It’s universally agreed that one of the most critical email analysis metrics is your unsubscribe rate. There are a good number of email statistics that will tell you what you’re doing right by their readings, but few tell you what you’re doing wrong nor the rate at which your readers are excusing themselves from the conversation.

How High is High?
The unsubscribe rate of your email marketing list can fluctuate, but on an average it shouldn’t exceed 1 percent. Naturally, this number can be a bit skewed if you only have six readers—so bear that in mind before deciding to make too many changes to prevent any further defections.

What Do I Do About It?
If email metrics are telling you that your unsubscribe rate is too high, consider some (if not all) of the following approaches.

• Check your frequency. One of the main reasons people unsubscribe is because they feel they’re receiving communications too frequently. If you’re in the habit of firing off an email blast more than once a week, consider cutting back.
• Ask for feedback. Offer your exiting subscribers an opportunity (by way of a text field, if your unsubscribe function is web based) to tell you why they’re leaving. This could be illuminating.
• Review your content. Ask yourself if you’re really offering your readers something of value, or unnecessarily pestering them with a reminder of your existence. A little self analysis never hurt any company.