Don’t You Like Me Anymore?

The Truth Behind Opt-In Campaigns

So you’ve kept your list (and nose) clean and your opt-in process is now compliant. You’ve even gone through the effort of contacting everyone who signed up before July 1st to ask if they would like to reconfirm opt-in. How nice is that? This is nearly 3 years before the deadline of June 30, 2017.

So you should get a gold star right? Maybe a medal for compliance above and beyond the call of duty?

Except that it’s been a couple of weeks now and you’re seeing only about 10 to 20 percent of your existing list confirm opt in.

Don’t they like you anymore?

Well, first, there are a number of factors that should be considered when determining the success of a mailing campaign to confirm opt in (a.k.a., a subscription retention campaign).

Frankly, in the lead-up to the compliance deadline of July 1st, a lot of people were inundated by similar requests. Your average subscriber likely received multiple requests per day or per hour if they’re analysts/brokers. You can’t really blame them if they start to ignore the emails after confirming subscriptions for 10 to 12 lists before their morning coffee.

Of course, when subscribers evaluate and prioritize their lists, they’re probably considering basic questions:

  1. How important is it that I hear from so-and-so?
  2. How often is so-and-so going to email me?
  3. Does so-and-so actually send me useful information?
  4. Can I get this information elsewhere?
  5. Is this relationship going anywhere?

All fair questions and the answers may help you evaluate your own level of engagement with your subscribers.

  1. How important is it that I email my subscribers?
  2. How often should I email my subscribers? (How often have I emailed them in the past?)
  3. Is the information I am sending relevant to my subscribers? (Are they even reading my emails?)
  4. Can I simplify the communication process or content (ie., direct them to our website instead of sending them a complete technical/financial summary within the body of an email)?
  5. Is this relationship going anywhere?

As sad as it may seem, losing subscribers is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you don’t see the possibility of the relationship furthering to the point of conversion. If anything, the implementation of Canada’s anti-spam legislation serves as a useful wake-up call, allowing us to re-evaluate our relationship with  subscribers as well as the effectiveness of our communication strategies.


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The Blender Team

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