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Even the best marketers in the business know that a 3 to 5% attrition rate is natural. But when your number of unsubscribes starts creeping towards 10% per email send, it’s time to take action.

Let’s dig in to how savvy marketers are starting to shift the way they think about email marketing (and how to curtail high email unsubscribe rates):

Only send a newsletter when you have something to say.

Ali T. Brown (or Ali Shanti) has run a few successful seven figure businesses. But she just didn’t feel like herself anymore. In a recent podcast interview with Amy Porterfield, she told listeners that she decided to shift inward and scale down her life.

Known for her bold, left of center choices, Ali also modified her thinking about email marketing. “Why am I sending a newsletter every week?” she asked. And the answer was, basically, because that’s what modern marketing conventions tells us we should do.

If you don’t have something to say – and your only goal is to get eyes on your brand – you probably don’t need to send a newsletter. Er, you definitely don’t need to hit send just to hit send.

However, if you are launching a new project, want to let readers know about a cool resource, or are driven to share great content, by all means, send a valuable message to your subscribers.

Won’t your list get cold? Maybe. But if you are like most coaches, you’ve got a marketing plan in place for at least 3 months full of speaking gigs, affiliate launches & hot new programs. Why not send an email once every two weeks? Or try for once a month?

Psst…and definitely be wary of launch phases where you send multiple daily emails. While this may seem like a good idea, sending emails to a buyer who isn’t ready to buy just might push them to unsubscribe.

Consider trying a new trick where you only send emails to those who opened your last email (a cool feature offered by AWeber & other ESPs.) This advanced feature might be the key to really increasing your sales (instead of more frequent mass messages.)

Give more value to your audience – like WAY more value.

How do people get to know like and trust you? By the content marketing you put out to the world. This can be in the form of videos, social media posts, blogs or downloadable resources.

They also want to see that you’re fully present in your brand. Your connection to your tribe is what will make or break your brand. High-end coaches with just a few clients can earn as much as those selling to the masses just based on the loyalty of their following.

For an example, take a minute to read some of the posts that Danielle LaPorte shares on her Facebook page. She’s consistently vulnerable, honest & writes beautifully. But she also pitches her products regularly. Her underlying theme is to keep folks attracted to the products she’s selling and the events she’s hosting.

You, too, need to give more value to your readers. Mindset advice is a great mix in, but depending on your list, people joined to learn from you. And that means giving them usable tools to take action right now.

Clean up your list with a fond farewell to inactive subscribers. 

As part of the advice offered by many brave souls, they like to suggest a periodic purging of your email marketing list. I am hesitant to recommend this to anyone with less than a few thousand subscribers on their lists.

Therefore, if you’ve hit the 3,000 point, give yourself a little purge of sorts. Use a bold headline like, “You’re fired” or “Please Unsubscribe Now” and tell readers why you’re taking such a brash stance.

Ask that anyone who isn’t interested in what you have to offer – get clear about your content over the next few months before doing this – kindly leaves your niche. Let them know you’d only like to connect with folks who are actively engaged in your offers, too.

From the numerous reports I’ve heard, the majority of list subscribers stayed put. They became more active in the community and accepted the “Get Lost” email as a club they were privy to instead of a sassy challenge.

Re-Center your psyche for optimal acceptance. (Haters gonna hate.) 

The ultimate advice I can give you is quite simple: Haters gonna hate. Those who unsubscribe (just like buyers who never buy) were dead weight on your list anyway. You were not gaining anything from their presence in your community since they were not engaged members.

Ok, so that’s a little cavalier. Unsubscribes hurt our feelings. We work hard to create awesome content people want to read. And those who basically thumb their nose feel like a personal affront.

You have a few options:

• Balance this with the positive: what good happened in your business this week or month? Remember that as long as you are present in your brand, traction happens.
• Regularly perform more list building. By replacing those who unsubscribe with new members, you’ll keep you numbers up, while attracting new potential clients.
• Try to see your number of subscribes as a vanity metric. It’s just a number. What matters is how engaged list members are. Do they give you positive responses?

Finally, I always read through my unsubscribes before deleting them. I asked one woman to tell me why she peaced out. You’re very observant, she told me. And her reason for leaving (a broken link?) proved to be invalid feedback too, absolving me of any personal responsibility. Ahh. <— Sorry for that snark. I’m only human.