Email Marketing - Email Marketing - Coping With List Fatigue

When you have good open rates and your list size is rapidly increasing you like to check out your email stats. What then should you do, if you notice the list is not growing as expected or that it has in fact dropped down a little? This is the time to find out why and put things in motion to get back on track.

When subscribers on your list no longer take a minute to open your emails, this is known as list fatigue. They are not unsubscribing, but they are just simply not opening your mail. What could be the reason for this? Without taking into account that mail may be bouncing, here are some likely reasons why your emails are not being opened.

1. Maybe the recipient is no longer interested in what your emails are about. They could have moved on to new interests and there is no action you can take about that.

2. It is possible that spam filters are picking up your emails, so make sure you are not using words that the filters could regard as spam. You can conduct a search to learn the current spam words and find another way to say the same thing.

3. On occasion subscribers use an email address which they do not regularly check at the time of opting in. To put an end to this problem, if you can get them to sign up with their primary email address from the beginning, it can save many future problems.

4. It could well be that you are sending them too many emails and they are getting a bit fed up of it all. The solution to this is to slow down a little, and don't send so many promotional emails to them.

5. Maybe your email subjects have not appealed to them, even though you have given them valuable help in the past. They probably stay with you in the hope you are going to send them something at a later date which may be useful to them. Have a good look at the content of your emails. Are you just sending them promotional stuff when it is information they are looking for? Your subject needs to be enticing, encouraging them to open the mail and have a look at what's on offer.

Of course, if you can prevent subscribers from becoming inactive before they start this is always the best practice. Listed below are a few ways to attract your subscribers.

1. Provide high quality content and people will not be able to wait to open your emails.

2. Look at your list and decide exactly what information they require from you. This will show them you care about their needs and it also ensures you emails will be opened.

3. Get your readers to respond to a contest held relevant to your niche. They usually enjoy participating.

4. Give people a nudge by being specific. Actually ask them to respond to an email you send or to leave their comments on your blog. Talk with them - ask them to tell you about their success stories or to give their opinions on a product or service.

5. You can always throw in an alluring hint about the content of your next email. If you leave them wondering, they will want to read your correspondence as soon as it arrives.

List fatigue happens, but there are measures you can take to keep it to a minimum. It's worth bearing in mind that people will want to read your emails when you have something good and interesting to say.