What Makes You Unsubscribe?

[RobinVDM]

Once you've signed up for someone's newsletter, or downloaded their ebook, or bought their product, what is it about their follow-up emails that would cause you to unsubscribe?

Keeping subscribers is important to me....I'd love to hear some input on what most often causes you to hit the unsubscribe link in emails you receive......


Thanks!
Robin

[Quentin]

If I don't read 3 in a row they get deleted.

If they just sell me all the time they get deleted.

If they just rehash the same stuff they get deleted.

I like interesting and entertaining material so if they fail to deliver they get deleted.

Quentin

[MeysterR]

Honestly, it could be anything from what I had to eat that morning to just my annoyance at receiving a sales email when I was expecting a really important email from someone, like a follow-up about a job or something, especially if this sales email I get is the first email all day, and it's 2:00pm. Other reasons include just poor, rehashed content, low value, and obvious pitches to sell something I really don't need, or am just not interested in. Hope that helps.

[Caleb Spilchen]

PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT RECEIVED
COMMISSION NOTIFICATION.

Basically, if you're going to lie to me.. I'll hit the unsub... Otherwise, I never do.

Caleb

[John Pawlett]

Hi Robin

I unsubscibe to any email that uses RE: if I have not emailled them.

Also if they use lame stuff like 'you've got funds' , 'your check is waiting' or emails with lines like 'I know you are struggling' or my favorite this week: '(forgive me if I'm blunt here) BUT...

... Doing what you're doing right now, you're
NEVER going to make any money.

Yep you got that right. Not a single cent.'

Actually i'm doing all right thank you!

These are the reasons I unsubscibe and as I havent used any of these tactics myself I therefore haven't tested them so I don't know if they would work for the majority of people!

John

[Lou Diamond]

Hello,
I have unsubscribed many times when someone tries to sell me some old stuff that they claim is brand new.

[Sheryl Polomka]

All of the above - plus - when they are a very well known Internet Marketer that always emailed good information, then suddenly overnight seems to become a spammer and emails at least once a day promoting stuff!

The fastest way to go from a well known Internet Marketer to an unsubscribed statistic!

[mcmahanusa]

Timely post. It's something I was thinking about only this morning. All the above posters have echoed my own feelings and responses. I get a lot of emails, and I have started unsubscribing in great earnest, using the above criteria, as well as: when I receive offers from someone who is promoting an essentially worthless offer, I now unsubscribe from their list. Thanks to the WF, I have the ability to research any offer I receive to get the real lowdown on almost any product or service.

Just today I unsubscribed from three different lists, and I feel great about it.

The other side of the coin - if you consistently deliver more than you promise, if you send me emails with value, and if your recommendations are only for solid, worthwhile products, I'll be on your list indefinitely, and be one of your biggest fans.

[RobinVDM]

Thank you! I have to admit, the emails that always assume every subscriber is either a newbie, flat-broke, or flat-out desperate don't get my vote.... or the marketer that emails me for the 3rd time in a day with "just wanted to make sure you got this..."

Your input is really helpful.... I appreciate it very much!

Sincerely,
Robin

[nichescape]

Originally Posted by Caleb Spilchen

PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT RECEIVED
COMMISSION NOTIFICATION.

Basically, if you're going to lie to me.. I'll hit the unsub... Otherwise, I never do.

Caleb

This pretty much sums up my feelings as well. Anything deceptive usually gets unsubscribed right away.

Other than that, I tend to stay on lists for a while even when they don't offer me any value. I just don't usually read the emails.

But every couple of months, I'll get the bug to start cleaning up my inbox a bit and I'll do a mass purge of all the people whose emails I never read.

So if people are factoring me into whether or not any given emails are causing unsubs, I guess they're not getting very good data

John

[dremora]

Originally Posted by Caleb Spilchen

PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT RECEIVED
COMMISSION NOTIFICATION.

Basically, if you're going to lie to me.. I'll hit the unsub... Otherwise, I never do.

Caleb

I'm with you there. I even wrote a whole rant on my blog about it not too long ago.

Now there is a new trend 'Re: Your refund' watch out for that one, too.

[Abhik]

Well.. if the newsletters are full of promotion, I just unsubscribe.

[ChristineP]

I have a slightly different reason - too often I'm forced to sigh-up for a list to get access to a giveaway or product or etc.. I don't know if I like the giveaway or product etc.. until I've signed up for the list and gained access.

