• by Jess Nelson , May 30, 2017

Email volume is the primary reason why Americans unsubscribe from email marketing lists, according to a recent MarketingSherpa study. The marketing research firm, and a subsidiary of MECLABS Institute, polled 2,400 consumers on why they unsubscribe from email lists.

More than a quarter of Americans confirmed that they unsubscribe because they receive too many emails in general, according to the report, while 19% of Americans unsubscribe when they receive too many promotional messages from one particular company. Furthermore, 16% of respondents simply don’t have time to read all of their email.

The total number of business and consumer emails sent and received per day is predicted to reach 269 billion by the end of 2017 according to the Radicati Group. Email volume is not predicted to slow down anytime soon, and the Radicati Group estimates that email volume will continue to grow at an average annual rate of 4.4% to reach 319.6 billion emails by the end of 2021.

Marketers need to put the consumer first if they want any hope at standing out in an increasingly crowded inbox. Redundancy and an overall lack of personalization is hindering email engagement, according to the MarketingSherpa report.

More than 20% of Americans admit to unsubscribing from emails that are not relevant to them, while 17% of Americans are unsatisfied when an email’s content is repetitive or boring. An additional 13% of respondents unsubscribe from emails when they receive the same promotion in print form, such as from direct mail or via a magazine.

Email design flaws also coincide with increased unsubscribes, according to the report, with 10% of respondents admitting they unsubscribe from emails that look sloppy and 7% unsubscribing from emails that do not render properly on their mobile devices.