Would You Trade 16 Unsubscribes for 27 Followers?

Always the testers, we’ve been getting great traction with our weekly newsletter – with over 8,100 subscribers now! One of the cool features in Mailchimp is that you can append social data to your list, segment that list, and send that group an email. I thought it was a great idea – if these subscribers are on Twitter, perhaps they’d want to know about the benefits of our account and follow us!

Hindsight is always 20/20… but using a permission-based marketing tool and promoting a social media marketing opt-in may not have been a great idea. A couple thousand folks received the email, 16 unsubscribed, and we gained only 27 followers.

16 lost subscribers is a terrible loss – email subscribers are very valuable and I’m sorry I lost them! This test will not be repeated. I will just promote the Twitter account within the body of the newsletter… this way the subscriber gets the value they were looking for along with the promotion.

The lesson learned here is that every email should have value and you should never abuse your subscribers’ inbox!

http://www.RoninMarketeer.com John Wall

That’s interesting, thanks for sharing that data. I’ll keep that in mind next time anyone suggests hitting the house list as part of a twitter campaign.
http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/blogging-best-practices chrisbaggott

Thanks for taking the arrows on this experiment Doug! I would not have guessed that outcome. And you are totally correct in saying that an email subscriber is way more valuable than a Twitter follower. A lot of people don’t know how to value the various channels…might be a good blog post
MitchellAllen

Whoa! Not so fast, sir. That’s just one test. Suppose Greg Louganis had given up if he had cracked his head the first time he ever dove off a board?

I would like to know if any of the 16 unsubscribed left a nasty note – or any indication as to why he or she took that action.

Personally, I’m not a fan of social media; however, if I’m on your list and you made a mistake in my eyes, I would be more likely to delete that email and give you a few more chances before deciding that your new direction didn’t suit me.

As for the 27 followers, surely there was some incentive in your campaign that made their following you a worthwhile prospect? (What ARE those benefits? DO they – even indirectly – indicate to your email subscribers that you might be changing direction with your future emails?)

Cheers,

Mitch
- http://www.marketingtechblog.com Douglas Karr
  
  If I cracked my head, I would have given up diving. Your point is absolutely valid, though, @MitchellAllen:disqus . I personally value the trust of an email address over that of a follower. Both are important to me, but one opened their inbox to me which makes me believe they’re more apt to engage in additional opportunities. But I could be wrong!

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