Today's modern, digital consumers are more selective about the marketing communications they receive. Marketers must implement the optimal communications approach to ensure they do not disengage with their brand.

1. SURVIVING THE
UNSUBSCRIBE REVOLUTION
© 2015. All Rights Reserved.

2. 1 // THE UNSUBSCRIBE REVOLUTION
Today's modern, digital consumers are
more selective about the marketing
communications they receive.
Meanwhile, companies have been pushing
marketing communication volumes higher
and higher.
As customer sensitivity and message
volumes both increase, brands risk creating
a tidal wave of unsubscribes.

3. 2 // PERSONALISATION IS ONLY ONE PART
Brands can use consumer data, actions
through to preferences, to reduce
subscriber churn through personalized
communications. And not doing so can be
detrimental.
For example, over two thirds (69%) of
consumers in the UK cancel subscriptions
due to poorly targeted email marketing,
with similar results internationally.
But brands also need to address how, when
and where consumers want to receive
marketing communications, as a second
part to remaining connected.

4. 3 // DEFINING THE DELETIST
Aimia's 2014 digital research has identified
a hyper-sensitive subset of consumers who
are more than twice as likely to
unsubscribe if marketing messages are too
frequent, lack personalisation, or do not
align with their value.
These are The Deletists.
By identifying this segment within your
own subscribers, you can enact strategies
to reduce their likelihood of disconnecting
from your marketing.

5. 4 // VOLUME SENSITIVITY
Our global digital research shows that
factors such as nationality, age, and
ownership of the latest technology can
influence how likely a consumer is to be a
“Deletist”.
With this in mind, we have developed a
volume sensitivity score, which indicates
how likely a subscriber is to be highly
sensitive to an overload of
communications.
By applying this algorithm against each of
your customer profiles, you can segment
your subscribers to identify those that are
sensitive to high volumes versus those that
are less adverse.

6. 5 // DIFFERING SENSITIVITIES
Somewhat surprisingly, a high sensitivity
to volume of communications is not linked
to a willingness towards disclosing personal
information.
This gives marketers an opportunity to
collect useful information about their
subscribers to calculate a volume
sensitivity score without risking an
unsubscribe.
What data are consumers most willing to
share? The answer is: location
information.
And the data that they are least willing to
share is providing access to smartphone
microphone, camera and apps they have
installed on the device.

7. 6 // USING THE INSIGHTS
Once you are able to identify the individuals
with this sensitivity towards over
communication, you obviously want to
make sure you can cater to their
sensitivities.
Some actions you might consider include:
• Testing campaigns with a wider audience
first, and only send high-performing
content to the high sensitive segment.
• Taking a long-term view towards testing
different promotions with this segment,
looking at what they respond to over
only a few campaigns deployed within a
6 month period.
• Giving them something extra that shifts
the relationship beyond information - VIP
access, event invitations, etc.

8. 7 // THE MILLENNIAL IMPACT
Deletists and consumers with high sensitivity to
communications are more likely to be millennial
– a group that wants to love brands and can
become powerful advocates.
Separate Aimia research looked at the habits of
millennial consumers in the US, Canada, and
the UK (Born This Way: The Canadian Milennial
Loyalty Survey, 2012). We found that if
consumers feel they are getting something in
return, almost half of those aged 19-29 are
willing to promote a brand through their
personal social media accounts.
Millennials are not as simple to understand as
some would suggest. But with smarter
marketing, you can turn these prospects into
passionate fans of your brand and minimize the
risk of them turning off your brand early on in
their spending years.

9. 8 // BEYOND MARKETING
In the same way Deletists are selective
about how they receive their marketing,
they are selective about which brands they
choose to buy from.
This group of consumers want brands to
match their values, and covet experiences
and social connections.
It is vital your marketing is a true
representation of your product or
service. Avoid making these consumers
feel misled or disappointed, or you will feel
the backlash.

10. 9 // THE STEAKS ARE HIGH
A quick example on creating experiences that result in
advocacy.
In 2011, Morton's Steakhouse responded to a joke tweet
form a frequent customer asking for a steak when his
flight landed by actually making this a reality. There was
steak to be had for him upon his arrival!
Morton’s follow through and responsiveness created one of
the greatest customer service stories of all time through:
• A reactive social team
• A fully-featured CRM
• An effective loyalty scheme
• Recognition of the customer's communication channel
of choice
To break through consumers in the unsubscribe
revolution, marketers need to pay attention to
consumers’ sensitivity to volume of communications.

11. For an extended view of our perspective, see The Rise of
The Deletist Consumer on Aimia Institute at
www.aimia.com
© 2015. All Rights Reserved.