Why do people complain for recieving emails?

13 replies
I don't get it, i have various lists in IM niche and they are all double optin with aweber.
The last 3 messages i sent have all had complaints against them!.

The worse one i had was one i sent out at Xmas wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year, that got loads of complaints.

They have all signed up to my lists so if they don't want to receive my mails why don't they just unsubscribe rather than hitting the junk button?

I wish there was a way i could find out who was making the complaints so i could manually delete them myself.

Very annoying!
#complain #emails #people #recieving
  • Profile picture of the author TeddyP
    How often do you send messages?

    It might not matter - we also have a double opt-in Aweber list - we send out a newsletter weekly - and we also get the odd complaint. Not sure why someone would sign up for the newsletter and then complain about it.

    The Merry christmas one might be a little touchy though just ebcause a lot of people on your list might not even celebrate Christmas. I'd avoid messages like that personally.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      You want to cut down on complaints? I will tell you THE secret to having more people subscribe, READ your emails, etc..., and FEWER complain! If anyone tells you different, FORGET IT! This is THE secret!

      READY!?!?

      Here it goes!

      *****ALWAYS***** provide something worthwhile that is useful to your readers! The more obscure, and useful, the better. ALSO, if you CLEARLY don't make anything off of it, it will be better. If you then said "HAIL SATAN" to a devout Christian, or "heil hilter" to a jewish person, their hatred would STILL be mitigated! Of course, I suggest you stay away from politics, religion, culture, and other biases, unless it fits THE demographic.

      Many here use that EVEN without understanding it! THAT is why bonuses often work, etc...
      I have literally seen some here offer TOTALLY unrelated bonuses, and wonder why they don't work! DUH! If you advertise a product for creating graphics, templates and base graphics are GREAT bonuses, but pantyhose probably AREN'T!

      One more thing! A lot of people here think a "subscription" form means the person subscribed. It DOESN'T! Many here advocate things like "squeeze pages". Do you think 100% of people use those to subscribe? NO WAY! What a STUPID claim! MANY do it for a bonus, free info, or curiousity. If you follow my first step here, and they read it, they might get hooked. Otherwise, FORGET IT! Many here think people will just unsubscribe! NO WAY! What a STUPID claim! That means COMMUNICATION! It means that they trust you will honor it! Many DON'T! It means they don't think about viruses or signups elsewhere, but many DO! MANY people have advised readers, in NATIONAL publications, NOT to unsubscribe, for just those reasons!

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author JustinPremick
    Hi SpudDS,

    A couple things to consider:

    They have all signed up to my lists so if they don't want to receive my mails why don't they just unsubscribe rather than hitting the junk button?
    There are a lot of reasons why people click "spam" - most of which
    have nothing to do with the traditional "unsolicited bulk email" definition
    that marketers tend to think of.

    I wish there was a way i could find out who was making the complaints so i could manually delete them myself.
    At AWeber we do that for you.

    The worse one i had was one i sent out at Xmas wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year, that got loads of complaints.
    Don't send those. People get too many of them. They mark them as spam.

    Hope this helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author Frank Ayres
      Originally Posted by JustinPremick View Post

      Hi SpudDS,

      A couple things to consider:



      There are a lot of reasons why people click "spam" - most of which
      have nothing to do with the traditional "unsolicited bulk email" definition
      that marketers tend to think of.



      At AWeber we do that for you.



      Don't send those. People get too many of them. They mark them as spam.

      Hope this helps!
      Thanks for that Justin,
      i didn't realize that aweber automatically delete them, that is good, i am pleased
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  • Profile picture of the author Elvin Tiong
    It will be better to send some useful and helpful information to your subscribers. They prefer to learn something from you.

    The worse one i had was one i sent out at Xmas wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year, that got loads of complaints.
    Those people probably not celebrate X'mas and may struggle for money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Davis
    I think some people sign up for your emails without even realizing that they did. Some people just click away without knowing what they are clicking on.
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  • Profile picture of the author Harry Behrens
    I've found this is a bit touchy in that a lot of people pay close attention and hold you to what you offer/promise on the signup.

    If you get them to sign up "To get a free report", then that free report is THE thing that they're expecting from you - nothing else. If you then start sending them additional emails after that, they WILL see this as a breach of the "spoken contract", if you will.

    Similarly, if you say something like "Sign up to get notices on future updates to the software" then that's it - they're going to be accepting notices on updates to the software - the second you send an email without any update notice but instead a well-meaning affiliate product, you better apologize for it first thing in the email, or many people are going right for that Spam button (and even so some will still).

    I don't know what your sign-up page is like obviously, but I think your best best is to state clearly up front that product reviews and recommendations (or whatever it is you're sending them) are part and parcel of what they will be receiving in the future, and hold yourself to it.
    Signature

    - Harry Behrens

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  • Profile picture of the author Shane Watson
    I don't want to be negative that much. But if my mood is bad, then the favorite food of mine will test like horse s..t.

    I am just saying it could be a possibility.
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  • Good thought from others already. People do change their minds, are in a bad mood, just got some bad news, can't remember what they did or didn't sign up for, what they got in the email didn't look like what they thought they were going to get, etc. Unfortunately, unsubscribes and spam reports are part of the business. Pay attention to them, manage them, and keep those rates low. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author LastWarrior
    I don't complain about receiving emails unless I don't see an opt-out button. I have seen on several occasions where the first email had no opt-out button. When I want out of an email list or subscription, I just use the opt-out option.

    As for why people complain... with me, like I said, I don't complain, but I want to because I forget why I'm on a particular list. Nowadays it's in style to HIDE what the **** your peddling until one gives up their name and email. So to even see what is being offered, I have to jump through hoops.

    Because I've wanted to check out something being pitched, I can't just check it out; I have to give up my name and email to see what's it about. This happens so much, I can't recall every email list and newsletter I'm on. Many names are unknown to me.

    My guess people complain because they don't recall being on a particular email list.

    LastWarrior
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    • Profile picture of the author JerryIL
      I get over 350 emails a day...over 300 are just spam. Most you cant opt out..some say I signed up to receive this ...which is not true...
      I think alot of us get tired if getting so much spam that folks can forget they did sign up with you. Most go to spam file but that still needs to be looked through as well...
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Wolfe
    This is some really helpful information. I'm just about to set up my first mailing list campaign and I'm getting some good advice on what to avoid. I'm going to give away a free ebook for opting-in to my mailing list. Do you think it's better to let people know that they are about to be subscribing to a mailing list before they enter their information or should I just set something up saying "enter your name and e-mail to receive your free ebook"?
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