They say what you don’t know can’t hurt you, but if you’re not emailing your stakeholders using subscription lists, you are missing out on benefits you may not even know about! In fact, if you’re selecting audiences for your email using internal tags rather than subscriptions, you might actually be hurting your success; possibly even losing subscribers.
At Envoke, using email subscription lists rather than tags to direct your email can help in ways you might not be aware of. In this blog, we’ll explain those benefits and help you improve communications with your stakeholders.
If you’re looking for an email marketing product with excellent subscription management tools including unlimited subscription and tagging options, plus a deep knowledge base to help you make the most of these tools, you should consider signing up for Envoke for a 30-day free trial period! Click below to get started.
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At its core, sending emails by subscription is about fostering transparent, stakeholder-focused communication. It honors your audiences’ preferences and empowers them to control their own content. This approach demonstrates your commitment to respectful, professional communication while streamlining your workflow for better efficiency.
Let’s start by explaining what happens when you email an audience of people who have opted into a specific email subscription list, rather than an audience created using internal tags.
What is a subscription?
Subscriptions are how your contacts indicate what type of content they want to receive from you. For example, a subscriber may opt-in to receive your newsletter, event invitations, or product updates. Great news! You can now send emails to your stakeholders based on those subscription preferences. With Envoke, you can create an unlimited number of subscription lists.
- Contacts can see all their subscriptions on their email preferences page.
- Every email you send displays the relevant subscription in the email footer.
- Contacts can unsubscribe from optional subscriptions at any time.’
What are tags?
In Envoke, a tag is an internal designation used to categorize a contact. For example, a contact on a university’s mailing list might be tagged as alumni, student, or faculty.
- Contacts do not see these internal tags.
- If you send an email to an audience you created using tags alone, the email will not display a subscription in the email footer.
- Contacts cannot unsubscribe from a tag.
5 Reasons You Should Send Emails to Subscription Lists, not Tags
1. Emailing tags overrides your contacts’ subscription preferences and takes away their ability to self-serve unsubscribe
When you send emails based on internal tags rather than a contacts’ selected subscription, you are overriding their email subscription preferences. There can be unexpected consequences.
- The email won’t display a subscription in the footer, because it isn’t connected to a subscription.
- Your contacts won’t know which subscription the email came from, which is frustrating for them.
- Your contacts won’t be able to unsubscribe from the content or the tag, because there’s no related subscription to unsubscribe from. They cannot see, or unsubscribe from a tag.
2. You risk losing subscribers
We’ve explained that emails sent using tags alone do not display a related subscription, so your contacts won’t know how to unsubscribe from the content. (Remember, contacts cannot see or unsubscribe from tags.) Several things coud happened next:
- They might randomly unsubscribe from some subscriptions, trying to remove the content from their inbox.
- They could unsubscribe from all of your content in frustration.
3. Google Unsubscribe will blanket unsubscribe your contacts from all your content
Sometimes people use Google’s unsubscribe link to remove themselves from an email list. When your contacts click Google Unsubscribe from an email that is not attached to a specific subscription, Google will revoke consent altogether, which means your stakeholder will be unsubscribed from all your content.
4. You’ll miss out on Envoke’s subscription archives page
Envoke’s Archive page is a popular feature that displays any selection of previously sent messages you choose to show. It’s a useful page where people can catch up on any content they missed and new subscribers can learn what type of content they can look forward to receiving.
- The default email archives page displays any emails you select, unfiltered by subscription.
- A separate email archives page shows messages sent within specific subscription lists.
If you don’t send email by subscription, your contacts will miss out on the subscription-centric archive containing the relevant content they signed up for!
5. Subscriptions deliver transparent communication and great UX
When you send email using subscription lists in Envoke, the email footer displays the relevant subscription name (ie: newsletter, event listings etc.) If your contact clicks through to the subscription preference page from an email, the related subscription will be highlighted. This smooth transition gives your contacts a great end-to-end user experience and easy, transparent access to control their content.
Using subscriptions instead of tags is a simple but powerful shift that can transform how you connect with your audience. It’s about respecting your stakeholders’ preferences, providing a transparent and user-friendly experience, and building trust through better communication. By embracing subscription-centric emailing with Envoke, you’re setting the foundation for stronger, more sustainable relationships with your audience.
