Churn

Churn simply describes the percentage of users that unsubscribe, or bounce, from an opt-in email list during a set period of time. Email marketers and other account managers track this metric to determine the efficacy and value of their email marketing campaign. Often, high churns will indicate that users are unsatisfied with an email campaign. The users who unsubscribe from email lists are often unsatisfied with the quality of the general content or offers, the frequency of mailing, or other elements. By making simple changes to their campaign, email marketers are able to retain their subscribers and improve their churn rate in the future.

While no marketer wants to lose valuable opt-in subscribers, some churn is natural. Not all users will have the same expectations, and even the best managed campaigns will not meet every user’s needs. The average subscriber email address can expect an average 31% churn rate; in other words, 31% of email subscriber addresses will be lost during a single year.

Businesses or organizations can improve their churn rate with a few simple steps. First, senders must stay active and engaged with their lists. They should manage the expectations of subscribers by telling them what kind of messages they can expect and at what frequency during the sign-up process. They might also quickly launch a welcome program soon after confirmation to retain their subscribers’ attention.

Marketers can also improve their churn by reaching out to inactive subscribers. These users are often the ones that are most likely to leave the list. By sending inactive subscribers personalized offers or surveys about their experience with the campaign, there is a chance that the subscriber will once again be an active recipient. Finally, because campaigns cannot satisfy everyone, marketers should be sure to make the unsubscribing process as simple as possible. While some might think a simple unsubscribe process will decrease their overall success, simple processes decrease the likelihood that users will mark messages as spam to stop receiving them. This will help with the mailing’s reputation in the long term.