But getting subscribers and keeping subscribers are two vastly different subjects – one is talked about a lot, and the other, well, let’s just say there are not many manuals discussing how to keep subscribers.

Part of the reason for this lack of information is that it is simply too wide of an area to cover. In other words, the information would be different for every niche. For example, in the real estate niche people expect quite a bit of information on an ongoing basis. Whereas in a niche like organic gardening, a good weekly newsletter might be very effective.

Find a Sweet Spot

The trick is to find a happy medium, or sweet spot, for a genuine, solid relationship with a coveted subscriber list. If this sweet spot is overlooked, it can result in a surprising number of unsubscribes.

And no one wants to see that unsubscribe number go up and up – of course it happens – but ultimately new subscribers are tougher to generate than keeping the ones you have.

So, with all due respect to the customer subscribing to the list, here are 5 reasons why they might unsubscribe from an email list:

1. They start getting stuff that is not applicable to what they opted in for. I call it stretching your list. Here’s what happens – picture a list in the dog training niche. They opted in and started receiving all sorts of dog training tips and products and services. Until one day, they get an email for a new gardening tool to keep pets out of a garden. While it is somewhat dog related, it does not have anything to do with what they have come to expect from previous emails. Which brings up the next point…
2. They haven’t been prepared for action. They get tip after tip and then all of a sudden an obvious, auto-generated sales email for a product to buy. They don’t expect this type of email, they were expecting the usual tip or technique. So they unsubscribe from the list.
3. They get too many emails.
4. They don’t get enough emails. Numbers 3 and 4 are so closely related that finding a happy medium is a fine line. Emailing a dog training niche list 3 times a week versus emailing them every day – that magic frequency number can mean the difference between a subscriber eager to open the emails and one eager to get off the list. Sending them through an autoresponder forllow-up sequenxe and then not sending them anything for 2 weeks doesn’t foster a relationship.
5. And last but not least, they find the information boring. Who wants to read email after email selling the latest and greatest plugin or new product? That’s boring and repetitive.

Tell Them a Story

So just how do you stand apart from the crowd with your email messages?

Be passionate, be engaging.

Tell your subscribers a story in your emails. Bring them into your sphere and let them see how you can help them.

With the massive growth of the Internet and the influx of new users every single day, people have become more and more aware of scammers and people out there just to get their money. Be the person they get to know, they get to like and they get to trust.

Tell them an impactful story and they will become your customer for life.

What are your thoughts on managing a list? Do you have a method or frequency for your email messages?

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