I think when you 'force' sign-ups like this - a good %'age are going to unsubscribe. If you just provide the goodie and let people decide for themselves if they want to return to your site to sign-up, you'd have a better list with less un-subscribes.

Now before everyone disagrees and says no one will ever return to sign-up - gotta catch them up front, signing-up to get the giveaway is a time-tested method - I know, I'm just saying, I'm a chronic un-subscriber because I feel like I'm always forced to sign up for lists to see what people have to offer.

Offer the value first then get subscribers that way.

Christine

[SmartyD]

I hate being sent a million emails from the same damn person. I mean really why in the world do people need to send three four emails a day. That is just milking it.

[Garage667]

"Hey Dimitris,Payment Notification"
"Earn 783.961,98$ in 2 minutes work"
"Read emails and get paid-I got 480$ today only!"

This kind of stuff make me want unsubscribe immediately.I want to make money online,i am not stupid!

Dimitris

[Kevin Birch]

Originally Posted by RobinVDM

Once you've signed up for someone's newsletter, or downloaded their ebook, or bought their product, what is it about their follow-up emails that would cause you to unsubscribe?

Keeping subscribers is important to me....I'd love to hear some input on what most often causes you to hit the unsubscribe link in emails you receive......


Thanks!
Robin

I hate emails that:

include 'I goofed . . .' in the subject line
body text that include profanities (inc OMG)
Subject lines that go something like, "Frankly, I'm shocked'
Subject lines like "Only 15 left . . ."

I will list more later!

Kevin

[oneplusone]

For me it is getting an excessive number of e-mails in a short space of time.

I don't do it to anyone (when I'm e-mailing my lists), and I don't like it being done to me.

[dremora]

Originally Posted by oneplusone

For me it is getting an excessive number of e-mails in a short space of time.

I don't do it to anyone (when I'm e-mailing my lists), and I don't like it being done to me.

Same here, I hate spam. I unsubscribe from everyone who flood my inbox on a daily basis. I just don't have time for that. Look at marketers like Imran Naseem and Maddi Murtaza, they send emails few and far between, and when they do, it's always something extremely valuable.


I do the same with my list, I put intervals of 5-7 days and I don't get a lot of unsubscribes. Nowadays I am emailing very rarely, only for promoting my own products or sending a very valuable free article.

[jacquic]

Pretty well what everyone else said above!

Also:

When there is a link to a video that you can't see how long it is or control (eg, to rewind or speed up).

When I get what is patently a stick and paste message for an affiliate thing - can they not write it in their own words and style?

When I get a daily email - and usually promoting something.

When I have stopped needing something - I have just moved on; in that case I do write and explain why, and thank them for the newsletters.

When they are all promo and no helpful content.

When they all link to a video tip - they take so long! If it's just a chunter/chat (rather than a how-to), I would rather have something to read or listen to.

[JohnMcCabe]

Without getting into specifics, because a lot of things will make me reach for the unsubscribe link, the big three generalities are:

1. Lie to me.
2. Treat me like I'm an idiot.
3. Bore me.

If I get your freebie and fail to find value in that, you'll never get a chance to get me with an email. Note well, I didn't say your freebie had no value - I said I found no value for me. Different animals.

For example, if I get your free report and it ends up mainly talking about making money with Adsense, that has no value for me because my Adsense account went bye-bye long ago.

[xInd]

Unfortunately I believe I am contributing to e-waste.
Nothing seems to make me unsubscribe. I just make another filter. lol. I keep thinking one time I'll go look and find something that makes it worth while.

[deertrail]

What makes me unsubscribe?

1. When I see their email in my inbox and feel "duty" to open vs "desire" to open.

2. When the time spent reading their emails is not worth the opportunity cost.

[yukon]

What Makes You Unsubscribe?

Boredom...

Thousands of emails that are useless.

I never unsubscribe, they always kick it up a notch with the crap email.

A simple redirect to the spam folder works, just fine.

[HarveyDanger]

Basically this is my philosophy as well. Also if they send me a newsletter every day I start looking at it as more spam then anything.

Originally Posted by Quentin

If I don't read 3 in a row they get deleted.

If they just sell me all the time they get deleted.

If they just rehash the same stuff they get deleted.

I like interesting and entertaining material so if they fail to deliver they get deleted.

Quentin

[Fraggler]

Constant promotions are a big killer for myself.

