Email churn is a metric you might have encountered occasionally in your industry. But do you know what it means?
Well, if you don’t, you’re in luck. This post explains what it is, what causes high churn, and the consequences of it. We look at how you can reduce churn emails and measure your churn rate. Once you’ve read the following, you’ll be an expert!
What is email list churn?
Email list churn represents the percentage of people unsubscribing or removing themselves from your email list in a given period (usually a week, month, or quarter). The metric makes it easier to determine how your brand’s email campaigns are performing in the context of your industry.
What are the causes of a high churn rate?
Naturally, firms can and should expect some churn. However, when it rises too high, it suggests a problem.
Common causes of high churn include:-
- Competitors that offer more compelling content than you
- A lead/sales pipeline that attracts the wrong type of customers
- A lack of impact, or customers who aren’t achieving their desired outcomes
- Customer support issues, including failing to follow up on leads
- Problems with your products or services, despite superior email outreach
- Issues with your product’s pricing or availability
What are the consequences of email churn?
High email churn brings several unwanted consequences. First, it means you are wasting money. Acquiring email addresses is expensive. Quickly losing them implies marketing funds are going to waste.
Churn also suggests a loss of engagement among potential customers. People who want to buy from you and discover what you’re doing. If they unsubscribe, it means their interest wasn’t strong in the first place.
Lastly, high churn leads to lost revenue and conversions. Leads discouraged by low-quality emails might have bought from you if you offered more value.
How can you reduce churn emails?
Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce email churn and prevent your money, time, and effort from going to waste. Good strategies include:-
- A/B testing your email campaigns. Check variations of your email campaigns to see which results in the most conversions. Meticulously collect data on what works scientifically to refine your outreach gradually.
- Play with email frequency and timing. Ensure you communicate with your audience at the right time of the day. Avoid reaching out when they are less likely to open and consume your content. (You can measure this via software that tracks email open rates).
- Break your audience up into groups. Not all audience members may want the same content. Don’t be afraid to write different emails for groups of recipients.
- Ensure your content is relevant and valuable. Avoid filling emails with platitudes that offer little to your customers. Provide actionable advice, special offers, or valuable information they can apply.
How to measure your email churn rate
The formula for measuring email churn rate is as follows:-
Email churn rate = Lost customers/Number of customers at the period start ✕ 100
The period you choose is up to you. Many companies in high-throughput industries choose weekly churn, but you might want to look at longer time horizons, especially if your industry has a long lead-in period.
Typical email churn rates are fairly high. Around 50% of all email subscribers will churn in a year.
Companies that get below this figure are doing well. An excellent churn rate is in the 5 to 7% range. A figure like this suggests your brand is following all the advice above.
It’s almost impossible to reduce churn rates to zero. Customer preferences change, and their needs evolve.
However, the existence of churn means that it’s essential to grow your email list continually. If you don’t, you will slowly but surely lose leads, and it will be more challenging to increase your revenue.
Best practice to reduce list churn
Fortunately, enterprises can deploy several powerful techniques to reduce email list churn. What’s more, most of them are easy to implement.
- Educate your customers. Let them know why you are sending them emails and the benefits they can generate by working with you.
- Give your subscribers options. Let them choose the type and frequency of content they receive.
- Demonstrate value. Always send quality emails that offer clients something. Don’t send them spammy or promotional emails with irrelevant offers.
- Gather feedback. Ask your customers how you can improve your emails.
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