MindComet

Unsubscribe Victories & Woes

Within this post you will see two extremely different unsubscribe pages. One incredibly humorous, the other… extremely infuriating.

Let’s start and get the bad extreme out of the way first, shall we?

After buying some much needed new headphones from Adorama, I decided to activate the extended warranty. All I had to do is fill out the postcard that came with them and send it back to the dealer. No big deal. I believe there were 4 fields on the card: First name, last name, email address and order number. Nothing about opting in to a newsletter. A week later, I received an email saying that that the warranty was activated. Then I started getting their newsletters. This was odd to me, since I never explicitly opted in for updates or tips. So I clicked the unsubscribe link… and this is the landing page I was directed to:

The copy on this page is telling me that if I opt-out, the extended warranty is null & void. WTF? Their preference center isn’t very clear either. My account preferences has me signed up for 2 newsletters: General & Workshops. So if I update my profile to receive none of the newsletters, without fully unsubscribing does that mean my warranty still stands??? It’s unclear. I need my warranty, but I don’t want these emails.

My point is that this is unacceptable and the very definition of a SHADY practice. Things like this leave such a bitter taste in my mouth. So have it your way, Adorama. I’ll just continue to mark your emails as SPAM, which will ultimately damage future deliveries. You can leave. Go away now. kthxbye.

Now for the good extreme. This unsubscribe page comes from Groupon:

It’s hard to see why this unsubscribe page is so awesome by a screenshot alone, so click here for the direct page and see for yourself. I assure you, it is worth your time. (Be sure to click “Punish Derrick” once you’re there). I have to say, since Groupon were so creative and injected a bit of humor into an issue that we Email Marketers find typically ominous, I resubscribed immediately. Well played, Groupon. Well played.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Jan. 26, 2011