How to reduce your unsubscribe rate with dating tips from email marketing

Evelien Neyens

12-02-2026 •

9 minutes reading time

7 dating tips that will reduce your unsubscribe rate

You send a newsletter every week. Open rate: 20%. Click rate: 2%. And again, a bunch of people have unsubscribed. You think: "People aren't interested." But maybe you're the one who's not interested... in them.

Because let's be honest: aren't you just sending the same email to everyone? Same subject. Same offer. Same "Dear [First Name]" followed by content that's completely irrelevant to 80% of your list?

That doesn't feel like a newsletter. That feels more like spam.

The difference between a good email and spam isn't in what you're selling. It's in how much attention you pay to who you're sending it to. And that's often where things go wrong.

The problem: you treat individuals as a mass

Imagine: you're organizing a party. You've invited 200 guests with completely different music tastes. But you play nothing but hardstyle techno all evening.

"Why is everyone going home?" you wonder.

That's what you're doing with generic emails. You're serving everyone the same thing, without asking what your guests want to hear.

How do you send personal emails to thousands of contacts?

By looking at the relationship with your contacts as a real relationship. You go on a date, you get to know them, and you adjust your communication to their interests. Not literally, of course. But you can apply the tips below to both your email marketing and your dating life.

Tip 1: Address your contacts personally

❌ Bad: "Dear customer, check out our new winter coat collection!"

Don't be like the player who calls all his dates "honey" because he can't remember their real names. Learning and using names isn't just the foundation for email marketing, but actually for every human interaction.

✅ Better: Ask for your contacts' names when they sign up for your newsletter and add a placeholder to your templates so you never forget.

Whether you address your customers with "Yo Jordan" or "Dear Jordan Fernandes" depends on your brand and your tone of voice. The most important thing is that you use their name at all. It shows that you see your recipients as individuals, not as numbers on a list.

Tip 2: Don't just talk about yourself (or your products)

❌ Bad: "Check out all our new products!" followed by 15 product links.

Product dump syndrome is deadly for your email marketing. You bombard your recipients with everything you think is important, without considering what they want to know.

This is like a first date where someone keeps talking about themselves for 45 minutes without asking once: "And you? What do you find interesting?"

✅ Better: Send targeted content based on previous interests. Instead of dumping your entire product catalog, you look at what your contacts previously found interesting. Use that information to send relevant content.

Tip 3: Really get to know your contacts

During a date, you ask questions to get to know each other. How else can you judge whether you're a match? Email marketing is no different.

But how do you get to know your contacts?

With link tracking, you see exactly which links your recipients click. If you link interests to this, you have everything you need for personal emails. Use these interests for automatic email flows or use them to divide your contacts into segments that you use for dynamic content.

❌ Bad: Everyone gets the same newsletter with winter coats, summer collection, and accessories all mixed together.

✅ Better with link tracking data:

Segment A (viewed winter coats but didn't buy): "That winter coat you were looking at? Now 20% off."
Segment B (summer collection fans): "Just in: our first summer pre-order items"
Segment C (recently bought winter coat): "5 ways to style your new coat"

Do you see the difference? You're using the same data, but you're responding to it. Just like in a good relationship, you don't keep talking about topics the other person has no interest in.

Pro tip: Use a welcome email to gauge initial interests. Ask new subscribers which topics interest them, or offer different content paths they can click on.

Tip 4: Tailor your communication to your contact

During a date, you chat about different themes than during lunch with your boss or with your grandmother. And if it's a smooth date, you also adjust your topics during the conversation. "Do you have a dog? I have a dog too! What's yours called?"

Use what you know about your contacts to personalize your communication. Recipients feel much more engaged when they receive an email about one topic that interests them than when they receive an email with 5 topics, of which one interests them.

❌ Bad: You send your newest blog article to your entire list: "How to train your dog in 10 simple steps". But 60% of your list is interested in cats, not dogs.

✅ Better: Segment based on previous click behavior:

People who click on "dogs": get the article about dog training
People who click on "cats": get your cat content
Both: get both updates
People who didn't click on anything: get a general update with both topics, so you can gauge their interest

Netflix does this brilliantly – they don't show everyone the same homepage but adjust based on viewing behavior.

Tip 5: Don't be too personal

While most people prefer relevant emails over generic ones, not everyone likes their data being tracked for commercial purposes. There's a limit to how personal you can be without coming across as creepy.

❌ Bad: "Hey Sarah, order the Caramel Fudge Brownie ice cream you love so much now so you don't get grumpy during your period next week."

That's not personalization anymore, this borders on stalking.

✅ Better: Use data smartly and respectfully. The fact that you know something doesn't mean you should use it. Stick to business personalization: name, purchase history, product preferences. Don't go into personal life events or sensitive information.

Just like on a date, you don't immediately start talking about someone's ex-relationships or financial situation, even if you saw that on social media.

Tip 6: Recognize when interests change

❌ Bad: Someone signed up 2 years ago for beginner tips. You're still sending them beginner content, while their click behavior shows they're now clicking on advanced content.

This is like continuing to talk about your first date while you've been together for 2 years.

✅ Better: Update your segments based on current behavior. Regularly review your link tracking data and move people to the right segments.

Tip 7: Don't be a stalker - send in moderation

❌ Bad: Weekly newsletter to everyone, regardless of their engagement.

This is like continuing to text someone even though the other person never responds. Not charming.

✅ Better with engagement tracking:

Power users: can handle weekly, even twice a week
Passive readers: monthly "best of" with their specific interests
Inactive users: monthly re-engagement email, or remove them from the list

Sending less to people who don't read = better deliverability for people who do read.

The mindset shift: from broadcasting to listening

Good email marketing is like a good relationship: it starts with genuine interest in the other person.

A campaign is: "I have something to say, listen."
A relationship is: "I listened to what you said, and this fits you."

That second one takes a bit more work. But it doesn't feel like spam to the recipient. It feels like: "Oh, they get me."

And that's the difference between a one-night stand and a long-term relationship. The difference between 2% click rate and 20%. The difference between unsubscribes and fans.

Start today. Look at your last newsletter. Who clicked on what? What does that tell you? And don't send your next email to everyone. Send it to the people for whom it's relevant.

Because good email marketing isn't about how much you send. It's about how much attention you give. Just like the best relationships aren't about how much you say, but about how well you listen.