Stop Your Email Preference Page from losing Subscribers in 5 simple steps

You’re losing a lot of subscribers lately, and you’re not sure what to do to fix it.

Quick question: Have you ever considered email preference center best practices as a way to reduce unsubscribes?

Let’s face it. Even if you have great emails, you’ll still get unsubscribes…especially when your content doesn’t meet your customers’ needs.

The best way to reduce unsubscribes is to send relevant content to your audience.

To do that, you need strong segmentation in place and a well-designed email preference page.

Segmenting your email list helps you manage the types of emails you send, how often you send them, and target them efficiently at your customers. 

Segmenting your list is easier said than done. Before you launch an email preference center, you need to do your homework on your emails. 

This involves evaluating the emails that your brand sends out the most, what topics & emails are best for your brand, and which ones are the most valuable.

That’s where the email preference page steps in to redirect subscribers to your other content so they have another reason to stay. 

So stop trying to hide your ‘Unsubscribe’ button, and read on to find out how segmenting your email list and optimizing your email preference page can boost your email marketing efforts!

What Is An Email Preference Page?

An email preference page or email preference center is a page where people subscribed to your email list can choose what email marketing communications they receive from you. 

It’s a convenient way for your subscribers to manage the frequency and content you’ll be sending to them. It’s also a place where they can unsubscribe from your content.

By combining your email preference page with proper email segmentation, you can keep your subscribers happy and keep your email list from shrinking. 

The options you put on your email preference page depend on your business, but they must be valuable to your customers.

Someone who subscribed to get promotional emails for your hoodie collection doesn’t expect to get emails about your line of high heels.

If you need to make one, most email providers include email preference centers at a low price, or they’re free. 

Why Do You Need An Email Preference Page?

Don’t be like other brands. Boost your brand relationship with your customers by letting them choose what they want to get from you and how often they want to get it.

A great email preference center sets the stage for setting up a transparent relationship with your subscribers. They also improve your email deliverability, engagement, sales, and conversions, because your subscribers can control what they get from you. 

Here are two more reasons for having an email preference page:

You Can Change A Subscriber’s Mind

When a customer wants to unsubscribe from your newsletter(s), they can do any of these three things:

• Unsubscribe completely
• Choose to subscribe to your other newsletter(s)
• Report you as spam and never come back!

I’ll tell you how to avoid the first and third options. You have some control over whether people unsubscribe immediately, when you provide valuable alternative content. 

Let’s say a customer wants to unsubscribe from your list, and they go to the Preferences page. If the other newsletters are something they’re interested in, they can choose that instead. 

This way, they’ve unsubscribed from one list but are subscribed to another, and you’ve retained your customer.

Customer Segmentation Only Gets Easier

You can also get valuable customer information from your email preference page. 

How? Your customers can segment themselves for you! Because they chose the content they needed, you won’t need to assume their needs. What they subscribe to also gives you an idea about what is valuable to them.

You can then use this information in your email segmentation to further your email marketing efforts.

Why You Need To Segment Your Email Lists Email Marketing Segmentation

When you’ve got something to tell your customers, it should be something that meets their needs.

Email segmentation includes separating your subscribed customers into different categories and segments. By segmenting your email list, you can fish out qualified leads from uninterested buyers. Who’s not buying your products? Who are your valuable customers?

Cleaning out your inactive subscribers from your email lists will be faster. This way, you can create relevant, personalized content your customers appreciate.

For example, a dog food company with a large base of stay-at-home dog owners can run an email campaign on their new beef flavored dog biscuits. 

But how can you segment your active subscribers? There are many ways to approach this.

 Your customer segments are based on data you collect on your subscribers. Some examples of email segments you can use are:

• Their email addresses
• Physical location
• Their purchase history
• If they have abandoned shopping carts
• Their lifestyle

You can also segment your customers based on the content they subscribe to. Some examples of this are:

• A Product newsletter
• A promotions/sales newsletter
• Your blog newsletter (if you have a blog)

For extra segmentation tips, check out this post by OptinMonster.

Types Of Email Preference Pages

When done right, your email preference center can be a site to retain your active subscribers and improve your email marketing efforts. They can also help increase engagement and filter out quality leads.

Your email preference center doesn’t need to be in the footer of your emails, and you shouldn’t hide it there. There are a few other options beside the footer you can explore. 

Let’s run over a few types of email preference centers you can use for your eCommerce business:

Opt-In: This comes up when you ask people to sign up for your newsletter. It could be a form, popup, or slide-in to collect their email address that appears on a webpage. Besides the email, you can ask for information like their gender, physical address, or company name. 

Update: This email preference center comes up on the ‘Update preferences’ page, which you can include in the footer of your emails. Your subscribers can update their contact information, such as their address, phone numbers, and email addresses. This is useful for updating your active subscribers’ data.

Opt-Out: This is perfect for reducing unsubscribe rates. If someone feels they are receiving too many emails, then you can provide the option to snooze emails, or unsubscribe from email lists, or reduce email frequency. If they unsubscribe, you can also add a brief survey asking why they unsubscribed. This way you can improve your emails in the future.

Tips For Making An eCommerce Email Preference Page

Some practices can help boost your email preference page performance and reward your marketing efforts. These steps will also improve the quality of your page and increase your customer satisfaction. 

How can you make an email preference page that works and your customers use?

Here are tips for making an optimal email preference page:

Provide options in your opt-in:

Give your customers the chance to choose what they need from you. Most marketers don’t give their customers a chance to choose their subscriptions, and you can take advantage of that.

Don’t fall into the trap of offering many options. It’ll make it harder for you to manage your emails, and it’ll be too much for your subscribers to keep up with.

Ideally, you should show them to your unsubscribe center after they sign up. This shows that you’re catering to their needs at the start of your relationship. You’ll also get a clearer idea of their preferences and needs, so your segmentation can be more detailed.

For example, a jewelry brand can offer new subscribers to select their gender and jewelry preferences (rings, necklaces, or bracelets.)

Let Your Subscribers Know You Have An Email Preference Page

If you launch a new product, you’d want your audience to know about it first. It’s the same with your email preference center, especially when it’s new. You should inform them about how to access your preference page and how to use it.

Make it easy to unsubscribe:

You’ll have customers that need to unsubscribe, and it shouldn’t be a difficult process. 

Unchecking a huge list of newsletters is annoying, and you don’t want your promotional emails to go to spam because of that.

If you have a long list of newsletters, you should include an ‘Unsubscribe to all’ button instead.

Write clear descriptions of your newsletters:

Your customers should know what they’re signing up for. In your email preference center, you should include a short description of each newsletter.

Update your email center regularly:

Like your website, your email preference center should be regularly updated. Ditch the default email preferences page and add some branding.

Remember to also make your unsubscribe page mobile-friendly, and pay attention to design rules. 

Write personable copy:

Add some personality to your email preference page in your copy. It’ll be more difficult for your customers to unsubscribe, when they feel connected to the people in your brand. 

Acknowledge that a customer wants to unsubscribe, but offer a low-frequency email option instead. This way you’re still connected, and they can get your emails. 

Don’t forget the ‘Unsubscribe to All’ button!

Conclusion

Now you know why you should make an email preference page and how to optimize it properly. Your email preference page is an important part of your email marketing efforts, and you shouldn’t overlook it or its potential.

You’ll see how well asking customers about what they need will keep your brand trustworthy and your newsletters in their inboxes.

Got any questions? I’ll respond to them in the comments.

🎯P.S: Want to get your email sequence prepped and optimized for your next campaign or launch? Grab an email sequence audit here.