All the work seems to be directed at getting people to sign-up to their mailing lists. After you are on they just throw crap at the wall and hope some sticks.

I have found only a handful who deliver useful information. They all run great blogs with better info than many paid products. They promote products rarely but with honesty.

I am on a persons mailing list to receive more of their knowledge - not as a third party product notification tool. If I think you have the knowledge and authority on a subject I am going to be a lot more responsive.

If you promote constantly and immediately after I join your list without any hint of sharing your knowledge, I assume you have known and unsubscribe.

[good2go4]

A lot like the reports above - I hate lying with a passion so the "you have received payment" and stuff like that is an automatic unsubscribe. Other emails telling me that they have "had a problem with my email account" - I mean how many times can that happen? And because I am signed up to a lot of IM lists if I look down my emails in the morning and see 5 - 6 different marketers all using the same subject line - they are all gone because they are obviously selling affiliate products and have not been bothered to put any effort into the marketing side of things...

And finally those stupid emails that just say "you have to see this" and a link - no I don't have to see anything i don't want to and at least with the emails that short it is easier to find the unsubscribe button...

Didn't mean to get this irrate with this but I had over 150 of these very things in my email this morning and as I was busy I did get annoyed

Lisa

[luckyone2day]

If I continuely am getting something then that really annoys me. If its just every two weeks or so then it doesnt bother me. And I definetly agree if it starts with RE then im gonna unsub.

[Justin.Zimmerman]

I've honestly been on some list where I'd get a sales
email everyday and the one email talked about how
it was better than "product abc" which they were
trying to sell me the day before!

I guess they thought if you thought this one
wasn't good enough to buy how about this!
haha

[cscarpero]

I don't mind promos every now and then but if they are promoting something that has excessive negative reviews just to get an affiliate commission, its an unsub from me.

[Angelita]

I received an email asking for my mailing address so they could mail me my 'free gift' lol

I unsubscribed.

I also unsubscribe if it's a sales pitch after sale's pitch with now real content value.

[SniperSoftware]

Honestly, you need to build rapport. Personally, I like to give a lot of advice, and only recommend anything that is really worth it. Never over recommend, and always give a lot of tips for your niche. I unsubscribe when I get too many "recommendations" without any real content in between.

[cooljazz]

heaps of emails. i hate it.

[Jeff Henshaw]

What Makes You Unsubscribe?

I think that it's all been posted, but for the record:-

- Headlines not related to the email content;

- Promoting products and services that have whiskers on them (old);

- Promoting anything that is an obvious scam;

- Promoting anything that turns out to be a scam;

- Sending more sales pitches than useful content;

- Sending more than one email a day (unless in exceptional circumstances).

I can probably think of a few more, but it's 3:15 am here in the UK, so I'm going to wind down!

Regards,
Jeff.

[Gary King]

Let's flip the equation...

Are your subscribers leaving?

Do everything you can to provide valuable, timely information related to the reason they signed up.

Personally, I unsubscribe for lots of reasons - most listed above.

All success,

Gary

[Irishman]

The subject line (and I'm not making this up)...

" , a personal invite from me."

[Pat Blank]

I unsubscribe to everything.

Unless it's one of the very few people who I know by name, and I really want to hear from them.

I get way too much email and if I actually read it, I'd never have any time to work.

[nakmuay7]

Always being offered nothing and recieving emails every week or two...

if your going to email me make sure its an offer or try and make it seem that way!

LOL

i find the best remedy is never signing up in the first place.

[mywebwork]

Originally Posted by Caleb Spilchen

PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT RECEIVED
COMMISSION NOTIFICATION.

Originally Posted by John Pawlett

I unsubscibe to any email that uses RE: if I have not emailled them.

Also if they use lame stuff like 'you've got funds' , 'your check is waiting' or emails with lines like 'I know you are struggling' or my favorite this week: '(forgive me if I'm blunt here) BUT...

... Doing what you're doing right now, you're
NEVER going to make any money.

Yep you got that right. Not a single cent.'

Originally Posted by dremora

Now there is a new trend 'Re: Your refund' watch out for that one, too.

Originally Posted by Garage667

"Hey Dimitris,Payment Notification"
"Earn 783.961,98$ in 2 minutes work"
"Read emails and get paid-I got 480$ today only!"

Originally Posted by Kevin Birch

include 'I goofed . . .' in the subject line
body text that include profanities (inc OMG)
Subject lines that go something like, "Frankly, I'm shocked'
Subject lines like "Only 15 left . . ."

