MindComet

Always Test Your Unsubscribe Link

Rule of thumb: before you send any email, make sure your unsubscribe link works. It’s that simple. It may be a fairly obvious statement in regards to email marketing, yet something many overlook.

See this example below:

I received this email from Full Sail this morning and after realizing that information on their “entertainment business” degrees is irrelevant to me, I finally decided to put our relationship to rest… or so I thought. Once the very visible “unsubscribe” link was clicked, I was lead to this page:

Unsubscribe FAIL.

But this may not be Full Sail’s fault entirely. From clicking on the other links within the email, their Google URL builder states that the source is from “PasteMagazineContest”. This tells me the email was likely developed and managed by Paste Magazine as a partner / promotion deal. Shame on them both, though. For Paste not testing their email and for FullSail not providing a working unsubscribe link.

If I were FullSail, I’d get this link working ASAP as to avoid any potential SPAM complaints or even lawsuits.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Feb. 25, 2010

Before You Go…

I was *this close* from unsubscribing from Shopittome.com‘s newsletter this morning, but once I clicked on the unsubscribe link from my daily sales alert, I was taken to the page below:

I immediately reconsidered my decision of opting out… all because of their variety of appealing preferences. The three preference options broke down as follows: “Take a Temporary Break”, “Make Salemail More Affordable” and “Receive Emails Less Often”. Perfect. Instead of opting out, I set a maximum price of $80 and chose to receive only one email a week. Rather than completely removing myself from their list (in turn remaining a potential revenue source), I stayed on board while receiving emails less frequently featuring less expensive items. This is a surefire way—and a great example of how—to retain your contacts and lower your opt out rates.

What other examples of creative and efficient unsubscribe / preference pages has anyone else seen recently? Comment below!

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Nov. 18, 2009

Please Release Me

What if every time you wanted to unsubscribe from a list, you had to reply with this video?

I think the email marketing community totally needs to embrace this idea and shoot for a new rule provision for the CAN-SPAM act. So along with the existing rules of including a one-click opt-out link, the physical address of the mailer and a non-deceptive subject line, we can add the option of also opting-out by replying to the mailer with this video or any recording of it.

Let’s make it happen, people. Humperdinck ‘10.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Nov. 12, 2009

I Almost Opted Not to Opt Out

I love my personal Gmail account.  I’ve had the account for about two years and haven’t received any spam until so I thought the other day.  I received an email from “Plow & Hearth.“  I’m not familiar with the brand and therefore am pretty sure I didn’t ask to receive their marketing emails but assume I must have opted in somewhere to somebody’s partners communications, thus how Plow & Hearth ended up in my inbox. 

Regardless when I went to go opt out I was pleasantly surprised in their opt out process.  Upon clicking the opt out link, I was presented with options including the option to stay on Plow & Hearth’s list if they reduce the number of emails they sent to me.  Although it was a nice attempt, since this was my first email from them and I knew I wasn’t interested from the beginning, decreasing the amount they mailed to me wasn’t going to weigh in on my decision to opt out.  So I clicked the unsubscribe link and was taken to the confirmation page saying I had been unsubscribed.  However this page also had additional data points the brand was collecting which included questions inquiring on why I had opted out. 

I responded with not remembering signing up for Plow & Hearth emails but also liked that their was an optional box that I could fill in, in case none of the options were relevant to my opting out.  After submitting my answer, I was taken to one last page which again confirmed I had unsubscribed but also included a nice little message from Plow & Hearth and a call to action to shop for gifts or to shop the outlet.  Although it was only a two click unsubscribe process, the opt out process in total took me through 4 clicks but they were all clicks that I did not mind.  All in all, Im left with a postiive brand image of Plow & Hearth and am now more familiar with their brand.  I may not opt back into their newsletter but I may consider checking out their product offerings in the future. 

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Posted by MindComet on Jun. 01, 2009

Allure Is Doing It Wrong

Where do I begin…

First of all, I have no idea how I got on this list in the first place.  I’m a dude, and I swear I have no interest in handbags and makeup.  Seriously.  I scanned the email, heading toward the footer for the opt out link when low and behold, their opt out procedure was to forward the email to a sketchy address beginning with “unsubscribe-ctg0aib62aacgk4qtkisrfejqyybag2a”.

Then the next line reads: “You will no longer receive our special offers; however, you will continue to receive any newsletters to which you have subscribed.“

Umm… no.  I want to unsubscribe from ALL communications.  But YOU’RE NOT LETTING ME!

At this point I was pretty annoyed… I hovered my mouse over the text of the email when I noticed that the whole email was click-able.  So, I patronized them and clicked… low and behold the link was BROKEN.  Invalid URL.  Probably had something to do with the DOCTYPE being in the URL string.  DOCTYPE?  Really?  It’s not even necessary to include it in HTML emails.  All you need are tables.  No HTML tags, body tags, meta tags, etc.

Haven’t marketers learned that it is absolutely essential to test emails nowadays?  And furthermore, in today’s day and age, you must include a means for the user to update their preferences.

Oh yeah… and they used a very spammy subject line.  See below:

If anyone from Allure or Conde Nast Magazine is reading this and you need some help in the email department, give us a shout.

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Posted by MindComet on Aug. 07, 2008

An Unsubscribe Alternative

It’s pretty much a standard practice to always include an “Update Your Preferences” and “Unsubscribe” link in every single email you send out.  I, like most users, usually click on unsubscribe links more often than update your preferences links… and it’s usually due to one of two things: irrelevant information or my inbox is being inundated, with way too many messages being sent my way from one company.  But there is an alternative to offer:  an “email me less frequently” option. This will lower your overall send totals, but it will retain your house list size.

J. Crew does it.  They do it well, too.  The page below comes up when a user wants to unsubscribe.  The entire unsubscribe page’s emphasis is on receiving less email, but still keeping you in the loop.  Levi’s is a perfect candidate for an option like this.  I receive about 3 emails a week from them on average and I’ve been tempted to opt-out before, but their online discounts are just too hard to pass up.  Point is, no one needs to get emails from ANY company 3 times a week.  It’s just way too much.

So if you’ve seen any other companies utilizing this tactic, comment below!

Thanks to Denise Cox via Tamara Glen for pointing this out!

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Posted by MindComet on May. 13, 2008