It's not me, it's you: Confessions of an unsubscriber

Ash Ledran

Strategist

14 Oct 2025

Dear Marketing Team,

You’ve probably seen that I’ve unsubscribed, so I think you deserve an explanation.

When we first met, it was magic. Your sign-up form promised “exclusive insights and £20 off my first order” and “content and an offer I simply could not refuse.” Your welcome email? Perfection. Personal, polished, full of potential and guided me to my first purchase, my dream purchase, with ease. I thought this was it, I had found you, but how wrong I was.

But somewhere between your third “Don’t Miss Out!” and your tenth “LAST CHANCE!” I realised… umm, maybe we just want different things.

You see, I crave relevance. You crave engagement. I wanted thoughtful updates, personalised to me; you wanted clicks at any cost for your monthly KPI reports.

So I did it. I clicked Unsubscribe and I’m gone. And honestly? It felt good, I mean, really good. It was long overdue as it's been a while since I thought you knew me, or cared about me.

You started emailing every day. Sometimes twice a day. Calm it down.

I told you I needed space, by not opening. But you didn’t take the hint and after un-open, after un-open and more, you didn’t get it.

Then came the subject lines: “This One’s Just for You!” (It wasn’t.) “Don’t Miss Out, Ashley!” (Only my mum calls me that)

At one point, you sent me a “Top Tips for your Cat’s Christmas” email. I don’t own a cat, my wife is allergic to them and you only had 3 cat related gifts (I had to check!)

The final straw was your “We Miss You” campaign.

You miss me? What about me do you miss? My money? Seems a bit one-sided and a bit transactional to me. You have barely shown that you know me. Miss me? Come on now. It was… intense. Four follow-ups in one week. Each one more emotional than the last.

“We can change,” you said. “We’ll be better.”

But we both knew it was too late. You’d already shown me who you were. So I clicked the link. Confirmed my decision. And felt a strange calm wash over me.

I’m seeing other brands now, and don't want to make you jealous (I do!!)

They only email me once a week. They ask what I want to hear about. They let me update my preferences instead of bombarding my inbox and what they send me is for me, hyper personalised to me. That is what I expect nowadays.

Here's a little list to help this not happen again next time you have a subscriber like me:

1. Respect consent.

If someone gives you their email, treat it like a privilege, not a license to spam.

2. Quality wins single time.

A well-timed, thoughtful campaign beats a daily deluge.

3. Personalisation is not “Insert First Name.”

True relevance comes from understanding customer needs, not auto-filled fields.

4. Don’t fear unsubscribes.

A smaller, engaged list outperforms a bloated, disinterested one.

5. Be graceful at goodbye.

Make unsubscribing easy; it builds long-term brand respect.

If your audience is ghosting your emails, it’s not too late to change the story.