A nice summary and thanks for saving me the trouble of typing it out - I unsubscribe for all of those reasons.

There have also been a few bozo's who actually send out mail saying "I'm dropping you from my list unless you respond to this" - I save them the trouble and unsubscribe immediately. If I had time I'd send them mail explaining just how unreliable e-mail tracking is, but they really aren't worth the effort.

If even ONE of those marketers who mails out this garbage is on the forum or lurking I hope they read this post and consider how many subscribers they have lost due to resorting to such pathetic attention grabbers.

Bill

[C Faber]

I tend to only unsubscribe when I do not even remember how I actually got on somebody's list. So basically it was forced in opting in to somebody's list I opt out

[Marian]

Originally Posted by Quentin

If I don't read 3 in a row they get deleted.

If they just sell me all the time they get deleted.

If they just rehash the same stuff they get deleted.

I like interesting and entertaining material so if they fail to deliver they get deleted.

Quentin

If they're not vegetarians - they get deleted.
If they drink alcohol - they get deleted.
If they sleep less than 7 hours - they get deleted.

OMG, I'm deleted. Sorry couldn't resist.

Marian

[thebitbotdotcom]

What makes me unsubscribe each and every time without a doubt is the very first email that doesn't offer value.

or...

emails that contain only hard sells.

[samuelford]

When emails are sent for email's sake and they come in more than one at a time.

It immediately tells me that they don't genuinely want to help me, but are only contacting me to enhance their chances of a sale.

Only contact your lists if you genuinely have something of quality to offer them.

Sam.

[Vogin]

It's quite simple. I unsubscribe at the first time of any dishonesty whatsoever.

That includes claims like $243,546.17 in 45 days or
Have a great, life-solving product for just $297
and last, but not the least Here's your software worth $5678 for just $57...

Ed Dale does a good job with The Challenge, I never wanted to unsubscribe there. That's my ideal newsletter.

[Justin W]

- Too many e-mails
- Ridiculous claims
- Ridiculous subject lines.

One time I got an e-mail from someone with the subject "Dammit you need this!". I hit the unsubscribe button as fast as possible.

[Mcrofts]

I Still Subscribe To 80+ Marketer's

If it just start's to become Sale's pitches Only, I'd Unsubscribe.
But Like a Sale's Pitch that's the same one there all handed out ect.

If I just Get Sale's Pitches But there good one's I stay , & Store all those to Look at for later.

Everyone just want's Quality & not to be sold to Really Some Marketer's all they do is send out Sale's Pitche's

[Raymond_Perrin]

Agree with most of the posts above.

Being bombarded (1-3 emails every day on some lists) with emails is a real turn-off. To me, it's a sign that the list owner is focussed on quantity not quality and is playing a tacky percentages game with their list.

Misleading subject lines is another way to get me reaching for the unsubscribe button really quick. Also subject lines that make too many (usually false) assumptions like: "I know you're desperate for some cash," or "I just HAD to share this with my closest friends."

[mattbrenner]

I have unsubscribed when I got a repeated mail with old things and if my mail box has huge mails, I will unsubscribe the unwanted ones.

[Geoff101]

People who send me junk emails with no real value. Or they are sending emails that Always have something to sell.

[HealingThatFeeling]

Originally Posted by SmartyD

I hate being sent a million emails from the same damn person. I mean really why in the world do people need to send three four emails a day. That is just milking it.

This happened to me the other day and it infuriated me 4 emails from the same person within the space of 24 hours, all selling different affiliate products and absolutely NO useful information. I was so annoyed that I had a subscription purge and started to delete ALL of the useless affiliate marketers that just promote all the time. I've only kept a few of them now, because I'm so sick of receiving the same crap.

I also unsubscribe to ones that are no longer of interest to me (I'm in the self development field and sometimes a new method or treatment comes along that seems interesting, but doesn't really prove useful to me or my clients).

[peterj]

Originally Posted by Caleb Spilchen

PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT RECEIVED
COMMISSION NOTIFICATION.

Basically, if you're going to lie to me.. I'll hit the unsub... Otherwise, I never do.

Caleb

Ditto to those. They used to just be in the subject line but now I've noticed people using them in the From field and whenever I would see it, it would irritate the hell out of me.so goodbye to them.

Plus getting 3 or more a day from the same person.