An Intelligent Way To Clean Your Opt-In List
The email below shows that you don’t always have to make your subscribers jump through hoops for general feedback. Big Cartel sent this email to their entire opt-in list asking if they wanted to continue receiving messages in the future.
It’s engaging, simple and effective in communicating to users that if they want to remain on the list, they don’t have to do anything. But if you want to unsubscribe, the call to action is “right here”. The vibe I get from this send is “No hard feelings. Don’t be ashamed because we’re certainly not”.
In the body above the do-or-die call to action, they openly admit that they haven’t really sent out any emails, which is why they’re double-checking to make sure you still want to get messages from them in the future. It’s smart and proactive on Big Cartel’s part.
What do you think about this method of list hygiene? Would you have done the opposite and made the subscriber click through and fill out their preferences?
Posted by Bryan Quilty on Nov. 18, 2010
Comments
Great example, Bryan! Panic ran a similar list cleanup a few months ago, which I also agree was a brave and excellent move.
As for your question, filling in a preferences form is hard, while reading and not doing anything is much easier. The big green button may result in a lot of unsubscribes initially, but then again, I’m sure asking folks to practically re-subscribe would have have not only annoyed a fair few readers, but wiped out a larger swathe of the existing mailing list.
Excellent examples in your blog as always, thanks for sharing this with us!
Posted by Ros Hodgekiss on 11/18/2010 08:09 PM
You’re right. I think a fair amount of users would mistakenly click on the unsubscribe call to action without reading the message. I went through the process of clicking on the button, which automatically unsubscribes you. If you want to re-subscribe, a clear call to action is right below the message reading “Did you unsubscribe by accident? Click here to re-subscribe.“ Which, as far as I can tell, is a Campaign Monitor-generated page. 
Thanks for your feedback, Ros!
Posted by Bryan Quilty on 11/19/2010 08:26 AM
Its always good to clean your opt-in list but, I agree you should not make it missleading or confusing to opt in or out. The moral is TEST, TEST, TEST - what seems obvious to the editor may not be to Joe public!
Posted by Paul Finney on 11/22/2010 11:08 AM
Hello Brian,
I think its a good idea in the sense that it portrays that the company is not trying to permanently spam the (potential) customers. However, I think the call to action should actually be on EVERY email sent to the users. The reason being, that suppose a user want to un-subscribe after the second email (and the above sent only after the 6th mail), but has no option to do so easily, he may simply flag the sender as spam and hence never receive the email asking the user if they still want to receive emails. In the head of the user, the company will still appear as a spammer, and may not have the desired effect.
Still an original idea though.
Posted by Reehaz Soobhany on 12/14/2010 02:21 PM
I think its a good idea in the sense that it portrays that the company is not trying to permanently spam the (potential) customers. However, I think the call to action should actually be on EVERY email sent to the users. The reason being, that suppose a user want to un-subscribe after the second email (and the above sent only after the 6th mail), but has no option to do so easily, he may simply flag the sender as spam and hence never receive the email asking the user if they still want to receive emails. In the head of the user, the company will still appear as a spammer, and may not have the desired effect.
Still an original idea though.
Posted by Reehaz Soobhany on 12/14/2010 02:25 PM
I love good examples of re-engagement campaigns! We’re about to do one internally at Blue Sky Factory, and this is an interesting approach. I think that this method is definitely better than no re-engagement campaign at all, but that asking people to actively confirm that they’d like to stay subscribed will provide you with a more engaged (but smaller) list. Depending on your email program and relationship with subscribers, I might recommend this type (the active opt-in, rather than opt-out) of campaign first.
Like Ros said, the big green button may result in a lot of unsubscribes, but at least it’s out there and obvious for those folks who want to remove themselves. Ultimately it means a more engaged list in the future! Kudos to Big Cartel for being proactive.
Amy Garland
Blue Sky Factory
Posted by Amy Garland on 01/10/2011 01:36 PM
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to see if somebody would know what one would subject this kind of email as. I am wanting to do something similar with one of my aged lists, but am at a loss for what to put in the subject line.
Any insight?
Posted by Jordan on 02/15/2011 10:56 AM
How about something along the lines of “We Know It’s Been A While…“ or “Spring Cleaning Comes A Season Early”... something like that… have fun with it. Remember, you’re sending this to a segment of users who you haven’t sent to in a while. Keep that in mind when you develop your subject line. Also, try an A/B test! It won’t hurt!
Posted by Bryan Quilty on 02/16/2011 11:28 AM
I think it’s brilliant, and I agree.
“No hard feelings.“
No guilt involved.
I actually think it’s more likely to build loyalty.
Good post.
Posted by Email Marketing comapny New York on 03/10/2011 02:18 AM
I think it’s brilliant, and I agree.
“No hard feelings.“
No guilt involved.
I actually think it’s more likely to build loyalty.
Good post.
Posted by Tim on 11/18/2010 06:23 PM