Stop Worrying About Email Unsubscribes (and Start Growing Your List)
At GoldBear Media, we hear it all the time:
"I’m afraid to send emails because what if people unsubscribe?"
"I don’t want to annoy my customers!"
We get it. Nobody likes feeling rejected. But here’s the honest truth:
Unsubscribes aren’t a sign of failure. They’re a sign of progress.
If you're serious about growing your business, you have to stop letting fear of unsubscribers dictate your marketing strategy. Here's why—and what to do instead.
First, Let’s Be Clear: Unsubscribes Are Normal
Every business, from your local coffee shop to major brands like Target or Amazon, sees unsubscribes on every email campaign.
According to Mailchimp’s 2024 Email Benchmark Report, the average unsubscribe rate across industries is 0.26% per email sent. That means for every 1000 people you email, 2–3 might opt out, and that’s perfectly healthy. (For smaller businesses who are growing their email list, those percentages will be higher due the size of your email list. However, if your net gain is higher than the unsubscribes, you’re doing the right thing.)
The Most Important Thing to Remember: It’s Not Personal
People unsubscribe for dozens of reasons that have nothing to do with you:
Their needs changed.
They’re cleaning out their inbox.
They signed up months ago and forgot why.
They get too many emails.
None of these reasons mean you did something wrong.
Why You Shouldn’t Obsess Over Unsubscribes
It’s easy to zero in on who’s leaving and forget about everyone who’s still there. But the real danger isn’t losing a few contacts—it’s losing momentum.
Here’s why unsubscribes shouldn’t scare you:
1. They’re Part of List Health
Unsubscribes naturally clean your list, leaving you with an audience that wants to hear from you. A highly engaged list improves your open rates, click rates, and ultimately your email deliverability.
In fact, HubSpot reports that email lists naturally decay by about 22.5% every year. That’s why healthy marketing strategies focus just as much on adding new subscribers as they do on nurturing existing ones.
2. They Save You Money
Most email marketing platforms (like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or Constant Contact) charge based on list size.
If uninterested people unsubscribe, you're not paying to email contacts who no longer want your content. It's a cost-efficiency bonus.
3. They Give You Useful Data
Unsubscribes can highlight opportunities for improvement.
Did your unsubscribe rate spike after a certain campaign? Maybe the message, timing, or offer wasn’t aligned.
Use it as a learning tool, not a panic button.
What Matters More Than Unsubscribes
If unsubscribes are normal, what should you be paying attention to?
Simple: engagement.
Metrics that tell you how well your emails are working include:
Open rates: Are people opening your emails? (A healthy average is around 17–28% depending on the industry.)
Click-through rates (CTR): Are they clicking on the links inside? (A strong CTR is typically between 2–5%.)
Replies or conversions: Are you sparking conversation or driving action?
If your audience is engaging, keep going. If not, tweak your messaging, frequency, or design based on the data you collect.
Remember: You can’t optimize what you don’t send. Sitting on your hands doesn’t give you the information you need to improve.
But What About Spamming People?
This is the second big fear:
"If I email more than once a month, am I spamming people?"
Short answer: Not if you’re doing it right.
If you're providing value—whether that's education, offers, updates, or inspiration—you’re serving your audience, not spamming them.
Here’s what spamming really looks like:
Sending irrelevant, sales-heavy content with no real relationship built.
Emailing people who never opted into your list.
Hiding or ignoring unsubscribe options.
If you’re being honest, transparent, and valuable, you’re not spamming—you're communicating.
In fact, research shows that 81% of small businesses rely on email as their primary channel for customer acquisition and retention (Source: Emarsys 2024).
Email marketing continues to deliver an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent (Litmus Report, 2024).
Why wouldn’t you leverage that?
If You’re Not Emailing Consistently, You Have No Data
This might sound harsh, but it’s true:
If you’re only sending one email a month—or barely emailing at all—you have no real data to base your fears on.
Without consistent communication, you don’t know:
How often your audience wants to hear from you.
What type of content resonates most.
How your open rates and click-through rates trend over time.
Consistency beats perfection every single time.
When you show up regularly, you collect the real-world information you need to build, adjust, and improve.
Here’s the Real Focus for Business Owners
If you're serious about growing your business, shift your mindset away from fear and toward intentional action.
Here’s what you should prioritize instead:
1. Grow Your List
Your business can't survive if you're not adding new people into your ecosystem.
Use landing pages, lead magnets, website popups, checkout opt-ins—whatever it takes to grow your list steadily.
2. Show Up Consistently
Don't ghost your audience for months at a time.
Build a rhythm they can rely on, whether that’s weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
3. Track Engagement, Not Emotion
Pay attention to open rates, click rates, and conversions—not how you feel when someone unsubscribes.
Marketing is math, not feelings.
Final Thought: Your List Isn’t a Trophy, It’s a Tool
Your email list isn’t something to sit on a shelf and admire.
It’s a living, breathing connection point between you and your customers.
The people who stay? Serve them.
The people who leave? Bless and release them.
The most dangerous thing you can do is stay silent out of fear.
At GoldBear Media, we help business owners take the fear out of marketing—and replace it with clear strategy, better results, and confident growth.