About 1 year ago I made a huge mistake as I was transitioning to Flodesk– I Unsubscribed My Email List. This was a list that I had spent 3 years building, and even though I only had 225 people on that list, it felt like the world was coming down around me. So because I’ve already made this mistake, I’m going to help you figure out what happens when you unsubscribe your email list!

Unsubscribing on Accident

Last year I Unsubscribed My Email List on ACCIDENT. I was playing around with my new Email Marketing System (EMS) and I did it. Let me quickly say, No, this cannot really happen by just clicking around a few times. I knew that I was unsubscribing everyone, but I thought that it meant from a segment and then just adding them somewhere else. NEWS FLASH GUYS- THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!

Did you know that when someone is unsubscribed (legally) they have to resubscribe themselves, and you have no control over it?

I’m really glad that I made this mistake so that you don’t have to go into this alone if you find yourself in the same situation (or close to it)!

In just a little bit I’m going to share with you 3 ways to gather up those emails that will still serve you & make up for the lost email list.

Unsubscribing on Purpose!

Every once in a while I find my open & click rates looking a little…. down in the dumps! I try and test new things. To see what my audience likes and doesn’t like, and start giving them more of the good stuff! Sometimes I do have to go through my email list though, and PURPOSELY unsubscribe people! Yep, that’s right- on purpose!

It’s okay to do that, and it actually benefits your list- but let’s talk about how to make it actually benefit you. You don’t want to get rid of people that want to hear from you, because that’s just bad business.

Benefits of Unsubscribing On Purpose

1. You’re serving people that actually want to hear from you!
   • Maybe at some point you stopped serving this client and they never unsubscribed to your emails. Maybe they moved to Wyoming and aren’t in your area or service anymore. Or, maybe they just don’t want to hear about planning family sessions. Especially while they’re struggling to conceive and start a family. I bet you didn’t think of that, did you? At some point we stop being able to serve someone and that’s just life. It’s not good or bad, it just kind of is. When you comb through your list you’re serving the customers that want to hear from you
2. Your numbers increase!
   • Once you get rid of the people that no longer serve you? You’re going to see your open rates & your click rates increase significantly! That doesn’t just help you understand who is interested in the information & emails that you’re putting out, but also give you a little bit of a confidence boost to see them growing from 22% to 45% open rates!
3. Depending on your EMS- you’re saving money!
   • Some EMS (Email Marketing Systems) charge you per email subscriber! Flodesk doesn’t, but while I don’t have that problem that’s not to say that you don’t! Clearing your email list literally saves you so much money on top of everything else!

How To Grow Your Email List

1. Reach out to Facebook & Instagram
   • Let them know about your offers! Check local mom groups & use #yourcityyourstate to find the best families to work with! Now that we can use the LINK on Instagram Stories if we’re under 10,000 subscribers we can redirect them to our Sign Up page!
2. Place a Call To Action on your Socials
3. Gather more interest in joining your email list when you reach out to people that are already interested in your work! They follow you on social media for a reason! They either love your story, love your work, or love you! Give them the options, easily, to work with you or giving them helpful tips when it comes to their own family sessions. Need 5 FREE Call to Actions for your own Email List to Grow with local families? Grab yours for FREE here!
4. Host a Model Call or Giveaway
   • (At random) and let them sign up by joining a waitlist! This is a segment in your EMS, that way you can keep track of everyone that signed up! I love offering this, and within 2 hours of doing this I normally have 50+ additional emails that I didn’t have before. These emails consist of local families that I now have an easy way of serving.

If you’re on the fence about Email lists- you’re not alone. Why are we going to put so much effort into an email list for a couple hundred people (maybe) when we have social medias with way more subscribers?? It doesn’t make sense!

Well, it actually does.

When we serve our email list we’re serving a longer list of our ideal clients. We have an easy way to reach them, and we’re not getting los tin the hundreds of thousands of posts on social media everyday. I don’t see every story that people I follow post, heck – I see even less than 25%! Social Medias might not be filled with local families that want to book you, but maybe friends and people who like to follow your content and love your style.

Should you give up on Social Media?

No way!

Just don’t give up on Email Lists, either 🙂

Looking for the best tools for Small Businesses? My top 6 that help me run my business have an entire blog post dedicated to them!