Is YOUR follow-up sequence driving people away?

19 replies
Hey guys

Have you ever checked your follow-up message statistics to see which of them causes the most unsubscribes?

You might be surprised at the findings!

I just did a check on a sequence we run and here are the statistics for the 6 messages in the sequence.

Message #1 generates 15.5% of the unsubscribes
Message #2 generates 76.8% of the unsubscribes
Message #3 generates none of the unsubscribes
Message #4 generates 0.6% of the unsubscribes
Message #5 generates 0.6% of the unsubscribes
Message #6 generates 6.6% of the unsubscribes

It's very interesting to see that message #2 generates so many more unsubscribes than the other messages. That message needs some SERIOUS work.

So look at your own statistics for your follow-up messages because it could actually be your content that is driving people away.

Now there's a scary thought.

Cheers,

Neil
#driving #followup #losing #people #sequence #subscribers
  • Profile picture of the author drewfioravanti
    They are the freebie seekers collecting their products and moving on.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Nope.

    No freebies in that sequence and none promised.
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    • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
      The other number that's worth working on is the total unsubscribes.

      It's 8.9% of all subscribers who join the list.

      Now, that number is meaningless on its own but its a number that we should be striving to drive down.

      Cheers,

      Neil
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      • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
        Effective marketing is as much about driving the wrong
        people AWAY from you as it is about keeping the right
        people TO you.

        Many people don't want to rock the boat and aim to
        keep their unsubscribes low and drive their unsubscribe
        rates downwards.

        That's a mistake.

        Instead, put out a strong polarizing message that gets
        people split into believers and non-believers.

        Sure, your unsubscribe rates will go up, but so will the
        responses from people who like what you say and want
        to buy what you sell.

        Dedicated to mutual success,

        Shaun
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        .

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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        There's a section in my book where I talk about kaizen and combining incremental improvements through testing, and using business data to identify 'low-hanging fruit'.

        Neil posted a perfect example of low-hanging fruit. One message in his sequence is causing most of his unsubscribes. By itself, it's a possible place to improve. The question is, how much?

        It depends on what percentage of his sales come after that second message. If he could cut down the unsubscribes to the same levels as the other messages, 5-6 more people per hundred subscribers will see those messages. Which means extra sales with no additional traffic and no improvement in opt-in rate.

        Not only that, the improvement will also apply to any successful improvements in traffic or opt-in conversions.

        All from improving one message in the sequence...
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    • Profile picture of the author Devin X
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

      Nope.

      No freebies in that sequence and none promised.
      Was the second one a promotional email? I'm curious as to what set that one apart from the others in your series.
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  • Profile picture of the author Luis Vaugier
    I use a a welcome message something like, "in the next mail I'll tell you how to blabla" same in the second, after that I send an offer or more free content, so far, so good
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  • Profile picture of the author SShip
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author LuckyIMer
      Originally Posted by SShip View Post

      From my experience and how I look at lists that I'm on. It's because people like to sell, sell, sell in their auto-responder emails. I don't mind the selling part, but when you try to insult my intelligence by telling me that I need to try out your "friends" product, it's not happening. I know their not your friend, I know your an affilate and now you're just trying to make a buck. Trying to make a buck, is fine, I get it and that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is the fact that your now fibbing to make a buck. Don't tell me the person is your friend. When you do that, the trust just went out the window because many of us, know that the person sending the email hasn't even tried it themselves. I also don't like when they try to sell me on every single email that they send. Just my opinion.
      That`s a good point. Another aspect is that I really hate seeing on and on daily emails telling me I need to buy something.. it`s boring and exhausting.. Just slow down on blasts and you`ll see lower unsubscribe numbers..
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Good post Shaun.

    And the follow-up sequence is a step in the qualification process that starts with the initial signup.

    Good call.
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  • Profile picture of the author retsced
    Person subscribes and downloads the product (a lot will immediately unsubscribe straight away because they had no intention of adding another marketers emails to their already huge inbox)

    The people who unsubscribe after the first email obviously didn't get the desired value/result out of the download and therefore they unsubscribe.

    I'm not saying that this is the case here, but for most of the list builders out there I reckon the statistics from the first and second email are not surprising.
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    • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
      It's a straightforward course with no freebies and no promotions.

      Don't worry about me, I'll be able to sort it out. I just haven't had a chance to look at it yet. This was really a heads up for everyone else to check their own sequences.

      Some great ideas are coming out here.

      Cheers,

      Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    It's so interesting that so many people are assuming that
    they know what the message CONTENT is when Neil didn't
    mention this. How can you know why they are unsubscribing
    if you don't know what the messages say and for what
    product the series is written?

    The only conclusion that can be drawn is already related
    in the OP--you need to ask what about message #2 is
    causing this high unsubscribe rate.

    -Ray Edwards
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    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Indeed. I can't even remember what's in it. It will be fun reviewing it though. I like whodunnits!
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  • Profile picture of the author rmolina88
    I actually get my most unsubscribes from the middle of my sequence, although I still get a lot of buyers from way after too.
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  • Profile picture of the author enrikm
    Getting unsubscribes isn't actually always a bad thing.

    These are probably the people who will never buy anything from you so it's okay to just see them go away.
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  • Profile picture of the author jpboxersox
    I been only promoting after the 7th email. Most of my emails before that is building trust with your new best friend. Yeah I will promote a product I do recommend in the 1st couple of emails (rare) but the first couple of emails is great content which is free. After that they can decide if they like my tone of voice, trust and info.

    I do lose most of my subscribers towards the end of my followups...but if they are not interested no longer why waste your time and their time?
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I've actually looked at my stats and have made the same analysis a few months back. I discovered that most people unsubscribed on the 5th message. To fix this, i moved that message to email #35, and replaced it with a follow-up message that was similar to message #4. Unsubscribed rates dropped.
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