone doesn’t want to hear from you ever single day in their inbox, doesn’t mean they aren’t still interested in your product.
There are so many other channels to continue to remain in touch with a lead, customer, relationship.
Retargeting ads — use these to communicate product launches, sales, win-back strategies for those that have unsubscribed.
Push notifications
Web-browser notifications
In-app messages
Website pop-ups
SMS or MMS
Social media
With the amount of emails we continue to receive coming in higher volumes each year, consumers may be more selective about the emails they receive. And let them! Some channels are far better for a subscriber than email.
I am personally looking forward to this new era of email, backed by Google and Yahoo. And in turn, I’m excited to see more email marketers focus on value-based emails that subscribers are excited about receiving.